Former Doncaster Rovers midfielder lifts lid on reality of professional football after shock career change

It's a narrative former Doncaster Rovers midfielder Harry Middleton is all too familiar with.

"Sometimes people say 'it's not an issue, you got to do what a lot of kids dream of'," the fresh-faced cop tells the Free Press ahead of the start of a shift policing the streets of Mexborough in his new career.

"People don't realise unless you have seen it from the other side.

"It's a job, you don't really see it as living the dream.

"You are fighting for a contract every season, you can be dropped at any point like getting sacked from a job."

Midfielder Middleton, who is still only 27, spent ten years with Doncaster and a further season at Port Vale.

He started working on the frontline six weeks ago but still plays semi-professionally for seventh-tier side Belper Town alongside his twin brother Ben, a defender also formerly of Rovers.

"It was quite tough,” he says of dropping out of professional football.

"When you are in the first team and playing regularly at a good level you assume your career is going to be a long one and you are going to play until you are 40.

"Not many people think that far ahead and it can end quite quickly.

"I was the first one in every day, like a kid at Christmas. You miss it but still playing alongside my job has made it easier.”

Hatfield Woodhouse-born Middleton’s breakthrough at Doncaster came in the 2015/16 season when they were relegated from League One.

Despite a bad year for the club, it was far more enjoyable for Middleton than the promotion-winning campaign that followed, which saw him feature less regularly.

He left in August 2017, joining Vale on the same day as Tom Anderson, who had signed on a season-long loan from Burnley.

"There were only a couple of seasons where I really, really enjoyed it,” says Middleton.

"The other few were really tough.

"There were a couple of instances where I was struggling a little bit, but it was more down to confidence.

"Mentally it’s quite a tough place to be. I needed a run of five or six games to get my confidence and match sharpness up.

"The season before I left Rovers (2016/17) I was going into games doubting myself and playing within myself.

"The confidence and enjoyment had gone a little bit. It felt like it was time for a change.”

The following season saw Middleton come within two games of triggering an extension to his one-year deal with the Valiants, which would have brought with it a pay rise.

But the volatile nature of football struck and the manager who signed him, Michael Brown, was sacked.

Middleton’s face did not fit under Brown’s replacement, Neil Aspin.

Looking back, he highlights ‘a run of decisions and bad timing’ which led to the career he had dreamt of slipping away.

"There were a few setbacks that were quite tough to take,” Middleton says.

"I had a couple of trials and there were a couple of things, not necessarily performance-related, that went against me.

"A few clubs made promises about offers and when it came down to it they didn’t have the budget or availability. Whether that was an excuse (I don’t know).”

"I thought the best thing was to go part-time to try and take the pressure off my football."

As is often the case for former sportspeople, the transition to a normal life was far from easy.

Middleton says: “The PFA (Professional Footballers' Association, the trade union for professional footballers in England and Wales) is in place where you can reach out and speak to people, a lot of lads aren’t really into that.

"Other than that there’s very little. I was at Rovers for ten years, when I shook their hand and walked out the door that was the last contact I had.

"It was the same at Port Vale and it’s the same at every club.

"There’s not really any support there, which I find quite strange because it’s quite a lifestyle change.

"I have done OK but I would imagine some people will (struggle). If you have been in the game for a good few years it’s a massive change.”

It was family, rather than teammates, coaches or managers, Middleton largely leant on for support.

“I probably did bottle things up quite a lot,” he admits.

"Luckily it didn’t spill into anything. I talked to a few of the lads but without being nasty they have got their careers to worry about.

"I had a lot of people at home to talk to, but it is tough.”

His loved ones helped arrest the slump by providing him with a job working in sales for his uncle’s firm, The Brick Tile Company.

But an office job isn’t for everyone and he took advice from relations already working for the police before applying to join the force’s police constable degree apprenticeship.

"When I get up in the morning there’s no part of me that doesn’t want to go to work, that’s how I know it’s a good fit,” Middleton says.

"I play football for enjoyment now.”

News of his transfer has been welcomed in the dressing room, despite some initial reservations about telling his teammates.

Middleton has also made his debut for South Yorkshire Police’s football team.

So how does the thrill of a police chase compare to a matchday?

“Luckily I have not had a foot chase yet,” he reveals, “I don’t want the embarrassment of someone getting away from me.

"You do get excited and nervous when you are blue-lighting. Until you get there you don’t know what’s going to go off.

"It’s like when you are going out on a Saturday in the tunnel and there’s loads of fans there, it’s a similar sort of feeling but different.”