Jenkinson Interview

From the Standard:

There is a large crowd of children in the reception of Great Ormond Street Hospital’s lung unit. They stand around a young man in immaculately ironed jeans, only a few years older than them, who is patiently signing autographs. Carl Jenkinson is here to open the unit, which would not be here without the £80,000 raised by him and his Arsenal team-mates. Jenkinson’s agent tells me they couldn’t publicise the footballer’s visit too widely or the building would have been mobbed by fans.

This is Jenkinson’s moment. The 20-year-old defender has just re-signed for Arsenal until 2018, in a reported £1.6 million a year deal. The day we meet he has been called up to the England squad for the friendly against Sweden tonight. When I congratulate him he smiles with quiet satisfaction. “Yeah, thanks a lot. That was a nice bit of news.”

Football’s reputation suffered after the Olympics. The grace and humility of the Olympians led commentators to give England’s most popular sport a kicking. But no sport can be pristine, says Jenkinson (unlike his Converse trainers which are dazzlingly white). “The Olympics were great and it’s right that the country is proud. It’s not a bad thing that they took some of the limelight away from football. But we must remember that, although picking on the negative side of footballers makes good stories, Arsenal do a lot of good work.”

Indeed, underneath his earnest, sincere demeanour there is no sign of a crazed Waganiser, out on the tiles every night. “Being a footballer is the dream job, something every kid wants to do. It’s strange because I’m at the age where a lot of my friends are at uni and their life revolves around going out and having a few drinks. But my life is completely different. I take my football incredibly seriously. When you’re playing twice a week there’s never an opportunity to go out.

“My mates say, ‘God, I’d love to be you’. I’m lucky to do this job and it would be wrong if I was out every night abusing the privileges I have. Of course there’s the Christmas party, and if I’m away off season I’ll have a beer on the beach, but I stay away from alcohol completely during the season.”

Jenkinson earns in the region of £1.6 million a year (£32,000 a week), and is joining his teammates in giving up a day’s wages to the Arsenal Foundation on December 8. While this salary might (unbelievably) be relatively low for a Premier League footballer, it is still a jaw-dropping amount for a 20-year-old to earn. Are footballers paid too much?

Jenkinson sighs. “Some of the money that footballers earn is ridiculous and it is mind-boggling to get your head around.” He is careful to be measured. “Some clubs around the world pay £50,000 a week, which is just baffling, but I wouldn’t like to say those players don’t deserve to be on high wages. I’m sure they do good things with their money and help other people.”

The most expensive thing Jenkinson has bought is a house in Stapleford Abbotts in Essex. “My dad and mum encouraged me to get myself on the property ladder and get a nice place.”

Being at Great Ormond Street has special significance for Jenkinson. Before he was born, his parents had a son who died aged five. “My brother had neuroblastoma, a rare form of cancer. It’s nice to come to a hospital like this because I know my brother would have been treated somewhere similar. My parents were really pleased I was helping out.”

The footballer sees his family at least twice a week. His father works for London Underground, refurbishing trains, but was once an athlete, training with Seb Coe and competing in the 1983World Championships in Helsinki. His mother who is Finnish (Jenkinson represented Finland at Under-17 and Under-19 level but has now chosen to play for the country of his birth) does the payrolls for a firm near their home in Harlow, where he was born and grew up.

Jenkinson has a brother who is two years older and was the first in the family to go to university. “He’s just graduated from Loughborough with a first in chemical engineering. He’s done really well there. Now he’s gone through the whole uni phase he’s gotta grow up.”

Meanwhile, the younger Jenkinson seems pretty grown-up already. At the moment he’s watching a lot of box sets. “I’m into Homeland, which my teammate Kieran Gibbs raved about. I’ve not been disappointed.”

Although Jenkinson has a strong work ethic and says playing football is intense, he admits it’s nothing compared with the demands on Carrie, the workaholic secret agent in Homeland, played by Claire Danes. “I couldn’t imagine that lifestyle. She’s very committed to the point that she has no social life, it’s all work.”

But he sympathises with the demands on Carrie. “On the one hand, footballers work for two or three hours a day training, then we can do whatever we want. It is intense, though. When you’re playing in front of 60,000 people, obviously there’s a lot of pressure. If you don’t do well everyone’s on your case.”

Starting at Arsenal took some getting used to. “To go from Charlton, who were in League One, to a club with a lot of focus on it was a huge shock. I was a bit blown away by the interest from the press. I’ve gradually adjusted to it with practice but I’d be lying if I said I was a natural.”

Early in Jenkinson’s first season Arsenal lost 8-2 to Manchester United. How do players cope with a result like that? “I just went home and thought ‘what happened there?’ That weekend is all a bit of a blur. The atmosphere is awful after any loss. If we have a bad result my family will tell you I’m not the best person to be around. I take it personally.

“When I was younger my dad would say if I had one bad game my confidence would completely go. Now I realise no one can be fantastic every week. No matter what the result is, you’ve got to go back to work and think about the next game. ”

There has been criticism of Arsenal’s strategy lately but Jenkinson is positive. “We’ve got the potential to achieve great things this season. I can see myself being at the club for a long time. Even if Barcelona came and offered lots of money, I’ve supported Arsenal since I was a boy so for me the pride of wearing an Arsenal shirt is a lot more valuable.”

And then’s he’s off, the clean-cut young man from Harlow, for a quiet night in front of the television at “Chambo’s” — that’s team mate Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain.

 

You got to like Jenkinson. Seems like such a great guy.