Somewhere in Josh Harrop's house there is a Manchester United -Man of the Champagne -bottle match, untouched.
Harrop reminds us of what he was and still is – graduated in the United Academy.
Very few people can say that they have scored for United, can say less that they scored for United in Old Trafford, but score in the Theater of Dreams during your debut as a graduate Academy is an cheese that can only scoop off a handful. But Harrop did that.
The dream debut
In May 2017, on the last day of that Premier League season in a 2-0 win over Crystal Palace, a Boyhood United Fan born in stockport etched his name in Folklore.
“I was a child with a dream and I was able to make my dream come true,” Harrop tells Sky Sports.
“It is a privilege to get the chance to play for United and score on my debut. I was in the club since I was six years old.”
It was an opportunity that Harrop was prepared for. He was 21 at the time and thought that the chance should have come earlier, but then United Boss Jose Mourinho saw him score a hat trick for the reserves in Old Trafford, only a few days prior to the Portuguese asked Harrop if he was ready, to which he answered: “I was ready.”
Only 15 minutes inside, Paul Pogba beats the ball forward with the outside of his boot for Harrop to run on. With it all still to do in the box, he ignores the withdrawal to Wayne Rooney and decides to go all alone. Harrop cuts and curls home. Cue de scenes.
“I didn't feel the crowd. I didn't feel the opportunity. I felt that I was just playing football,” Harrop said.
“I was so used to doing it all my life. When you are on the field, you almost forget what's around you. But the rest of the game was a haze for me.
“Even to this day it is like a blur, because I can only remember that moment. It is probably the proud moment of my life.
“I can't explain the feeling because there is no way to explain it. It's just six years old; I have trained all my life, I have devoted everything.
“I left the house at the age of 13 and lived with another family on sale. It is my entire journey of six years old to making my debut.
“To be able to score, to get the man of the competition, it is something I will never forget.”
Harrop played the full 90 minutes next to his “idols”. Michael Carrick's words of wisdom soothed pre-match nerves and it was Rooney's last Premier League match for United. But a first 90 minutes and taste of the pinnacle quickly became the last to play Harrop for the club.
His contract came to an end. A deal was on the table for Harrop to extend his stay in Old Trafford, but it was an offer that he reluctantly refused.
“I didn't want to leave United. I had just made my debut, I didn't even think to leave,” he said.
A prominent figure in the club had pulled him aside and said that the offer was an indication of the lack of opportunities he would get in the club.
In that phase of his development, for Harrop, it was crucial to play games and stay in the first team environment.
“I asked if I would be involved with the first team that season and they couldn't promise me.
“I felt that there might have been no future for me here. I spoke with people in the club and they said it might be a time to build a career for yourself somewhere else.
“It wasn't a nice decision, but I felt it was good at the time.”
In retrospect, 20/20, as they say, but would Harrop have made another decision to look back?
“I have never looked back and thought I should have stayed.
“My dream came true and I left at a peak. There is always a 'what if' I stayed?
“I might have had it, but the decisions I make in life, I stay with it and I was happy with it.
Life Beyond Carrington
Then it was a move to Preston. No long journey from where Harrop grew up, but miles away from his lifelong comfort blanket at United.
“It is a big shock for the system. I have always been around one environment and then immediately in men's football.
“The manager who signed me at the time left on my first day, so it didn't work perfectly from the start. Then Alex Neil came in and to be honest, he was probably not the best manager for me because he didn't really trust younger players.
“He was more structured. That is the competition, you get the managers who are more structured. I understand now.
“My time at Preston, I actually thought it was great. To this day, the Preston fans always show me support.
“That club, I will always have those other players in my heart. I felt it was like a home.”
Harrop's five years in Preston became a period that was suffering from injury. An ACL injury kept him outside in his second season for a year and he never really achieved full fitness until years later.
Loans to Ipswich and Fleetwood Before moving to Northhampton and Cheltenham, opportunities to recalculate his potential but constant bends, which retired, robbed Harrop of the opportunity to realize that.
Find 'goal' in the Baller League
Now 29 and a free agent, this is the first time in Harrop's career that he spent so long without a club. Fully his injuries, Harrop has been able to maintain his love for football in the inaugural Baller League UK.
Despite the defeat against MVP's United, managed by Alisha Lehmann and Maya Jama, Harrop scored on the opening evening for his RTW FC managed by Clint419.
Against teams managed by legends, influencers and rappers within Six-a-Side Competition, the Baller League has a fire inside.
“It gave me my goal back in life,” he said.
“As a free agent you lose a little bit of yourself if you don't play football. I have played football since I was six years old and I couldn't do that for seven months.
“I have the opportunity to play football, wherever that is, it gives me that goal. It gives me something to wake up and train. A stadium such as the Copper Box, which is full of people, lives in heaven, it gives me something to concentrate on.
“My goal is that I want to be involved in football again next season, and hopefully I want to draw somewhere. I am 29 years old. I still have a lot of legs in me. This is to keep me fit, to give me a little goal in myself as a person and just enjoy football.
“I have had many injuries and stressful times in recent years, and for me it is just a goal to express myself and have fun.”
“I am still used to the Baller League. There are so many rules. But it is as if you were in the park and you were able to express yourself. It's fun. I like the concept of it.
“Everyone takes it seriously too. It's not like it's a joke. The players there, they are all serious. There is good talent.
“With all the names and everyone around it, it brings a whole community of people together. Players express themselves. It is quickly football. There will be enough goals, many skills. I like the concept. I like everything around it.
“It's different. It's not in the competition and it's not 11-a-side, but it's fun.”
Old Trafford to the Copper Box Arena-Jose Mourinho to Clint419 is a journey, but it is one that he completely embraces as the man with the perfect goal-game ratio in the Theater of Dreams, freed his career by conquering the Baller League.
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