WHEN it comes to grassroots football, Mark Crossley has a lot to be thankful for. It was where he was spotted prior to earning his cherished break in the professional game at Nottingham Forest – where he met the person who changed his life forever and will always walk on water across the Trent. The late, great Brian Clough.

His experiences in the muck and nettles of the local leagues has also provided Crossley – a popular booking on the after-dinner circuit these days – with arguably his best piece of Cloughie-related material. Mention AC Hunters and most Clough devotees will raise a chuckle.

Back home in Barnsley, Crossley – now 56 and long since retired – is putting something back into the grassroots. Last month, he was named as director of football at Sheffield and Hallamshire County Senior League Premier Division side Wombwell Main.

But first, back to AC Hunters.

Wombwell Main director of football Mark Crossley (right), with manager Terry Simon (left).

placeholder image — Wombwell Main director of football Mark Crossley (right), with manager Terry Simon (left).

For the uninitiated, the aforesaid club, operating in the fifth tier of the Derbyshire Sunday League, were short of a goalkeeper one Sunday morning in the late 1980s.

Clough had the perfect short-term solution in the shape of Crossley, whose milder sobriquets for his teenage custodian included 'Barnsley' and 'Jigsaw'. Others were far less flattering.

A day after turning out for Forest's first-team, Crossley was ordered to arrive at his gaffer's house with his boots and gloves before appearing as a 'ringer' for Hunters, managed by Old Big 'Ead's son Simon.

It was classic Clough psychology. Keep grounded, young man.

THAT WAS THEN: Goalkeeper Mark Crossley pictured in action for Nottingham Forest in January 1993. Picture: Mike Hewitt/Allsport/Getty Images

Given that his dad Geoff had junior football in his blood – he co-founded a team called Hoyland Common Falcons in the late 1970s – Crossley was never likely to turn down Clough's request. Perish the thought.

And after speaking to officials at Step 7 non-league outfit Wombwell not so long back, he was only too happy to help.

Crossley told The Yorkshire Post: “I know a lot of people down there from 'vets' all the way down to some of the kids and the lad that's in charge, Terry Simon (manager).

“I love the way that they just give up all of their time, voluntarily. They've got a really good set-up now; it was on its ‘backside’ a couple of years ago.

“They're passionate about their football. That's a good thing.

“They've basically asked me to be a figurehead and try and entice kids to go and get off their computers – that type of thing.

“If you can get someone with a bit of a name behind it…

“It might just get parents going: 'Oh, Mark Crossley's down there.'

“I'm just down there to be a face, a figure that can turn up at training now and again and watch kids play. I've basically come back because I know them and love what they do.

“I was brought up with grassroots football when my dad helped start a team called Hoyland Common Falcons, which is still going today. And that's where it started for me.”

Crossley remained indebted to another Hoyland side in his path to the City Ground, namely all-conquering Sunday League side Hoyland Town Jags, who he used to turn out for as a teenager after finishing in junior football.

He wasn’t even a goalkeeper before he joined them either.

He recalls: “I signed for a team at 16 called Hoyland Town Jags who were the best local Sunday league team in the Sheffield/Barnsley area at the time.

“And the manager was a lad called Sam Pickering, who is a legend in non-league football/Sunday league football. And I still see him.

“Every time I see him I always say to him: ‘without you I would have never made it’.

“We got to a final at Bramall Lane in the Sheffield Senior Sunday Cup and we won it. And that's how I got picked up because scouts were watching the game.

“One said: ‘Do you want to come to Forest for a trial? I went to Watford as well for a trial but I got homesick so I didn't like it there because I wanted to be at home. Forest were the next beck and call.

“I was actually a centre-back until I was 15.

“I always speak about being ‘right place, right time’ and a little bit of luck along the way as well.

“The goalkeeper got injured. I was the biggest and slowest.

“So, I was never going to make it as a centre-half anyway.”

Crossley’s own experiences are living proof of the importance of the grassroots circuit. And you just never know who is watching.

He went on to become a cult hero during his long association with Nottingham Forest and he donned the goalkeeping gloves for Middlesbrough and, briefly, Sheffield Wednesday and also with Wales on the international front.

After hanging up his boots, the Yorkshireman stayed in the game and had coaching spells at the likes of Chesterfield and Notts County and also spent a brief stint as goalkeeping coach at hometown club Barnsley.

He still has many football contacts to call upon and if he could help any few young and aspiring players up the ladder in his new role at Wombwell, it would please him no end.

Crossley continued: “I've still got good connections in football. If I see a young lad at 16 who’s half decent, maybe we could get him in a week's training at a professional club with my connections and recommend him.

“There's a potential start for the lad to realise what it's all about, so just something little like that could happen.

“In my day, it was grassroots and no academies back then. Playing with the Jags was my education. And word travels quickly in football.

“And that's why I always say ‘never give up’ because you never know who's watching. I say that when I am speaking on my ‘do’s’.

“Especially at non-league football clubs when they're trying to raise funds. Never give up because you never know who's watching.

“And that's exactly what happened with me. I went in goal because the goalie was injured and from that day on, I never moved.

“I signed for Forest at 17 and made my debut at 19. So, that's why I'm a massive believer in the education of grass-roots football.

“It was just through playing men's football at 15 at a good standard, getting battered around.

“So when I went in to be an apprentice from that, it felt like you were ahead of the game because you were physically stronger.”

At a time when top-level football is increasingly becoming a turn-off for all manner of reasons for growing numbers of those who love the beautiful game – the nit-picking pervasion of technology, prohibitive cost and unsociable kick-off times being chief among them – non-league is becoming a welcome sanctuary.

It is enjoying a heartening renaissance. Club-houses are filling up and spectators fed up with the big time are giving things a go.

The football may not always be free-flowing, but there is an honesty to it and it is representing a pleasure throwback to many.

There’s no VAR or Stockley Park to get in the way either.

Crossley added: “I did a gig up in Spennymoor recently.

“The crowds have gone through the roof there. Jeff Winter, the former referee, was telling me that the non-league crowds (in the north east) have gone up because it's still a good day out, it's cheaper, affordable for people and you can watch people tackle and mistime tackles!

“I think that's the excitement of it is that vulnerability at non-league football with tackling because you can't you can't even lay a glove on anybody now can you? (in professional football).

“You certainly can at non-league and I love to watch the referees say ‘play on and let it go’ and all that and I think that's because I was brought up with it.

“When Wombwell asked me about this role – because I go down there and have a drink on a Sunday afternoon at their club as they've got a great set-up – I thought: ‘well, they've politely asked and I love what they do, so why not?’

“I can do it because I’ve moved back home eventually to Barnsley which was always the intention.

“Mum and dad are still here and I'm on the road (with the after-dinner speaking) and get to watch a bit of non-league football at weekends.”