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Have goals, will travel. Nicky Maynard has taken his shooting boots to seven clubs since he rolled off the Crewe Alexandra production line.
Twice a promotion winner from the Sky Bet Championship, with West Ham and Cardiff in successive seasons, he has dropped down to League Two this season and scored 13 goals in 20 starts for the Shakers.
The latest Sky Bet EFL player to take our Q&A, he describes John Terry as the hardest opponent he has faced, while Ian Wright would be his dream strike partner. He also admits to owning 80 pairs of Christian Louboutin trainers while insisting that he has kicked the habit of buying them.
Nicky Maynard, now at Bury, has scored goals wherever he has gone throughout his career
Describe yourself on the pitch in 3 words.
Hungry. Eager. Goalscorer.
Describe yourself off the pitch in 3 words.
Reserved. Laid-back. Easy-going.
Best moment of your career so far?
Probably getting promoted to the Premier League with West Ham and with Cardiff. Anyone who gets the chance to play in the Premier League as a professional footballer, that’s the main aim. I’ve been lucky to get promoted twice.
The first was via the play-offs, the second automatic. To be honest, it was quite nerve-wracking at Wembley against Blackpool (West Ham won 2-1 in May 2012). But before we went into the play-offs, we already had it in our heads that we were going to be in the Premier League with the size of the club and the players that we had.
But obviously nothing’s ever given and as the play-off final got underway, we were probably second-best for most of the game. Thankfully, we went on to win anyway.
He has been promoted twice but played a key role in West Ham United’s play-off success
I scored against Cardiff in the semi-final (in a 3-0 win). There’s no better feeling than scoring when your goal matters.
With Cardiff, we finished top of the league (in 2012-13). I left West Ham to go there, but I did my cruciate ligament within three or four games of signing. I got back towards the end of the season, but the lads were more or less already promoted.
I managed to play the last game of the season. It did feel a bit weird, but at the same time with the togetherness that we had in the team, the manager Malky Mackay made sure that everyone, whether they were injured or not or left out, was together as a whole team. We all wanted the same reward at the end of it.
Who is the hardest opponent you have faced?
In my early days at Crewe, we played against Manchester United in a cup game. I played against Wes Brown. I was just starting out but it made me realise that these were Premier League players and I had to learn how to mix it with them if I wanted to be up there.
For a centre-half, he was quite quick. You like to think that most strikers are quicker than centre-halves.
He was very experienced compared to me. I think I was only 18 or 19 at the time. He went a lot more unnoticed than (Nemanja) Vidic or (Rio) Ferdinand because he wasn’t a marquee signing. He had come through the United academy and his injuries probably didn’t help him either.
Then after playing in the Premier League, I would probably say John Terry. He was a no-nonsense defender. He never gave you much space.
Chelsea legend John Terry is one of the toughest opponents Maynard has ever played against
You try to find little spaces, but if I’d run off him, he used to make sure that someone else knew where I was. He was a team leader and if the ball was in and around you to tackle, he would take you and the ball.
He was very good in the air, too. I played against him once for Cardiff, then in the FA Cup for MK Dons.
Most embarrassing moment in football?
Missed a penalty is never good. I’ve missed a couple, but there was one time that I ended up on Soccer A.M.
I was playing for West Ham, I went to control the ball in the air and as I landed, my knee just buckled. I didn’t get injured and the physio said I was lucky because I could have ruptured my ACL, but it looked like I had slipped on ice.
My legs just gave way and it was funny watching it back on Soccer A.M. and getting text messages from people laughing at me because I was on there.
At least it got my name about and made me a bit more vain. Other than that, there’s been nothing that was totally embarrassing.
Which song gets you in the mood for a match?
A bit of a mixture of R’n’B and hip-hop, but there’s no specific song. I just like to put a mix on if I’m in the car. Sometimes I just listen to the radio.
If there’s an early kick-off, a game on that I’m interested in, I’ll listen to that. Or it’ll just be a normal radio station. Or sometimes if I’ve got family in the car, I’ll have to please them.
There’s no music that really gets me in gear or up for a game. I’m quite laid-back and reserved, so I just try and make sure I’m ready physically with my stretching and then get my head in the game.
I think about the last games I’ve played in and situations where I could have done better. If that situation came about again, would I do the same thing or would I do it differently?
Under the guidance of Ryan Lowe at Bury, Maynard is very focused on improving his game still
Joe Murphy is designated as the DJ in the Bury dressing room, but he shows his age a bit because he’s into all his dance music.
But as I say, I’m quite laid-back and easy-going. I don’t have any superstitions at all. It’s mad how players do get superstitions.
There are quite a few people I’ve come across who have one superstition, then they do something else and by the time they are 10 or 12 years into their career, they’ve got about 15 different things that they’ve got to do before a game. I think: ‘How can you remember all that?’ Sometimes I think it’s a sign of weakness, to be honest.
What’s your guilty food pleasure?
Tea and biscuits. And it’s not just a couple of biscuits, it’ll have to be the whole pack.
If I had to pick one, it would probably be Viennese shortbread biscuits. Or I’ve just come across some Galaxy ones that my missus bought from the shop the other day which are quite nice. But I can’t find them anywhere.
I don’t like to leave any packs half-full because by the time I come back, they’ll be gone because of the kids running around. If they see they’re open, they’ll just help themselves.
My time is just as they go to bed, I’ll get a pack of biscuits with my tea and then they can’t interrupt.
Which player in history would you like to play alongside – and why?
Ian Wright. Growing up, I kind of followed Arsenal, so he was one of the first strikers I took note of. Luckily enough, because he’s quite friendly with Karl Robinson, who was manager at MK Dons, he came in to do a couple of sessions with the strikers there. It was good to meet someone I had looked up to.
He did sessions about shooting at goal. He didn’t really join in as much, but it was the way he spoke and the way he talked through things telling you what to do.
He would do the odd demo and put the ball in the top corner, but it would be more explain a shooting drill, watch you do it and then tell you what you should or could have done better and to try a certain technique.
He said things like: ‘I don’t really care where I am in and around the 18-yard box. I know where the goal is. It’s not going to move. Any type of shot you think you can get off, do. More often than not, it’ll be in the back of the net if it hits the target.’
Ex-Arsenal striker Ian Wright is one of Maynard’s dream strike partners having watched him
It wouldn’t matter that we were the same kind of striker playing together. We’ve got myself and Dom Telford here at Bury.
We’re both quite small, but sometimes that can help because quite often you have one defender to mark the large guy and another to mark the small guy. If you’ve got two similar strikers, that can sometimes mess up the defence more than a little and large one could.
I’m reaping the rewards at the minute with the goals I’ve got this season. If you’re on the same wavelength, any two strikers can cause carnage to defenders.
Thierry Henry was another one I’d love to have played alongside. He’s probably the best striker I’ve seen and another idol of mine.
Which famous manager would you have loved to play for – and why?
Pep Guardiola. He’s not just a manager, he’s a coach as well. If you look at Raheem Sterling when he left Liverpool, you thought he wouldn’t really get much better. But then playing under Guardiola and you see clips of them talking on the training ground, Sterling is doing loads of different stuff he never used to do, the runs he makes now and the decisions he makes on the ball.
I think that’s down to Pep getting into his head and telling him what he should be looking for and looking to do.
To improve as a player, you’re always going to need that little bit of help from someone who’s got that experience. Guardiola is one of those managers who can probably do that.
My manager at Bury now is Ryan Lowe. I’m sure he’ll tell you that he was my striker mentor when I was at Crewe. He says all the time that he was the reason I got my move from Crewe because he assisted me all the time.
I keep saying ‘Lowey’ but I’ve got to call him Gaffer now. He was a similar striker to me, not really good in the air, but he had great technique and he was quite unselfish when he played.
If Maynard could work under any boss in world football it would be Man City’s Pep Guardiola
I didn’t think he would be a manager at the time, but he had certain qualities to be a manager and obviously being a Scouser, he’s quite lary and quite loud. I think you need that to be a manager. He’s doing well. He had a great playing career until he was 38, I think. It was great to play with him, but I never thought I’d be playing under him.
But I’ve got to be grateful for the opportunity he’s given me and I’m still hopeful I can pay him back by getting us promotion.
What would you be if you weren’t a footballer?
Everyone asks me this.
I started football at seven years old so I’ve only ever thought about football, but my dad was in the Army when I was a kid. He served in the Army for 21 years and as a kid you always look to see what your dad’s doing and try to follow in his footsteps.
He was in the Royal Logistics, but I’ve been watching programmes on the SAS and thinking: ‘There’s no chance I could cut it at that. No chance I’d be able to stick out the stuff they go through.’
Tell us a secret that fans won’t know…
I used to have a trainer fetish. I still own about 80 pairs of Christian Louboutin trainers. Now looking back, I don’t wear half of them.
I’ve still got them but most of them are catching cobwebs. My fetish was that bad, I used to buy anything and everything, whether it was a rascal colour or a rascal style.
If anyone wants to email me to buy a few pairs, they can do.
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