Former Chelsea goalkeeper Neil Etheridge is pinching himself over Cardiff City's promotion to the Premier League.

Etheridge revealed he actually paid for trials at Charlton Athletic after his release at Chelsea.

"Four years ago I left Fulham and was without a club for five months," he told the Daily Mail.

"I paid for myself to train at Charlton Athletic. I was close to the goalkeeping coach there and I just trained and waited.

"It is a very hard industry to be in and a very hard industry to stay in. I had sold my house and my car and was about a week away from going back to the Philippines (where his mother is from). But I got offered a a contract with Oldham that winter.

"I said to one of my mates, who just happened to live there, 'Do you mind if I kip on your couch for however long I am up here?'

"I ended up living on his couch for a month and Charlton took me in the transfer window."

Four years on, via Charlton and Walsall, he is now a Premier League player in waiting.

"I have been able to rectify my career," he adds.