Southampton striker Ricki Lambert discussed his journey to the England squad yesterday.
Lambert had a spell working in a beetroot factory and has spent the majority of his career playing in the lower leagues with Blackpool, Macclesfield, Stockport, Rochdale and Bristol Rovers.
"When I moved to Southampton, I don't think any of us thought this day was going to happen," said Lambert on Monday.
"I was at Liverpool from age 10 to 15 and I was basically told I wasn't good enough, which obviously was a hard thing to take at the time.
"I thought it was the end of the world. But I can tell people in the same situation that it is not the end of the world. It should drive you on to succeed even more.
"After leaving Blackpool there was a period without a club. I didn't have a contract, so I wasn't getting paid for four or five months. It was a very difficult time. I was debating what I could do outside the game. But I didn't want to do anything outside of football.
"So I was trying my best to get to training at Macclesfield because it wasn't close.
"I had to get a job and that one in the beetroot factory was one of the only jobs I could get at the time. I was putting lids on jars, getting paid £20 a day. I would work in the day and go training in the evening with my friend Darren Conn, another Scouser who was at Macclesfield at the time."
