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Matty Willock is back in the thick of it and that means extra work for his dad.
Willock’s two brothers Joe and Chris are pro footballers too and their father is their biggest fan – he’s their biggest critic too.
Matty said: “My dad will watch Joe one week and me the next. Chris hasn’t been playing so far.
“He has Wyscout (an online professional tool for watching and analysing footballers worldwide) so he can also watch the full game or highlights.
“If he has gone to see Joe, when he gets home he will watch my game maybe five times.
“He has been watching the lads here even though I haven’t been playing, he likes a few of the players and the way we are playing. He is definitely not a manager but just a dad, and he wants his boys to do well.
“He watches the team and asks me stuff, like how he thinks I can fit in. He tells me to watch the team so that I know the style of play and what I can do to help, rather than just coming to the game and watching.
“My dad and my brothers are my biggest influence.”
Younger brother Chris, 21, is currently on loan at Huddersfield, from Benfica, having signed a long-term deal with the Portuguese side in 2017.
It’s been a better season for Joe, however, the youngest of the three. He’s 20 but has played 28 times for Arsenal this season, featuring in their Premier League and Europa League campaigns.
All three share the same London apartment and Matty knows where to turn if he wants advice.
“Sometimes my dad can be a bit harsh,” said the Gills midfielder. “When my brothers say things I listen a lot as well because I think, if Joe is saying it he obviously knows because he is at Arsenal.
“He will watch my games. He came to a couple of the pre-season games when he didn’t have training. He was there at Faversham. Chris came here from Birmingham as well and if they are off they will come 100%. If they can’t come they will try and watch on Wyscout as well.”
Matty has had to drop down to League 1 to get some football after leaving Manchester United.
He never played a first team game at Old Trafford but came close. Jose Mourinho promoted him from the club’s reserves for a match during an injury crisis but he didn’t get on.
Watching younger brother Joe, he sees no reason why he can’t be back at the top one day.
He said: “If he can play at the top level, why can’t I?
“Even though Joe is playing at the top level he will text me after the game and say ‘Matt, did you watch? What do you think I should have done? How do you think I did? What should I have done in that position?
“We have a group chat and we try and watch each other’s games. We message each other and say what we think. Chris does live with us but he’s up in Huddersfield at the moment and we don’t see him as he stays up there quite a bit.
“But in the summer we have a five-a-side team that is unbelievable!”
For now, Willock must prove what he can do all over again.
He missed the first half of the season with injury but has just returned to the fold, featuring for the Gills in their last few league games.
The midfielder was keen to show his team-mates what he was all about first.
He said: “I have been putting it in during training, to show the lads. I have been injured quite a lot and not a lot of the lads have seen me much. I wanted to show everyone, not just the staff but the players as well, what I am about and that I can help the team going forward.
“I had never been injured before. When you become injured and you have to go into the gym on your own every day, it is mentally draining, it is hard.
“The first week, you think ‘I will get strong, I will work through this’ but it is hard work, doing it every day. Once you start going outside to run and you can see the lads on the other pitch running, it gives you a boost, you think ‘I’ll get fit and be back in the mix soon’.
“It has been long, hard work, a lot of hours in the gym, coming in on days off, but it’s worth it.
“I want to play as much as possible now and to help the team move forward, even if it is coming on as an impact substitute, or even in training to help raise the levels there, playing 11 versus 11 against the starting team and trying to push them.
“It is a good group here, the staff are good, we’ve got good facilities and I am really enjoying it. I am excited to be around the place, there is a lot of banter in the changing rooms and that has actually helped get me through it at times. I am just buzzing to be back, even just training, it’s been brilliant and I have missed it a lot.”
