HOME AND AWAY/CHELSEA YOUTH PLAYER CONOR CLIFFORD:I STARTED young in football. I'm not really sure what age I was but one of my earliest memories is my dad making a goal for the back garden and kicking the ball around out there was all I wanted to do.

I grew up in Palmerstown and my first club was in Chapelizod. Early on, though, I moved to Cherry Orchard after which I went on to Crumlin United. They were good teams, we won the league every year I was with Cherry Orchard and we came close to a treble with Crumlin.

A good few players went on to English clubs and there’s 10 or 11 of the lads I was with at Crumlin over here now.

Aaron Doran (of Blackburn Rovers) and myself would always meet up when we’re back at home but I’m pretty friendly with all of them really and we still keep in touch a bit through MSN and the like.

It was good to have them to talk to on the phone when we came over first because it was difficult for the first couple of months – I was on the phone home every night. My dad told me to stick with it, though, and I knew myself it was what I wanted to do so I settled down all right in the end.

I’ve been at Chelsea for a year and half now but I had a pretty good idea for quite a while before that that this is where I’d be coming. A couple of their people were in Holland when I played there with the Irish under-16 team a few years back. I was only 13 or 14 at the time but Frank Arnesen spoke with my parents afterwards and said they’d keep in touch. Sure enough, they did, coming along to games back in Dublin and keeping tabs on how I was doing.

I came over here for the first time at 15 and just kept coming over until I made the move. The first time was amazing. The set-up at the training ground was great and there’s a thing at the club where everybody, from the youngest players to the big stars in the first team, have lunch together. When I saw them all I was completely star-struck but luckily Duffer (Damien Duff) was here at the time. We got on well and he sort of looked after me. I was sorry when he left, and I’m the only Irish player around the place now.

So far, though, it’s all gone well. Since coming over I’ve been in digs in a place called Cobham, very near where the training ground is. It’s a good area, nice estates and everybody’s been good to me. There’s me, a lad from Newcastle and a Portuguese living with the family. It seems like nobody can do enough for us.

The training ground is a short walk from the house and I’m up there most days. We usually train Monday to Friday. The day starts with breakfast at nine, training is at 11am and then lunch at 12.30. Sometimes we have double sessions, so we’re back out after lunch.

Wednesday and Thursday are generally busy. I’m studying sports science and physiotherapy and those are the days when the classes are on. I train in the morning, go to the classes and then have either a technical training session, where we concentrate on improving one of the weaker aspects of our game, or do some work in the gym.

Before I signed as a pro last year we used to act as ball boys at the first-team games but we’d be given a notepad and pen while we were doing it and told to write down whatever we thought about the players in our positions. For me that meant Michael Essien and Frank Lampard.

The next day at training the coaches would ask us about it and it took me a while to say anything really. I mean, I was thinking to myself: “Who am I to criticise Frank Lampard?” But after a while you’d say something and realise that they were very good about it. They just wanted to know what we were thinking.

The players are great too. At the start of the season there’s a session with all the players at the club in particular positions so again I was in with Essien and Lampard – he’s always somebody I’d have watched and looked to learn from – and they were really good; very friendly and full of tips and encouragement.

At lunch they’re the same. There’s a really good atmosphere around the place with everybody talking to each other regardless of what level they’re at. John Terry’s great, always making the point to us that he was where we are now, looking to come through the ranks at the club and make the big breakthrough.

It’s particularly good craic if they’ve won the previous day but, needless to say, there wasn’t much said there on Monday. Everybody was very quiet, just looking to get away as fast as they could after the cool-down session they were in for.

This year we’re up in the stands for a lot of the games ourselves. We usually play on Saturday mornings and then, if the first team are at home, it’s off to Stamford Bridge where we’re still encouraged to watch carefully and take on board what’s happening.

It’s big week for me because the FA Youth Cup continues this week. The club hasn’t won it in a long time but we got to the final last year. Watching those games was horrible because I wasn’t involved but now that I’m registered to play I’m really looking forward to it.

We’ve got Walsall down at Brentford (tonight) and if we get through that then it’s Liverpool at Anfield.

My parents are coming over. In fact, there’s about 20 of my family coming over, including uncles and aunts.

Hopefully it’ll be a good night.