Big Interview: Tom Eaves

‘I have never doubted that I could do it in this division’

- Chris Dunlavy

At a scouting seminar several years ago, the face of Tom Eaves was beamed onto a screen for the assembled would-be talent-spotters.

“This,” intoned the grizzled doyen upon the dais, “is what you don’t do.” So began the story, embellished but broadly true, of how Eaves became a cautionary tale. In July 2010, Eaves scored a hat-trick for Oldham in a pre-season friendly against Owen Coyle’s Bolton

Wanderers. Eighteen at the time, the towering striker had played just 15 times for the Latics. Coyle, however, was so impressed that he had to be almost physically restrained from making an offer on the spot.

According to the legend, scouts and coaches tried to talk him down. Too soon, they said. Too raw for the top flight. Coyle, though, would not listen. The Liverpool-born hitman was signed for a fee of £1m, never made the grade and was finally released six years later.

From a scouting standpoint, Coyle’s folly is supposed to demonstrate the virtue of rigour. Never buy on impulse, less still on the evidence of one good game.

Behind the parable, though, is the very real story of a man who had his dreams dashed and is only now, at 28, hauling his career back on track.

“I’ve always had a positive outlook,” says Eaves, now at Hull City after two prolific seasons in League One with Gillingham.

“But there have been times in my life when it was difficult. Injuries. In and out of teams. Setbacks.

“I went from Oldham to being bought by a Premier League team, then dropping all the way back down to sign for Yeovil in League Two. I’d basically taken a massive backwards step between the ages of 18 and 24, which is hard to get your head round.