I'VE TOTTED UP OVER 21 YEARS AND I'M STILL GOING STRONG

THE GOOD, THE BAD AND THE UGLY: SCOTT RENDELL

- CHRIS DUNLAVY

TWENTY-ONE years. Seventeen clubs. Hundreds of goals. And at the grand old age of 37, Scott Rendell is still going strong.

The former Peterborough United and Cambridge United striker scored 28 times to fire AFC Totton into Southern Premier South in 202223 and last season posted an even more impressive tally of 34 as the ambitious Stags finished second to Chesham United before losing in the play-offs.

By his own admission, Rendell never imagined he’d stay in the game so long. Here he reveals the “horrible” centre-half who made him contemplate quitting as a teenager, recalls the gliding wing wizard who took his breath away at Posh and explains why the Abbey captured his heart...

FIRST CLUB

Aldershot, back in 2003. I’d been at Brentford as a kid and came out at 15. I finished school, and didn’t really know what to do next when one of my pals said ‘I’ve got a trial with the academy at Aldershot, why don’t you come along?’. I went down, got signed and before you know it I was making my debut in the Conference just before my 17th birthday.

It was a different world back then. I’m a tall boy but I’ve never had the broadest frame and some of the people I was playing against were kicking lumps out of me. It was an eye-opener, but one that I enjoyed and learned a lot from.

BEST MANAGER

I’ve got a couple. I joined Reading on a three-year scholarship not long after making my debut for Aldershot and my academy manager there was Brendan Rodgers.

As a young player coming out of Non-League, he was brilliant. The way he treated you as a person. The attention to detail, especially tactically. Every training session you learned something new, which was amazing at such a young age.

The other one is Gary Waddock, who I was with at Wycombe and Aldershot. He’s an elite coach with great knowledge of the game but his man-management tops anything I’ve ever seen or experienced in football.