Midfielder George Hornshaw can’t wait for pre-season to arrive after penning his first professional deal with the club.
The 18-year-old came through the majority of the Iron’s academy system, arriving in November 2011 at Under-12 level before completing his two-year scholarship over the last couple of seasons. George also made is professional debut in last season’s Checkatrade Trophy encounter against Leicester City U21s, which included the likes of Leonardo Ulloa and Kelechi Iheanacho. He spoke to iFollow Iron, giving his reaction to becoming a first team player.
ON SIGNING…
GH: I’m absolutely delighted. I’ve been at the club a long time now and to be offered a professional contract is a dream come true. It’s everything you want as a little lad and it’s amazing really.
ON THE JOURNEY…
GH: I joined the academy at Under-12s and I just worked my way up all the way through and now we’re here. I want to thank every single coach through the academy that has helped me, from the beginning to first team managers. They’ve all helped me become the player I am today and I’m really excited to see what I can do. I’ve always been a player that works their hardest and gives everything I have and my technical ability and everything like that has just come with it.
ON HIS PROFESSIONAL DEBUT…
GH: It was amazing and it was a shock to get a call. It was an amazing feeling, not only to play against some big players, but to play for the first team. When we found out those two (Leonardo Ulloa and Kelechi Iheanacho) were playing, I couldn’t believe it. You want to play against big players and big names, but I just want to play football really.
ON PRE-SEASON AND TARGETS…
GH: I’ll work hard and hopefully get into the team and see where it goes from there. All the lads (the likes of Lewis Butroid and Levi Sutton, who have gone onto make senior appearances after graduating through the academy) are really good players and they always try their hardest. I’ve got to look up to them and hopefully get into the team. I need to work on getting a big stronger and I want to come back fit and raring to go so I can crack on.
ON NICK DAWS AND ANDY DAWSON…
GH: When we met, he (Nick Daws) told me everything I’ve done well. Andy was there as well and obviously he was with me in the youth team at the start of the season and he’s helped me massively to get to where I am now. He knows me really well and we were quite close - I could just go and talk to him whenever I wanted to.