THERE ARE COUPLES and families embracing for photos in front of the Christmas tree at North Greenwich train station that connects to London’s O2 Arena.
Kids race towards a carousel right beside it and some even queue patiently for chocolate pancakes and doughnuts from wooden huts that line the approach to the shopping centre.
It’s just under a week before Christmas and it’s getting dark by 3.30pm.
Paul McCartney’s face dominates all of the advertising signs and The Beatles legend will play the second of his sold-out shows in the O2 a few hours later. A line of devoted fans already snakes from the front doors all the way outside, into the cold and past the coffee shop where The 42 is catching up with former Republic of Ireland U21 captain Conor Coventry.
Country music is more his scene. “The songs tell you a story,” he says. “You can picture what is happening.”
This summer, Coventry and two of his best friends from school ticked off some of the top items on their bucket list. “We went to Nashville, unbelievable, an incredible experience.”
It was all about the music for the tee-total midfielder. “Rows and rows of bars, some of them had six floors and different singers on each floor. It was amazing.”
So too was the stop off at Graceland to pay homage to Elvis Pressley. “That is all the kind of music I remember growing up and it has stayed with me,” he says.
They got in the car at Nashville and drove more than nine hours to Dallas. “To see the site where JFK was shot,” Coventry adds.
This has been a year of exploration in more ways than one.
It was July 2022 when Coventry invited us into his family home in east London. He was still a West Ham United player at that stage and about to captain Ireland U21s in a play-off to try and reach the European Championships.
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Conor Coventry.
This time of year is a natural period of reflection, especially after 12 months of change and challenge both on and off the pitch. He is 24 now and no longer a West Ham player. A move to Charlton Athletic in January ended his time at a club where he had been since the age of 10.
“Something I’ve learned about myself from leaving, what was happening in football was basically linked to my own life and how I felt about everything in my life,” he says. “The different experiences I’ve had, you do get more confidence in yourself from playing because it’s like that makes you feel that you can enjoy other things in your life because football is going well.
“It’s like actually playing games gives you a freedom in your life. The smallest things like having chocolate because you feel like you deserve it more. When you’re not playing you feel like you can’t do as much because it’s as if only playing games allows you that freedom even outside football.”
Is that healthy?
“What’s hard is that put absolutely everything into football from being so young,” Coventry says. “So if it’s not going well and you’re not playing games, it’s not that you feel like a failure but you do feel as though you’re falling short of what you wanted to achieve.
Conor Coventry with Ireland at Wembley in November. Ryan Byrne / INPHO
Ryan Byrne / INPHO / INPHO
“If I’m not playing football then it’s like ‘what am I doing?’ It’s like wasting away because time in football, and in life really, is precious. It goes quickly so there is pressure to make the most of it. When you’re not playing it feels like a bit of a waste of time, and those last six months at West Ham it just felt like I was waiting for something but you don’t know what it is.”
David Moyes was up front and honest with Coventry about his future. There had been loan spells Lincoln City, Peterborough United, MK Dons and Rotherham United before his transfer to Charlton 12 months ago.
Moyes did make sure he was part of the travelling West Ham party for the UEFA Conference League win in 2023 and while he was not part of the matchday squad he still received a medal as he played five times in the competition earlier in the season.
“I kind of felt like I didn’t belong at first but the manager and players were great with me, Kevin Nolan was fanastic to me as well making sure I knew that I belonged there.”
There were no emotional goodbye when it was time to leave. “I went back to the West Ham training ground in the evening after signing for Charlton earlier in the day and no one was there, just the security guard. I sat next to Ben Johnson and we came through the academy together but I left with my trainers, boots and shin pads and just said goodbye to the security guy.
Conor Coventry in action for Charlton Athletic. Alamy Stock Photo
Alamy Stock Photo
“A lot of people from growing up would only know me as a footballer for West Ham and I wasn’t that person anymore,” Coventry says. “It’s like something that is part of you is gone in a way. Even stuff like going to the roundabout at the end of my road, for 13 years I would have always turned right and gone down the same road but I’ve not been down that road once since.
“Leaving West Ham has been like a safety blanket being taken away. I’m not going on loan, I need to perform and get results, not just develop. What happens then is that you realise you are in proper adult life. In football it was like I was waiting and waiting and that then becomes the same in your life. I don’t know what the answers will but I’m trying to figure it all out.”
The move to Charlton has allowed him discover more about himself as a player and person. He is relishing the challenge of League One football and playing consistently. He’s a little shy of 50 games in 2024 and already on his second manager after Nathan Jones replaced Michael Appleton after just two starts under the boss who signed him.
From left: Jarrod Bowen, Aaron Cresswell, Conor Coventry and Flynn Downes with the UEFA Conference League trophy. Alamy Stock Photo
Alamy Stock Photo
Dubliner Curtis Fleming is a guiding light at the club, too, while a late call-up to be part of the senior Ireland squad for the Nations League game with England in November is testament to the consistency he has found this season, missing just two league games so far.
“My main goal is being there and part of it with Ireland,” Coventry says.
“But I will only be close if I am playing all the time, it’s no good being in for one game then out for a few weeks. On the pitch it can feel like you are beginning to get control and have more confidence but in the space of a game or two it can then feel like it’s gone.
“That’s always in your head but I’m starting to feel like I am getting more control and sinking my teeth into it by playing.”
There will be a St Stephen’s Day game at home to Cambridge United, and Coventry will get to spend Christmas surrounded by all of his family. His nana Kathleen – orginally from Oliver Bond Street in Dublin – is still going strong.
Christmas is the time of year that can still “make or break” the family jewellery shop where his uncle and father hold the fort.
And in his own professional life Coventry can look back on 2024 as a year that will help shape the next stage of his career.
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Former Ireland U21 captain on a new direction in football - 'It's like something that is part of you is gone'
THERE ARE COUPLES and families embracing for photos in front of the Christmas tree at North Greenwich train station that connects to London’s O2 Arena.
Kids race towards a carousel right beside it and some even queue patiently for chocolate pancakes and doughnuts from wooden huts that line the approach to the shopping centre.
It’s just under a week before Christmas and it’s getting dark by 3.30pm.
Paul McCartney’s face dominates all of the advertising signs and The Beatles legend will play the second of his sold-out shows in the O2 a few hours later. A line of devoted fans already snakes from the front doors all the way outside, into the cold and past the coffee shop where The 42 is catching up with former Republic of Ireland U21 captain Conor Coventry.
Country music is more his scene. “The songs tell you a story,” he says. “You can picture what is happening.”
This summer, Coventry and two of his best friends from school ticked off some of the top items on their bucket list. “We went to Nashville, unbelievable, an incredible experience.”
It was all about the music for the tee-total midfielder. “Rows and rows of bars, some of them had six floors and different singers on each floor. It was amazing.”
So too was the stop off at Graceland to pay homage to Elvis Pressley. “That is all the kind of music I remember growing up and it has stayed with me,” he says.
They got in the car at Nashville and drove more than nine hours to Dallas. “To see the site where JFK was shot,” Coventry adds.
This has been a year of exploration in more ways than one.
It was July 2022 when Coventry invited us into his family home in east London. He was still a West Ham United player at that stage and about to captain Ireland U21s in a play-off to try and reach the European Championships.
This time of year is a natural period of reflection, especially after 12 months of change and challenge both on and off the pitch. He is 24 now and no longer a West Ham player. A move to Charlton Athletic in January ended his time at a club where he had been since the age of 10.
“Something I’ve learned about myself from leaving, what was happening in football was basically linked to my own life and how I felt about everything in my life,” he says. “The different experiences I’ve had, you do get more confidence in yourself from playing because it’s like that makes you feel that you can enjoy other things in your life because football is going well.
“It’s like actually playing games gives you a freedom in your life. The smallest things like having chocolate because you feel like you deserve it more. When you’re not playing you feel like you can’t do as much because it’s as if only playing games allows you that freedom even outside football.”
Is that healthy?
“What’s hard is that put absolutely everything into football from being so young,” Coventry says. “So if it’s not going well and you’re not playing games, it’s not that you feel like a failure but you do feel as though you’re falling short of what you wanted to achieve.
“If I’m not playing football then it’s like ‘what am I doing?’ It’s like wasting away because time in football, and in life really, is precious. It goes quickly so there is pressure to make the most of it. When you’re not playing it feels like a bit of a waste of time, and those last six months at West Ham it just felt like I was waiting for something but you don’t know what it is.”
David Moyes was up front and honest with Coventry about his future. There had been loan spells Lincoln City, Peterborough United, MK Dons and Rotherham United before his transfer to Charlton 12 months ago.
Moyes did make sure he was part of the travelling West Ham party for the UEFA Conference League win in 2023 and while he was not part of the matchday squad he still received a medal as he played five times in the competition earlier in the season.
“I kind of felt like I didn’t belong at first but the manager and players were great with me, Kevin Nolan was fanastic to me as well making sure I knew that I belonged there.”
There were no emotional goodbye when it was time to leave. “I went back to the West Ham training ground in the evening after signing for Charlton earlier in the day and no one was there, just the security guard. I sat next to Ben Johnson and we came through the academy together but I left with my trainers, boots and shin pads and just said goodbye to the security guy.
“A lot of people from growing up would only know me as a footballer for West Ham and I wasn’t that person anymore,” Coventry says. “It’s like something that is part of you is gone in a way. Even stuff like going to the roundabout at the end of my road, for 13 years I would have always turned right and gone down the same road but I’ve not been down that road once since.
“Leaving West Ham has been like a safety blanket being taken away. I’m not going on loan, I need to perform and get results, not just develop. What happens then is that you realise you are in proper adult life. In football it was like I was waiting and waiting and that then becomes the same in your life. I don’t know what the answers will but I’m trying to figure it all out.”
The move to Charlton has allowed him discover more about himself as a player and person. He is relishing the challenge of League One football and playing consistently. He’s a little shy of 50 games in 2024 and already on his second manager after Nathan Jones replaced Michael Appleton after just two starts under the boss who signed him.
Dubliner Curtis Fleming is a guiding light at the club, too, while a late call-up to be part of the senior Ireland squad for the Nations League game with England in November is testament to the consistency he has found this season, missing just two league games so far.
“My main goal is being there and part of it with Ireland,” Coventry says.
“But I will only be close if I am playing all the time, it’s no good being in for one game then out for a few weeks. On the pitch it can feel like you are beginning to get control and have more confidence but in the space of a game or two it can then feel like it’s gone.
“That’s always in your head but I’m starting to feel like I am getting more control and sinking my teeth into it by playing.”
There will be a St Stephen’s Day game at home to Cambridge United, and Coventry will get to spend Christmas surrounded by all of his family. His nana Kathleen – orginally from Oliver Bond Street in Dublin – is still going strong.
Christmas is the time of year that can still “make or break” the family jewellery shop where his uncle and father hold the fort.
And in his own professional life Coventry can look back on 2024 as a year that will help shape the next stage of his career.
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