Croft's original

The students are hand-picked, with football ability an occasional consideration!

The latest undergraduate is Gary Croft, enrolled on a four year course having spent six years at a Grimsby secondary modern.

Croft should have no difficulty settling into his new digs.

The other Blackburn Rovers 'students' are birds of a feather.

For a pattern is clearly developing in the Ewood intake policy.

While footballing matters are obviously of paramount importance, Rovers are also keen to fill the campus with level-headed and personable young men.

At many clubs, GCSEs are about as common as flower arrangers.

Croft is yet another follower of the philosophy that there is a world outside of football.

He is laid back, but not to the point of horizontal and life must provide a challenge.

With a career in football a possibility and strong interest from Port Vale, it would have been easy to neglect schoolwork.

But the 21-year-old achieved three A-grade GCSEs, four at B and one C at home in Uttoxeter before being whisked away to Grimsby.

"I got a B in maths but the rest I was happy with.

"Cruising makes a mockery of your whole education, so I worked hard.

"I am a laid back person - I don't get too wound up about anything.

"But, while I don't turn into an animal on the pitch, I play to win at almost all costs."

The latest challenge was the step up from First Division outfit Grimsby to the bright lights of the Premiership.

On the bench while Andrei Kanchelskis tore into fellow full-back Jeff Kenna last Saturday, many would have been happy to be still wearing a tracksuit come the final whistle.

"I would have enjoyed that challenge but I'm not the type of person to say 'I would have sorted him out'.

"But you have to test yourself at some stage to see if you are going to be good enough," he said.

The next big challenge is just around the corner, back at Gary's Cleethorpes home overlooking the mouth of the River Humber.

Golf is very much on the summer agenda before returning to Blackburn to hunt for a house.

He added: "I'm a last minute person and I like to be able to get to places quickly, so I don't think I would go out to Southport where some of the other players live.

"And I'm not after a spectacular mansion, just somewhere I can look after reasonably well."

Mummy Croft might be making some curtains for his home but Gary has been used to looking after himself from an early age and that bachelor independence is evident.

Wheels are already in motion for future financial stability, through a keen eye on property deals.

"I'm not the sort of person who's going to hoard money but I want to make sure I put some away," he explained, though Gary's life investment's are far from purely material.

One of the biggest wrenches in leaving Grimsby was the break from a close and loyal group of friends.

And - perhaps surprisingly - Gary has not ruled out a return to that Godforsaken part of the world in the long-term future.

"I want to have friends who don't take advantage of you - people who are genuine and willing to pay their own way.

"It takes time to realise who your really good friends are.

"We all looked after each other and had a regular way of life.

"The main industry of fishing is dying off and the docks probably leave a bad impression, as does the drive into Grimsby.

"But there are a lot of nice areas around Cleethorpes and nice houses. I might end up going back there to live, who's to know?" he said.

The imminent Croft challenge, though, is to cement a permanent place in the first team.

"There comes a time when you want to do something different - I wanted a challenge in my job.

"At times with Grimsby I was a bit lackadaisical and dwelling on the ball a bit too much - nothing was new any more.

"I wanted a challenge in my job," he confessed.

There is just one more Brockhall University challenge facing Croft.

The mess hall TV set is rarely tuned into anything other than Teletext or Sky Sports.

Avid viewers of the Discovery channel are sitting ducks for the senior Ewood scholars.

Converted for the new archive on 14 July 2000. Some images and formatting may have been lost in the conversion.