The long read: Andrew Surman

We’re speaking at Hengistbury Head, and you’ve spent the majority of your life in these parts, the south coast must feel like home for you…

I’m a south coast lad, I came on loan to Bournemouth when I was 19 so I know the area well and now I’ve been here for five or six years so it’s a part of my football make up and I’ve lived down south for basically my whole life. It’s a place that’s close to my heart and I love living down here.

Before that, what’s the story of your upbringing, being born in South Africa before coming back to England?

I was born over there, my mum and dad moved there for work. My brother’s two years older and we were both born over there and then moved back over here when I was eight. It was a great place to live from what I can remember, an absolutely amazing country, though it does have its problems.

My mum and dad still live over there for six months of the year, they live in a place called George, I’ve not been back over there since I moved here but I’ve seen the photos and it looks amazing. They moved mainly because I think they felt it was a better place to grow up and they knew it well, I’m grateful to them for moving to have better opportunities for me and my brother.

I can’t speak highly enough of the country, one day I will go back, unfortunately it’s not worked out with our summer being their winter. It’s still a place that’s close to my heart and I’ve still got friends over there, even though I was only eight.

Do you remember much about South Africa from your younger days there?

My memories are that the houses were all big because it’s such a big country, with a different sort of lifestyle. The weather was better than England and it was nice going down to the beach, playing football and that’s where my football career started really. I started playing when I was four-years-old with my dad’s team.

I think if I’d stayed there I wouldn’t have been able to become a footballer, I don’t know that though. I might have played for a team but not to the extent of the Premier League and the career I’ve had. To play football over there and be bought by an English team would have been quite rare.

Do you remember the moment your parents told you you’d be moving back to England?

I do remember that, the hardest thing was that we had two dogs and had to leave them behind. I had a close relationship with them and that was probably the saddest part along with leaving my friends.

At that age I think you get over things pretty quickly. Moving to England my parents had family here, we lived with my grandad for a few months while we were trying to get our feet on the ground. Then we moved to Bitterne where I grew up mostly and I went to St Marys College, it was another nice place to live.

Did those early experiences shape the person you are today?

Yes, possibly, I’m very fortunate that I had a good upbringing from my mum and dad. They’ve always kept my feet on the ground, especially when you’re doing things like playing football. In a career like this it’s very easy to get carried away but they sent me to a good school and gave me a good grounding. I’m fortunate to say I’m a professional footballer which is what I always wanted to be.

You’ve mentioned luck, but how much of your journey to being vice-captain at this football club is also down to hard work?

I’m sure there are a lot of sayings about having talent but not hard work – you do need a bit of luck and to be in the right place at the right time, but you make your own luck and you do that by working hard, keeping focused and keeping mentally strong – as well as really believing that you can do it.

I was at Southampton from the age of ten until I signed professionally at 17 and there was such a high amount of players who came and went. A lot of it was because they weren’t really driven or they lost interest or other things took over, and it’s easy for that to happen.

I go back to my mum and dad, they kept me on the straight and narrow and kept me focused. They knew I wanted to be a footballer, I knew too but it’s very easy to slip and do something else. I was very driven and then when I met my girlfriend, she’s my wife now, who I’ve been with since I was 16 she’s kept me on the straight and narrow since then.

There are a lot of ups and downs in football, I love playing football but the lows can be very low and football can be quite a lonely place. The higher the level you go the more pressure there is and it can be tough, but you have to be mentally strong and that side of the game is so big now, you can’t underestimate that, and if you’re not mentally strong at the top level then you just won’t stay there.

Can you remember a particular low?

I’ve had a few, my lowest points were probably when I was at Wolves. I was only there a year and it never quite worked out for me. I didn’t play many games except the ones against the top four when we got spanked four or five nil. That was the first time I’d moved away from Southampton and it was quite tough.

Then towards the end of my time at Norwich I had a knee injury which niggled on and on and on. I couldn’t quite get fit or get my form back and wasn’t in favour with the manager. Thankfully, Eddie Howe showed enough faith in me to come in for me, I came in on loan and the rest is history in terms of Bournemouth.

Do you think your game’s changed at all over the years?

I played most of my career wide, out on the left. I even played left-back for Southampton and I’ve played on the right as well. I always knew my best position was central midfield but didn’t have a manager who played me there.

Then the manager here said he wanted to play me in the centre and moulded me into the player I felt I could be, so I owe him massively. You don’t really get the ball out wide and you have to be able to affect the game with every touch you have because you might not see it again for five minutes. Whereas in the middle you’re on the ball all the time and that’s where I like to be.

With more of an emphasis on physicality in the Premier League these days, did you ever worry about your role as a ball-playing midfielder?

Every season the fitness levels are getting higher and higher and you have to maintain that as you’re getting older. It’s a challenge, especially when teams are buying players who are basically ready-made machines. 

With experience you learn how to affect games in different ways and you don’t necessarily have to mould yourself into someone who’s going to fly around the pitch and win every tackle they go in for. That’s a big part for a midfielder but you have to think how you’ll affect the game in a different way.  

Last season I knew I had to add a little more going forwards and thankfully I had a few assists and a couple of goals, that was good for me because that was my aim. It’s about improving yourself, adapting and adding something to your game every season, staying relevant because the game is changing all the time, becoming more physical, so you have to stay with that.

If you were younger now what advice would you give to yourself? 

Looking back when I was 17 I’d say to play with less fear. When you’re younger sometimes you can play with the shackles on and looking back you should enjoy your football and not worry about it.

It’s a great time to be a young English footballer, with the way Gareth Southgate is picking his squads. He’s picking young players, giving youth a chance and that’s encouraging teams. You look at Man City, United and Liverpool, they’re playing more youngsters and developing them and that can only be good for English football.

Would you say you’re quite a private person? 

Yeah, I’d say I am, I’m not on social media. It’s not because I hate it and I can completely see why people are on it but I like to feel that if I do something at my house or do something cool I don’t want to tell everyone about it. I’d rather people wonder what I’m doing than knowing what I’m doing every minute of the day. 

Sometimes I think there’s more negativity with social media than there is positivity. If I’m on there I might get pelters after a game and that’s not going to do my mental state any good. I understand why most of the lads are on there, it’s good to interact with the fans as well as putting yourself out there and there’s nothing wrong with that.  

I have no problem with that at all, I just feel for me and my family I don’t need that in my life. You never know though, one day I might pop up and put a few topless shots on there! 

Talk to me about roadworks… 

Oh yeah, nightmare. I’m on the train at the moment, the Wessex Way being shut has been an absolute nightmare for me. It happened a couple of years ago and that was just as bad, I’m trying to find ways around it at the moment, it’s giving me a lot of time to think anyway. 

It must be rare for a vice-captain at a Premier League football club commuting by train… 

Probably, yeah. I don’t complain about it too much, it’s a bit of a pain and the argument might be to move closer, but when you’ve got kids it’s complicated. It’s not just a nightmare for me, but for everyone else who must be pulling their hair out.

I don’t get recognised to be fair, I’ve got a couple of disguises to take with me just in case. I’ve got a cap and a fake nose, not that I need one as mine’s big enough! A couple of people say hello every now and again but I’m not the most recognisable. 

First class?

Of course. I find the train more relaxing and I never would have thought of catching trains, I like to think I’m a fairly normal bloke so I can fit in.