After years of young Asian players being discarded so readily by clubs, Matthew Brown explains why the next generation just might be the real deal
Jimmy Khan was 14 and full of hope when he signed associate schoolboy forms for Blackburn Rovers. “There we were standing in the office of the chief scout when in walked Howard Kendall, who was the club’s player- manager at the time. I’ll never forget his exact words. ‘What’s this then? Am I witnessing the signing of the first Asian football star?’”