Smalling has often been a scapegoat. Criticism has not been short from United fans in recent seasons and the defender is one of many players who have found themselves under the microscope.
“It’s unfair at times,” he says. “There have been times where I’ve played well and yet still you see the same one or two players picked on. It’s tough. I’m mentally strong and I don’t go into my shell, but I’d be lying if I said it doesn’t affect you.”
He notices the vicious criticism from people purporting to be United fans on social media, yet stays engaged in the hope of getting something positive from it.
“Social media can be a dangerous place,” he said. “We have the beauty of being able to share our message or opinions, but people can get too drawn on it. I wasn’t on social media until three or four years ago. I’m quite private I didn’t want to share everything about myself, but I also felt I could use my platform to help some of the things I’m involved in like FBB (Football Beyond Borders), a social education charity which tries to get struggling kids to focus in the classroom. Maybe people can relate to what I’ve been through — growing up without a father or missing out on a trial because we couldn’t get there as there was no car in the family as we couldn’t afford one.”
“My mum felt she was letting us down because she couldn’t get us to trials. I was released from Millwall because I couldn’t get there to train. Good can come from social media as we’ve seen from Raheem (Sterling) who spoke well about racism or Danny Rose about mental health.”
People don’t know Smalling, the person. Or they don’t know the detail. He hasn’t really spoken about his dad, who died when he was five.
“I can’t remember him,” he says. “I have a few pictures and had he died in modern times I would have had a lot more.”
Smalling opens his phone and shows a picture of his dad with his brother. “I look at it and it fuels me,” he says. “Dad had cancer. Lung. Smoker. He died in his early forties. I was lucky to have my brother when we grew up. We could share our problems, even if we weren’t the most open.
“Maybe I wish I was more open when I was younger. Mentioning dad was almost a taboo subject. My brother and I lied in school to pretend dad hadn’t died. We said he’d moved away. Mum was trying to shield us so it wasn’t discussed.”
Smalling’s first years were spent in Greenwich, but when dad his passed away, the three moved to Chatham and a council estate in the working-class Medway town.
“Mum had family there,” he explains. “She didn’t marry again. She raised us two. My brother and I wanted mum to be more sociable, to meet other people and live a little bit. She did have one friend, but we always came first to her. She sacrificed her life seeing us both through to 18 and finishing our A levels with good results. Mum pushed and encouraged us. She would be the one on the doorstep before it was even dark shouting ‘Christopher! Jason!’ because she wanted us in to do our homework. It was so annoying and a bit embarrassing.”
Theresa Smalling instilled punctuality, the importance of homework, and humility, it seems. “My brother did even better because he’s a bit smarter than me,” adds Smalling. “He got two As and a B. I had school teachers like Mr Emilino helping me too. He put me forward for trials and drove me to them — which got me into Millwall.”
Smalling was six weeks away from going to university while also working, riding his bike to a nearby hotel where he was initially a kitchen porter, before graduating to waiter. But this childhood Arsenal fan, who’d idolised Ian Wright, played for Millwall and joined another London club, Fulham, instead. It went so well that Arsenal wanted to sign him.
“In my head, I was going to Arsenal. Then Manchester United got in touch. I was leaving the team bus at Blackburn away and [Fulham boss] Roy Hodgson said: ‘we’ve accepted a bid from Man United’. That threw me. I felt there were more opportunities to play at Arsenal, but I spoke to Fergie and he said: ‘I wouldn’t sign you if I didn’t think you could play games.’ Maybe his aura felt right, but I made the right decision because I was soon playing alongside great players and winning the league.”
Smalling sits in the boardroom of the Trigoria training ground under an AS Roma badge. It’s where he signed his one-year loan deal two months previously. Pictures of the players sit above their lockers, there are more Roma logos on display than in the club shop at a training facility which has been updated with new pools and gyms. It’s also a place where supporters have made him feel welcome.
“The fans are crazy here, the stadium is very noisy, especially the ultras. People come up to me in the street and say “Forza Roma” all the time. Someone came to the training ground and presented me with a picture they’d drawn of my son Leo. You feel the love and that makes you more confident.”
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