A former Arsenal striker has revealed that his family weren’t happy with him when he decided to leave the North London club.
The Gunners have had a number of players over the years who have been adamant that the grass would be greener elsewhere and have ultimately lived to regret their decision to leave.
Matt Turner recently revealed that he should’ve stayed at Arsenal for longer, while Amario Cozier-Duberry said he wishes he were still at the Emirates.
However, for some, the regret comes not from themselves, but from the people around them.
Jay Bothroyd says his family were ‘fuming’ when he left Arsenal
Jay Bothroyd was born and raised in North London, and he joined the Arsenal academy at a young age.
Developing through the Hale End system, the striker never made a senior appearance for the Gunners and abruptly left for Coventry City in 2000 for £1 million at the age of 18.
Competing with the likes of Thierry Henry, Dennis Bergkamp and Kanu at the time, it was certainly a reasonable decision for him to depart Highbury in pursuit of first-team opportunities.
This didn’t prevent Bothroyd’s family from being livid at him. Speaking on the Joy of Football Podcast, the former number nine revealed that both his parents were ‘fuming’ when he opted to switch Islington for the West Midlands.
“So I looked at it [leaving Arsenal] like a positive, almost, with my dad, when I was speaking to my dad, but my dad was absolutely fuming,” Bothroyd explained.
“He’s an Arsenal fan, my mum’s an Arsenal fan, all my family are Arsenal fans that live down the road. So they were fuming with me, but I just looked at it like, I’m going to play somewhere.”
Jay Bothroyd went on to enjoy an impressive top level career
If Bothroyd hadn’t opted to leave Arsenal when he did, it’s possible that he would’ve spent years on the bench in North London, and ultimately not developed into the striker that he did.
After two impressive seasons at Coventry in England’s second division, he earned a move to Serie A side Perugia.
Things didn’t go according to plan for Bothroyd in Italy, and after stints at the likes of Blackburn, Charlton and Wolves, he eventually settled and made a name for himself at Cardiff.
After netting 41 goals in 116 Championship games for the Welsh side, Premier League outfit Queens Park Rangers then signed the Englishman in the summer of 2011.
He ultimately struggled to replicate his form from the second division in the top flight, but enjoyed prolific seasons in Thailand and Japan late in his career, before hanging up his boots in 2021.
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