Stoking the flames

Anthony Stokes is scoring goals for fun and writing his own headlines. Now comes the hard part — meeting absurd expectation. The young Irish striker spoke to Liam Mackey.

HOT. Scorching. On fire. The headline writers are running out of inflammable phrases to describe the form of Anthony Stokes, the 18-year-old Dubliner who is currently the talk of Scottish and Irish football and whose surname is hardly an impediment to the deployment of ever more incendiary language.

Before this page spontaneously combusts then, better perhaps to say that the Arsenal loanee at Falkirk is currently enjoying such a purple patch in front of goal that even when things go wrong for him, they come out right in the end.

Take last Tuesday night, when Falkirk faced Celtic in the CIS Cup quarter-final at Parkhead and, after 120 minutes of football had failed to separate the two sides, Anthony Stokes stepped up to do his bit for the Bairns in the penalty shoot-out. This time, the boy who just can’t stop scoring did, his effort comfortably saved by Celtic’s Artur Boruc. Even then, the headline writers didn’t have to dampen down the superlatives: Falkirk still won through at the end of a dramatic shoot-out and Stokes, his superb goal from play having originally kept the visitors in the game, had another night to remember.

But, he admits, one tinged with a little bit of relief. “I was saying to the lads afterwards that if I’d have scored, it could have gone the other way and we might have lost,” he quips. “Normally I do take the penos. If there was one during a game, more than likely I’d be on it. But on the night it was a poor peno, I just didn’t take it very well. It was really a lack of concentration, I didn’t hit it with enough purpose and it was too close to the keeper. To be honest, I felt a bit exhausted towards the end of the game but everyone dug in deep and it was great to get the result.”

And, once again, Stokes was able to grab the headlines by grabbing yet another goal, this time an opportunistic volley from a deflected cross. “It wasn’t actually the easiest of finishes but I just wanted to get a good contact on it,” he says. He certainly did that and the result was his 11th goal in 10 games, a remarkable run of form which also included back-to-back hat-tricks and earned him the SPL’s Young Player Of the Month award for October. His exploits have also brought him his highest international recognition yet, the player who has represented his country at all levels from U-15 up to U-21 getting the nod from Steve Staunton for inclusion in the Ireland ‘B’ squad to play Scotland at Dalymount Park next Tuesday.

At times you have to remind yourself that Stokes is still only 18, for so long has he been lumbered with the “next big thing” tag. Anthony played rugby and Gaelic football while attending Terenure College in Dublin but soccer was always his first love. Roy Keane was his boyhood hero and, indeed, Manchester United appeared to be on the verge of signing him from Shelbourne before Arsenal stepped in and Stokes duly headed for Highbury where Irish legend Liam Brady, who heads up the Gunners’ Youth Academy, became an influential mentor.

Two years ago, Stokes scooped the Irish Examiner’s Junior Sports Star Award for soccer in recognition of his goal-scoring exploits for the Irish U-17s. At the time, Liam Brady was happy to predict with confidence that, if the youngster worked hard, he would make it at the highest level. But while Stokes’ upward mobility continued in the green shirt, he found it increasingly hard to break out of the reserves at Arsenal, his only first team appearances coming as a late substitute in the Gunners’ 3-0 win over Sunderland in the League Cup last October and in Dennis Bergkamp’s testimonial game against Ajax.

Then, this summer, a few words from the Arsenal manager changed everything. “Arsene Wenger told me before our pre-season tour that he thought it would be good for me to get out and get a year’s experience. I took it on board and made it my business to ensure that I went out on loan within a few weeks. You have to be positive, don’t you? At the end of the day it’s my career, not his. I have to do things to help me improve as a player. And he has done it with players before — like Ashley Cole. So I just want to impress him and improve as much as I can as a player so that when I go back, I’ll have a better chance.

“There were a few clubs interested. Falkirk was kind of a second choice because Arsenal wanted me to go to a Championship club, which I could have done. But I spoke to (Falkirk manager) John Hughes and he said he’d give me a chance to play in the first team. I took the decision in the end to give it a go.

“I knew the way they played football because I’d spoken to (fellow Irishmen and former Arsenal colleagues) Stephen O’Donnell and Patrick Cregg. They told me about the place and how the team were doing. And as well as that there was the chance to play against the likes of Rangers and Celtic. I took everything into consideration and liked the sound of it.

“Obviously moving all the way from London was a bit of an issue. But my career is more important. If I had to go abroad to play, I’d do it. So I packed up and made the move. And I’m happy up here at the moment. Knowing the two Irish lads helped me settle in as well. I have a lovely apartment. I live in a small town about five minutes from Falkirk. It’s a great club and there’s a great spirit about the place, on and off the pitch.”

Stokes may be contributing hugely to Falkirk’s season to remember but he never loses sight of the ultimate goal of the exercise — self-improvement.

“I think it’s been very beneficial coming up here,” he says. “I’m getting stronger — we do a bit more work with weights here — and I’ve been working on my finishing a lot. So I think my overall game has improved. It’s also about the level that you’re playing at, you’re playing against good players so you have to do things quicker and be smarter on the ball.”

And with experience of regular first-team football comes a surge in confidence.

“I’ve just been going out with a thing in my head that I want to score goals and I’m trying to take up good positions,” he says. “And luckily enough the midfielders and the two boys that I play up front with have found me. We play three up front but when we don’t have the ball the other two drop in. It means that you have to put in a shift but I’ve also got an awful lot fitter since I’ve come up here, so it’s not too bad.

“The way we play, we like to move the ball around. In my opinion we’d probably be up there with the top teams to play football in the league. We’re a young side and inexperience comes through sometimes but we’re hitting a bit of form at the moment and hopefully we can keep it up. John Hughes is great. He’s very positive, he always wants us to keep the ball on the ground and get it forward, which is easy enough for me to adapt to, coming from Arsenal.”

If and when he’ll be going back to Arsenal is another matter. Liam Brady keeps in regular contact with Stokes and was among the attendance at the Celtic game on Tuesday night. “Arsenal have their ear to the ground and know what’s going on,” says Anthony. Sunderland boss Roy Keane was also an interested observer at the game, while Celtic’s Gordon Strachan made no secret of his admiration for the striker in the run-up to the match.

As things stand, Stokes’ loan deal is scheduled to end in January but, not surprisingly, Falkirk have already had discussions with Arsenal with a view to extending what has proved to be a mutually beneficial arrangement.

“We’ll see what happens,” says the player. “I’d rather leave things like that for the next few weeks and just concentrate on playing. But I’m really happy here and really enjoying my football.”

And what of all the attention that has suddenly come his way?

“Ah, it’s grand. I’m just trying to keep myself to myself. I’ve had a lot of press onto me the last few days but the sooner that kind of dies down a bit the better. It doesn’t really bother me but you want to have some balance and the main thing for me is to concentrate on my football.”

Anthony Stokes can expect to be the centre of attention again next week, but this time back in his home city, when Ireland take on Scotland in a ‘B’ international at Dalymount Park. While many have argued that he should have gone straight into the senior squad for Wednesday’s European Championship qualifier against San Marino, Stokes maintains he is delighted to have been called up for the ‘B’ panel.

Unfortunately, the timing is hardly ideal, since Falkirk have a game against Hearts the previous night.

“I think there’s talk of me playing a half a game (against Scotland),” says Stokes. “Half a game should be alright but a full game, I think, would be out of the question. Of course, a lot will depend on how I feel after the game on Monday. But I’m hoping I will be involved on Tuesday.”

And, if his current form continues, it surely can’t be long before he’s turning out in the green shirt on a Wednesday.

“I hope it’s a bit closer,” he says of that longed-for senior debut. “All I can do is get on with my football, keep trying to score goals and hopefully it will come sooner rather than later.”