When Vincent Pericard pulled on the famous black and white stripes of Juventus to face Arsenal in a Champions League clash on 20th March 2002, he felt invincible. Little did he know that his career would never hit those dizzying heights ever again and he would go from playing with Zidane to playing in non-league.
Pericard was born in Cameroon and at the age of five moved to France, which is where he started to kick a ball around.
“My step-father took me for a walk randomly and it happened that we walked past AS Saint-Etienne, where [Michel] Platini used to play.” he says.
“A coach at the time saw me walk past with my step-father and said to me ‘do you fancy kicking the ball?’ and I said ‘yeah why not?’
“When you’re five or six nothing really matters. I thought let’s have some fun, and I really enjoyed it and by the end of it he asked me ‘do you want to come back tomorrow?’
“I came back the next day and so on and so forth, I would say the rest is history.”
Pericard worked his way through the ranks at St Etienne and eventually broke into the first-team, playing two league matches in Ligue 1 for the French side.
A life-changing moment was just around the corner for the up-and-coming striker though.
“I was physically fit, healthy and enjoying it and I was attracting a lot of interest. Notably at this time is when Juventus knocked on the door and said ‘we want you’.”
The Efok-born striker joined the ‘The Old Lady’ as a 17 year-old in the summer of 2000. It wouldn’t have been a surprise for this to be too much pressure on such young shoulders, but Pericard wasn’t initially fazed by the expectation.
“I was very lucky in a way as I didn’t feel the pressure. I was 18 or 17 so I was very naive. I didn’t realise the extent of how big it was.”
Perhaps that wasn’t the right mindset to have because after just one appearance, which arrived in the Champions League against Arsenal, Pericard was shipped to English second-tier side, Portsmouth, on a season-long loan deal.
It would be understandably disappointing to go from working with Carlo Ancelotti in front of the stunning backdrop of Turin to being managed by Harry Redknapp on the South Coast of England, but Pericard enjoyed his time at Fratton Park.
“Juventus said ‘we want you back’ but I said ‘no, I want to stay here’ because I was happy there.” he says.
“Initially, I was only sent on loan. I was supposed to go back to Juventus, and I was the one pushing saying ‘I am leaving, I want to stay in Portsmouth. I want to stay here’.
“I felt that I was part of the team. If you think about it at Juventus, I was only 17 playing with arguably the best players in the world. They were easing me in, I wasn’t fully part of it.”
Portsmouth didn’t exactly offer much support to their new recruit, with Pericard having to build his English vocabulary by reading the ‘Dear Deidre’ section in The Sun Newspaper.
Despite this, Pericard helped Pompey to the promised land of the Premier League with 9 league goals in 32 appearances in their 2002-03 promotion-winning campaign. The young striker was starting to make a name for himself on English shores.
He did this under the guidance of Harry Redknapp, who Pericard holds in very high regard.
“I would say Harry Redknapp [is the manager that had the most influence on my career]. When I came to England, I had a manager that said ‘Vincent, we got you from Juventus. We believe that you can bring a lot to the team’, so that helped me.”
Pericard’s form soon faded due to recurring injury problems, that left him out of favour at Fratton Park. He made loan moves to Sheffield United and Plymouth Argyle in order to try and prove his worth and fitness but couldn’t manage to force his way back.
He decided to make a permanent switch to Stoke City in 2006 but failed to replicate the form he enjoyed when first moved to England. His manager at Stoke Tony Pulis’ style of coaching and tactics never suiting his game.
“Pulis is very different to Harry Redknapp in terms of management style, and that’s where I learned how I like to be managed.
“[Redknapp] says ‘I don’t care what you do during the week, whether you are going out or are in bed, as long as you come and perform on a Saturday’.
“On the other hand, Tony Pulis is more micro-management. He will tell you what you need to do from Monday to Friday and he will even tell you how you should play on a Saturday. It’s like he has got a remote control.
“Tony Pulis was a manager that didn’t suit me. I am not going to argue that he gets you results, but he was not a manager I enjoyed working under.”
It wasn’t just the injuries, lack of goals or discontent with the manager that troubled Pericard during his stint at Stoke, though. It was during this spell that he made a decision that changed the rest of his life.
In mid-2007, Pericard served five weeks in prison for perverting the course of justice after being caught speeding and then claiming that it was his father-in-law who was behind the wheel.
“I thought I would get a slap on the wrist, a fine and obviously with all the money I had, I would pay a couple thousand pounds and get on with my day. Nope, they literally sent me to prison the same day for five weeks and that literally changed my life.
“It was horrible. My cellmate was an arsonist. So when he asked me ‘why are you in prison?’ I said ‘oh, because I lied’. He just laughed. I thought what am I doing here?”
After being released from prison, Pericard returned to training with Stoke and was feeling fresh after a nasty wake-up call.
However, he had to wear an electronic tag with a curfew and during one a training session, the tag broke. Despite calling for it to be repaired, no one came to fix it and the curfew was broken.
Pericard was taken back to prison and his freedom was snatched from him once more. “I didn’t do any gym, I wasn’t eating, I was literally so depressed. I had given up on everything.” he says.
His Stoke career never recovered from this and he ended his journey with the Staffordshire-based club on bad terms. “I kind of had disgust towards Tony Pulis and the club because they didn’t support me” he says.
His mental health also suffered and he has even admitted in the past that he contemplated taking his own life. He did eventually come through the other side and advises others who are going through a similar position to ‘seek help and to talk about it’.
He couldn’t salvage his crumbling career though. His descent down the divisions took him to Carlisle United, Swindon Town and then next door to where it all began in England with a move to non-league Havant & Waterlooville.
“My rock bottom was with non-league football. Even in non-league football, I was on the bench. I couldn’t even get a running in non-league football when I was playing with the best players in the world. It was just unacceptable.”
In 2012, Pericard decided to hang up his boots and quit the game. However, he took the anger and frustration at how his career had played out as motivation to kick-start his education.
“I was motivated by the fact that I was very angry at what had happened to me.”
Pericard graduated from the University of Portsmouth with a first-class honours degree in Accounting and Finance in 2018. The skills he educated himself with has allowed him, now at 35 years-old, to set up his own company called WHATSUP? An app that aims to help students who may be suffering from mental health issues.
“It has been making a very good big difference. The impact is something I am very proud of. I think we have got 1,000 students using it now.”
Pericard now believes that he is on the right path to success and happiness, bringing to an end a topsy-turvy footballing career.
Pericard was born in Cameroon and at the age of five moved to France, which is where he started to kick a ball around.
“My step-father took me for a walk randomly and it happened that we walked past AS Saint-Etienne, where [Michel] Platini used to play.” he says.
“A coach at the time saw me walk past with my step-father and said to me ‘do you fancy kicking the ball?’ and I said ‘yeah why not?’
“I came back the next day and so on and so forth, I would say the rest is history.”
Pericard worked his way through the ranks at St Etienne and eventually broke into the first-team, playing two league matches in Ligue 1 for the French side.
A life-changing moment was just around the corner for the up-and-coming striker though.
“I was physically fit, healthy and enjoying it and I was attracting a lot of interest. Notably at this time is when Juventus knocked on the door and said ‘we want you’.”
The Efok-born striker joined the ‘The Old Lady’ as a 17 year-old in the summer of 2000. It wouldn’t have been a surprise for this to be too much pressure on such young shoulders, but Pericard wasn’t initially fazed by the expectation.“I was very lucky in a way as I didn’t feel the pressure. I was 18 or 17 so I was very naive. I didn’t realise the extent of how big it was.”
Perhaps that wasn’t the right mindset to have because after just one appearance, which arrived in the Champions League against Arsenal, Pericard was shipped to English second-tier side, Portsmouth, on a season-long loan deal.
It would be understandably disappointing to go from working with Carlo Ancelotti in front of the stunning backdrop of Turin to being managed by Harry Redknapp on the South Coast of England, but Pericard enjoyed his time at Fratton Park.
“Juventus said ‘we want you back’ but I said ‘no, I want to stay here’ because I was happy there.” he says.
“Initially, I was only sent on loan. I was supposed to go back to Juventus, and I was the one pushing saying ‘I am leaving, I want to stay in Portsmouth. I want to stay here’.
“I felt that I was part of the team. If you think about it at Juventus, I was only 17 playing with arguably the best players in the world. They were easing me in, I wasn’t fully part of it.”
Portsmouth didn’t exactly offer much support to their new recruit, with Pericard having to build his English vocabulary by reading the ‘Dear Deidre’ section in The Sun Newspaper.
Despite this, Pericard helped Pompey to the promised land of the Premier League with 9 league goals in 32 appearances in their 2002-03 promotion-winning campaign. The young striker was starting to make a name for himself on English shores.
He did this under the guidance of Harry Redknapp, who Pericard holds in very high regard.
“I would say Harry Redknapp [is the manager that had the most influence on my career]. When I came to England, I had a manager that said ‘Vincent, we got you from Juventus. We believe that you can bring a lot to the team’, so that helped me.”
Pericard’s form soon faded due to recurring injury problems, that left him out of favour at Fratton Park. He made loan moves to Sheffield United and Plymouth Argyle in order to try and prove his worth and fitness but couldn’t manage to force his way back.
He decided to make a permanent switch to Stoke City in 2006 but failed to replicate the form he enjoyed when first moved to England. His manager at Stoke Tony Pulis’ style of coaching and tactics never suiting his game.
“Pulis is very different to Harry Redknapp in terms of management style, and that’s where I learned how I like to be managed.
“[Redknapp] says ‘I don’t care what you do during the week, whether you are going out or are in bed, as long as you come and perform on a Saturday’.
“On the other hand, Tony Pulis is more micro-management. He will tell you what you need to do from Monday to Friday and he will even tell you how you should play on a Saturday. It’s like he has got a remote control.
“Tony Pulis was a manager that didn’t suit me. I am not going to argue that he gets you results, but he was not a manager I enjoyed working under.”
It wasn’t just the injuries, lack of goals or discontent with the manager that troubled Pericard during his stint at Stoke, though. It was during this spell that he made a decision that changed the rest of his life.
In mid-2007, Pericard served five weeks in prison for perverting the course of justice after being caught speeding and then claiming that it was his father-in-law who was behind the wheel.
“I thought I would get a slap on the wrist, a fine and obviously with all the money I had, I would pay a couple thousand pounds and get on with my day. Nope, they literally sent me to prison the same day for five weeks and that literally changed my life.
“It was horrible. My cellmate was an arsonist. So when he asked me ‘why are you in prison?’ I said ‘oh, because I lied’. He just laughed. I thought what am I doing here?”
After being released from prison, Pericard returned to training with Stoke and was feeling fresh after a nasty wake-up call.
However, he had to wear an electronic tag with a curfew and during one a training session, the tag broke. Despite calling for it to be repaired, no one came to fix it and the curfew was broken.
Pericard was taken back to prison and his freedom was snatched from him once more. “I didn’t do any gym, I wasn’t eating, I was literally so depressed. I had given up on everything.” he says.
His Stoke career never recovered from this and he ended his journey with the Staffordshire-based club on bad terms. “I kind of had disgust towards Tony Pulis and the club because they didn’t support me” he says.
His mental health also suffered and he has even admitted in the past that he contemplated taking his own life. He did eventually come through the other side and advises others who are going through a similar position to ‘seek help and to talk about it’.
He couldn’t salvage his crumbling career though. His descent down the divisions took him to Carlisle United, Swindon Town and then next door to where it all began in England with a move to non-league Havant & Waterlooville.
“My rock bottom was with non-league football. Even in non-league football, I was on the bench. I couldn’t even get a running in non-league football when I was playing with the best players in the world. It was just unacceptable.”
In 2012, Pericard decided to hang up his boots and quit the game. However, he took the anger and frustration at how his career had played out as motivation to kick-start his education.
“I was motivated by the fact that I was very angry at what had happened to me.”
Pericard graduated from the University of Portsmouth with a first-class honours degree in Accounting and Finance in 2018. The skills he educated himself with has allowed him, now at 35 years-old, to set up his own company called WHATSUP? An app that aims to help students who may be suffering from mental health issues.
“It has been making a very good big difference. The impact is something I am very proud of. I think we have got 1,000 students using it now.”
Pericard now believes that he is on the right path to success and happiness, bringing to an end a topsy-turvy footballing career.
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