07 October 2020
Marcus Gayle
At 12 years old Marcus joined the local youth football training sessions on Friday evenings playing central midfield and then left wing. A couple of years later he successfully attended a trial for Brentford and was immediately selected for the Under 16 team. This team reached the semi-finals of the FA Youth Cup which was an excellent achievement for a Division 1 side. Marcus left school at 16 without any qualifications, his dreams set on becoming a professional footballer.
At 18 years old Marcus made his debut for the senior team. His first loan was to Dartford “to see if he could play against men”. In 1990 he was asked what his summer plans were – “nil” – and then “how do you feel about going to Finland”, which became his second loan. Even though he could not speak a word of the language he gained a lot of confidence in his time there where he also experience playing in front of a crowd of 30,000.