DON'T try to tell Stockport new boys Carl Baker and Peter Thompson that they are football "slaves" - or you might get a dose of reality in return.

The two players have signed away the next three years of their lives at Edgeley Park, and could not be happier at the prospect of being in thrall to the League One club.

Just a few years ago, Thompson was a postman, rising at the kind of time that some Premier League stars are stumbling out of a swish nightclub - and sometimes putting in a shift for Irish club Linfield that same night.

Away games would occasionally see him arriving home, snatching a couple of hours sleep and then up again to sling the sack over his shoulder.

Scouser Baker also knows what it is to get dirt under your fingernails and is only too aware of the heartache of football, as well as some of the highs.

Shattered

A product of Steven Gerrard's old club Whiston Juniors, the slightly-built midfielder was in the Liverpool Academy for six years before being told he was not good enough for Anfield.

His dreams shattered, he ended up working in landscaping for Knowsley council, and turning out for a few quid on a Saturday for Prescot Cables in the UniBond League.

But the two men were spurred on by their glimpse of life in the slow lane, and are now aiming to use newly-promoted Stockport as a means of pursuing their football dreams.

Baker signed for Stockport from Morecambe for a deal worth £225,000 this week, having worked his way up from Prescot to Southport, where he turned out full-time, and on to the Shrimps, where he was given his league debut.

And, like former England stars Ian Wright and Stuart Pearce - who also "worked" for a living before getting their second wind as footballers - he feels his experiences have strengthened him.

"For three years I worked in landscaping and land charges for the local council," said Baker. "It was nine to five, Monday to Friday and, looking back, I don't know how I lasted three years.

Dream

"That's what drove me on. When I look back at what I was doing every day then, and what I do now, it is a dream come true.

"I definitely wouldn't call this slavery! I wouldn't swap it for the world.

"When things didn't work out at Liverpool I went to Prescot and I think that has also stood me in good stead because I have seen the other side of the game.

"Playing at that level you can turn up, nothing has been organised, and it's unprofessional, so it makes you appreciate what you have got all the more, the way you get looked after.

"It makes you want to put more back into it, because I have seen the other side. In the long run it will benefit me.

Thompson signed for Stockport last week in a transfer worth £150,000, and he agrees with his new teammate: "I was a postman for a while before I turned full-time," he said.

"I didn't mind having to give that up. It didn't take a lot of persuasion!

"Those early, early shifts are no good, especially when you had a midweek game away. No good for preparing, and no good for recovering after a game either.

"It motivates you. No disrespect to any postmen, because I didn't mind doing the job, but the chance to play football professionally is something that drives you on.

Opportunity

"I got that opportunity with Linfield and now I have the chance to further my career."

Their new manager Jim Gannon is fully aware of the focus which a spell on Civvy Street can do for a player. He spent time in the Irish army before his football career took off with Dundalk, Sheffield United and then Stockport.

And after retiring from the English game, he spent some time working as an accountant back in Ireland before the football bug tempted him into the game again.

"It definitely can add something," said Gannon. "One thing that attracted us about both players were that they are very level-headed and grounded.

"Their background makes both of them respectful of the opportunity to become footballers.

"Hopefully, neither are motivated by the money but by the chance to play football at the highest level they can. We have given them that opportunity and think they will be excellent professionals.

"I was in the army for a while before I came out of non-league football, and maybe that gives you a respect for the oppor- tunity you get."

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