Andy Kellett, who now plays for ninth-tier side Bury, was part of one of the most unexpected Deadline Day moves in 2015 when he joined Manchester United on loan from Bolton Wanderers.
The last-minute deal surprised many, including United fans who were probably hoping for some big-name signings to boost their Premier League title chances. Instead, they got Kellett, a 21 year old midfielder who had spent the previous three months on loan from Bolton at League Two side Plymouth Argyle.
Even Kellett himself was taken aback by the move. He had agreed to spend the rest of the season on loan at Plymouth until United swooped in for his services. Speaking to Daily Star Sport in 2022, Kellett shared: “The deal at Plymouth had all been agreed. So I went to the training ground on Deadline Day, quite late on ac
“I went in and the manager said there’s an option for you to go to Man Utd on loan if you want. So that’s how it came about. I was going down to the training ground to sign for Plymouth and I ended up coming away signing for Man Utd.
“At first I was quite shocked by it. But then further on in the night I got quite emotional because it was quite a big thing. I can’t really remember my initial reaction, I just think I was in a bit of shock really.”
Shifting from League Two football to Manchester United is a massive jump, as Kellett quickly realised. “It was quite surreal,” he said, talking about his first visit to the training ground. “Obviously I’d been to Carrington before having played games for Bolton in the U14s and U16s and that, but I’d never been inside the building.”
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“It literally had everything. It was a culture shock. The six months before I was at Plymouth, which I really enjoyed, but they didn’t have the kind of facilities that United had. So it was a massive, massive shock in terms of that.”
Kellett spent most of his stint as a United player with the U23s, but he still got plenty of time around first-team stars like Wayne Rooney, David De Gea and Angel Di Maria.
“On most of the training days lads like myself would go over to the first-team whenever they needed bodies,” he adds. “So I trained with them quite a lot. And when the first-team had games, the lads who weren’t in the squad would drop down to the 23s, so there was always a lot of experience in training.”
Kellett found playing with Manchester United easier than lower leagues, saying: “Obviously the standard was very good,” and “I’ve always said this to people, though; I don’t know whether it was the surfaces or playing with better players, but it felt a lot easier than playing in the lower leagues where it’s a bit more like pinball.”
He also noted that at United, “In training, you would get time on the ball, whereas lower down the levels everything was kind of frantic. If you gave someone an opportunity to score, they would score nine times out of ten.”
Kellett enjoyed the camaraderie at United, mentioning, “The under 23s had their own changing room but you’d all eat together and everyone would be in the same gym, so there were interactions all the time with the first-team.” He found the first team as grounded as any other club, adding, “To be fair, I didn’t know whether, because of the different environment, they would take on young lads and that but they were probably just as down to earth as any other club I’ve been at.”
A memorable moment for him was during his first training session when he got nutmegged by Angel Di Maria: “I remember my first training session. I got nutmegged by Angel Di Maria. Obviously it was a bit of a thing because it was my first day. Everyone gave me a bit of banter, and, to be fair, I’m glad it happened because it made me relax. That stands out!” Kellett shared.
Kellett never got the chance to play for United’s first team, but he did share the pitch with Robin van Persie in the under 23s. “It was surreal,” he tells us. “Van Persie used to drop down all the time. I think he played four or five games while I was there.” A few of them used to drop down more or less every single game. I’d watched Van Persie in the Premier League for ten years and you could just see how easy he made stuff look.”
“Just the way he was dropping down, I know some first-team players when they play 23s, they might sulk and stuff like that, but the way he carried himself and presented himself when he used to drop down was great.”
Despite spending most of his time at United in the under 23s, Kellett wasn’t clear on what his role would be when he joined the club. If the loan deal had come about a year later, the former Bolton man, now 28, believes he might have had a shot at playing for the first team.
“I got told you’re going on loan to United, and then when I spoke to Warren Joyce the day after he said we as a team want to look at you,” he says. “He’d previously told my manager at Bolton that he’d been looking at me for a while and wanted to see what I was like in day-to-day training and stuff like that.”
“It was never explained to me really. The only thing is, I never really felt like there was an opportunity to play for the first team.” “The year after they had quite a few injuries. I think Cameron Borthwick-Jackson ended up playing a few games and he was an under 18 while I was there. Maybe, if it had happened a year later, I might have had an opportunity.”
He continues to reflect on his time as a United player with great warmth though, saying: “It was a once in a lifetime opportunity,” However, he does question whether he had made the right move at that time, considering: “Could I have gone down that route, maybe?
If we’d had gone up that year, we would have been League One. But I don’t think going from playing first-team to United’s under 23s – I don’t think that would have done me any harm because I might have got the move to Wigan from it.”
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After his stint with United, Kellett moved on to Championship side Wigan Athletic for three seasons, before transferring to Notts County. After that he had short stints at Fylde, Alfreton Town and Guiseley before joining North West Counties Football League Bury last summer.