Enfield Town midfielder Mickey Parcell (credit Tom Scott) — Mickey Parcell is only 23 but is already approaching 200 appearances for Enfield Town (credit Tom Scott)

In his regular Enfield Town FC column, Andrew Warshaw speaks to one of the club’s homegrown talents

Mickey Parcell might be a world away from Harry Kane in terms of the footballing limelight but the Enfield Town defender shares one thing in common with the highly-prized England and Tottenham Hotspur marksman.

Just like Kane, Parcell delights in chants of “he’s one of our own”, in his case a reference to the fact that he is Enfield through-and-through. Loyalty may be a fading commodity in football but it is easy to see why Towners fans have such a special place in their hearts for Mickey, who was born and raised in the borough and has dedicated most of his non-league career to his local club.

Parcell joined Enfield in the 2015-16 season, after hopes of a professional career with Torquay United were cruelly cut short by injury. The 23-year-old, who can also play as a wing-back or wide midfielder, told the Dispatch: “I wasn’t really too sure after I fell out of the pro game what was next for me, because it was so good being part of that environment.”

Since coming ‘home’ he has become very much a one-club man. So much so that at the beginning of last season, when then Town manager Bradley Quinton was prized away by Braintree further up the footballing pyramid, Mickey was the one Enfield Town player who resisted the temptation to join an exodus of team-mates, deciding to stay with his local club instead.

“It was difficult at first being virtually the only player left but I knew the new gaffer, Andy Leese. I’d be lying if I said I haven’t had offers to play in a higher division but Andy had to rebuild the whole team and I wanted to help try and instil in the new players what it meant to play for Enfield.”

Having agonisingly missed out on a play-off place by one point in 2016, then lost in the play-off semi-final to Dulwich Hamlet the following season, Mickey is desperate to finish the current campaign on a high and hopes, having been brought up in Edmonton, that his beloved Tottenham Hotspur can do the same.

His other ambition is to get to 200 appearances for Enfield, a landmark he will be closing in on come the end of the season. “It would be a great personal achievement. I’ve got a lot of respect for the people at Enfield. We don’t win every game, no club does, but over the last four years I’ve seen all the hard work everyone has put in, the vast majority of it voluntary.”

Giving something back to the fans is Mickey’s way of appreciating the same kind of special relationship Kane has at Spurs.

“It’s a bit different, of course, hearing your name being chanted by a few hundred rather than several thousand supporters, but it doesn’t really matter. Even if it was just one fan, it gees you up.

“This is a special one-off club. Of course I’d like to play at a higher level but I want to try and do it with Enfield Town.”

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