Rewarding work for Budtz

JAN BUDTZ, Athletic’s on-loan goalkeeper, has seen at first hand how tough life can be for children who are not as fortunate as others.

The Dane — he stands at 6ft 5in tall — is a qualified social worker and has helped troubled teenagers in his homeland.

Budtz revealed he fell out of love with the beautiful game and did not play from the ages of 17 to 21.

He said: “I came to a point in my life when I was not enjoying my football and decided to do something else.

“I qualified as a social worker and was in a house with drug addicts and other problem youngsters.

“It is something which makes you stronger mentally when you work with children, some of whom don’t have a mum or a dad or who have lived on the streets.”

Budtz intends to return to social work when his playing days are over.

The 29-year-old resumed his career in 2004 with Nordsjaelland in Denmark.

He had a trial at Doncaster Rovers, who later offered him a two-year contract. The highlight of his spell came in a Carling Cup tie against Manchester City when he saved three penalties in a spot-kick shoot-out.

Budtz is in his second season at Hartlepool, but is on loan at Athletic after losing the No 1 shirt to Arran Lee-Barrett.


Fans told to take a seat

ATHLETIC fans, who bought terrace tickets in advance for Saturday’s league game at Yeovil, arrived at Huish Park to discover they had to sit down.

Because insufficient Athletic supporters were coming to the game, Glovers officials decided that it did not warrant opening the visitors’ end of the ground.

Instead, they were upgraded to a seating area at no extra cost.

There were losers, however, as Athletic fans who intended to pay on the day and stand were unable to do so.

They had to buy a seat but, in the case of adults, it only meant handing over an extra pound