Meet the man who was paid £50 by QPR for Liverpool and England star Raheem Sterling

Peter Moring (Image: Archant)

Sterling was then a nine-year-old having a kickabout on the pitches where the Ark Academy in Wembley now stands, and Moring said he knew straightaway the Liverpool attacker had a special talent.

Speaking at his home in Wembley, Moring told the Brent and Kilburn Times: “I was running the football at the London Underground sports ground where the Ark Academy now is, and I allowed the Brent primary and secondary schools to play there.

“One day I was down there and I saw this little kid playing for Oakington Manor school.

“The guy he was with was a bloke called Darren, who was one of the coaches from the church team Alpha & Omega.

Raheem Sterling playing for England at Under-16 level. (Image: PA Archive/Press Association Images)

“I said to Darren, ‘this kid is good, can I get him down to QPR?’.

“What we agreed was for Raheem to keep playing for the Alpha & Omega side and I would inform John O’Brien, who was in charge of the QPR Under-16s, and arrange for him to come up and watch him.

Moring went on: “At 10 years of age he was down at QPR but he wasn’t allowed to sign on. When he was Under-11 they signed him and I got £50 from the club for him.

“I was scouting for them at that time. I fell out with John, even though I knew him personally.

“When he was 12, John Creith got involved with Rangers as youth development officer, but he never took him down there – I did. I got paid for it.

“But John was there on the day I spotted him playing for his school.”

Sterling was sold to Liverpool for an initial fee of £500,000 rising to around £5million with add-ons including international honours.

Despite his status as one of the most promosing talents in world football, Moring says he has seen better young players in Brent, including the borough’s current Under-12 manager Dean Sylvester.

Moring said: “Dean was at Luton Town and Chelsea paid £18,000 for him when he was just 10.

“He didn’t get his YTS at Chelsea because he got distracted by other things. He was at QPR but ended up playing in non-league football. I’m delighted to see him now involved, coaching one of the Brent teams.

“Another lad called Stevie Roberts is one of the best players you have ever seen in your life. He was absoloutely magnificent. Lennie Lawrence from Luton Town went running with him to try and get him to stay on his YTS but he’d had enough.”

Moring continues to watch football but doesn’t describe it as the beautiful game: “Football is a disgrace,” he said. “You’ve got all these development centres but how many kids make the first team? The coaches don’t care because they are being paid well whether a kid makes it through or not.”

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