EFL Q&A: Lincoln City's Paul Farman on playing Arsenal, a trial at Newcastle and Thornaby

Lincoln won promotion back to the Sky Bet EFL and, as if that wasn’t enough, became the first non-league side to reach the FA Cup quarter-finals in over a century when they lost 5-0 to Arsenal at the Emirates in March 2017.

In international week when the domestic focus is on Sky Bet Leagues One and Two, it seems fitting that the 27-year-old former Blyth Spartans and Gateshead player should take our Q&A. Saturday's League Two fixture against Luton will be Farman’s 200th league start for the club.

He was twice selected to play for the England C team, but never won a cap, admits to a love of piling peanut butter, jam and butter on his toast and offers a keeper’s view on the backpass rule.

Were you always a goalkeeper?

No, I started out playing up front but I got to about seven and decided that I wanted to be a keeper. I went to a local goalkeeping course in the summer because I think my mam and dad wanted me out of the house in the summer holidays. I enjoyed it and then I got a call from North Shields Boys Club. I went along for training and ever since I’ve carried on playing in goal.

We were joking at the club the other day and I was saying that I just don’t know what excitement centre forwards get from scoring goals. I thrive off having the ball lashed at my body or my face more than what I would from scoring a goal. As a goalkeeper, that’s what gets you going. It’s a weird feeling.

Best moment on a football pitch?

There are two. One has to be lining up at the Emirates, but for me it’s probably winning the National League title at Sincil Bank when we beat Macclesfield in front of all my family and the fans (Lincoln won 2-1 in April 2017). And especially because I’ve been there for nearly six years now and we’ve had some horrific times. Every year has been more or less a relegation battle or a bottom half finish. So for the next year, for us to basically win the FA Cup – as it was for us – and then go on and win the league after that was unbelievable.

There were a few names being chucked about for the Lincoln job last summer, but I had played against the gaffer Danny Cowley when he was at Braintree and he always seemed a genuine guy. He always shook everybody’s hand at the end of the game. That had stuck in my mind. And he’d got Braintree into the play-offs which showed that he was a good manager, so he was my pick of the names that were being thrown around.

Lining up against Arsenal at the Emirates was mad because we didn’t really know what sort of team they were going to play. We were in the changing room just buzzing about the set-up of the place when the gaffer came in with the team sheet and had a little smirk on his face. He wrote their team on the flipchart and I found out I was going to have to keep out Sanchez, Giroud and Walcott. In the end I didn’t because all three of them scored.

When we found out they were going to be playing a full-strength team, we had a bit of a laugh but then we said: ‘Let’s just give have a right go at them.’

Standing next to Petr Cech in the tunnel is what you dream of. I’m 27 and I managed to play against a Premier League club at a Premier League ground against one of the best goalkeepers in the world.

I have this superstition that when we go into an away changing room, I can’t go out back out until I go out to warm up. I should have done it that day just to go and see the empty stadium, which would have been nice.

After the game, we sat down in the changing room just mentally drained having played against some World Cup winners.

I got Petr Cech’s shirt which was credit to the Arsenal players. We were stood outside their changing room like kids trying to get the shirts and programmes signed. The security staff were a bit funny about it. They didn’t want to take the stuff in to get signed, but then Per Mertesacker came out and invited us all into their changing room. It sounds mad, but he made some dreams come true for us that day to go in their changing room and have a chat with some of the players. It was mad that Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain and Theo Walcott were asking us who we had next game and we had to say: ‘Braintree away.’ But they knew who they were so it wasn’t as embarrassing as it sounds.

Is there one regret you need to put right?

It’s a tough one, that. The thing that I always wanted to achieve in my career was to establish myself as a Football League goalkeeper and to have a promotion, so that’s been done.

Maybe I didn’t work quite as hard as I should have when I was younger so I’m trying to make up for that by playing at the highest possible level I can now. I had a trial at Newcastle when both of their keepers were injured. But I kind of got it into my head that I was just going to be there until their keepers came back fit. I could have done a little bit more maybe and gained myself a contract there.

I was 17 and it was just at the age when you’ve started going out but I wouldn’t change it for the world because it makes you 100% a better person for not coming through at a Premier League club. I’ve played at the bottom and I’ve managed to work my way up. My first ever game was an FA Cup tie for Blyth Spartans at Buxton and I managed to keep a clean sheet.

Hardest opponent?

Mesut Ozil in that game against Arsenal. Every time he got the ball outside the box, I didn’t know whether he was going to cross it, shoot it or slide a pass through. He didn’t start, but when he came on, he changed the game. As soon as he came on, the game got stretched. He was just a threat.

There’s no doubt that the difference from National League to Premier League is just a massive, massive step. And that’s why they are getting so much money for. No disrespect to anyone at our level, but they are 100 times better than what we are.

We were drained after that game. Because of the build-up and the media leading up to it, it was mentally draining and I know it sounds crazy but it was a bit of a weight off us afterwards. Having the FA Cup off our shoulders, we then knew what was at stake at that point. We went and won seven games on the bounce and won the league.

Least favourite away ground?

You won’t even have heard of it, but it’s Thornaby away. When I was at Washington and just before I played for Blyth Spartans, I was 17 and went on loan to Washington so that I could play games. I was getting £35 a week and there was one Tuesday night when we played Thornaby away. We had to drive there in separate cars. It was raining, it was windy and we ended up getting beaten 2-0.

Then there was going away to Albania with the England C team in 2012. Twenty minutes before the game, there was a downpour which flooded the whole stadium. There was camera wiring throughout the stadium and all the kit was on the floor ready for the game when the floods from outside started coming up through the shower holes and the toilets. Coming out of the toilets, the water was shin pad high. The game was postponed so I missed out on playing for England C.

I actually got selected twice for England C and both games were cancelled – once because of that downpour in Albania, the other one because the London riots went off (in 2011). So I never played for England. They gave me a shirt but I never managed to get a cap.

Funniest thing you have seen in a dressing room?

It’s not the funniest thing I’ve seen, but as a person, one of the funniest people I’ve ever been in a dressing room with is James Curtis, a lad who was at Gateshead. He was there for over 10 years. He was the funniest human being to have in a changing room. He’s a legend up there. It was his one-liners and he used to sing as well. There’s not a thing I can mention that tops everything else, but his banter is unbelievable. I think he’s at Spennymoor now. He’s about 6ft 5, he’s got bright red ginger hair and he’s one of the palest people you’ll ever meet. He goes away on holiday and when he covers himself in suncream, he’s like Casper and he’s not bothered.

What’s your guilty food pleasure?

Butter, jam and peanut butter on toast. I shouldn’t be having four slices of bread at a time, but sometimes I do. That’s not on a match day. The peanut butter is, but not the four slices of bread, the butter and the jam.

Boyhood sporting hero?

My grandad, Ron Tinmouth. He’s been unbelievable for me. I got a trial for MK Dons once and he drove me all the way down there, paid for a hotel for the week and I spent the week with him. He’s done so many miles watching games and he’s been there through my whole career. He’s 80-odd now and he still comes to games. He comes from Newcastle to Lincoln every time we’ve got a home game.

He couldn’t make it to the Emirates, though. He’s got a massive problem with his breathing and he can’t walk long distances. I said to him: “You’ll have to watch it on TV because I’ll be too worried about you.” He comes to games with my family but I wouldn’t have been able to relax that day.

This season, he’s seen the first Football League games that I’ve ever played.

If you had the power, what one thing would you change about the game?

I’d bring back the backpass rule. I watch a lot of old football on my phone. I love it when I see the defender pass the ball back and the keeper just picks it up. That’s because I do love time-wasting. There would be nothing better than making those backpasses when you’re away from home and winning 1-0 in the 87th minute.

Most embarrassing moment in football?

When I was at Gateshead, there was a powder-puff shot that I managed to let squirm through my legs and it went down as an own goal on Sky Sports. I’m still going to say that it took a slight deflection on the way, but it was a pretty soft shot. Ten times out of ten in training, you are picking those up and sending a kick down the pitch.

We lost the game. I think it was 2-0 but that was the first goal. It happens. That’s the life of a goalkeeper, but I am my harshest critic, no matter what. I watch games back intensely and I do enjoy watching my performances back, whether they are bad or good, because it does help your game and helps you as a person.

Which player in history would you like to play alongside?

Ashley Cole. As a kid, every time I got an England top, I got his name on the back. They go on now about the new school of full-backs who are almost wing-backs but even back then, Ashley Cole was doing that. I’d probably go as far as saying that he was probably under-rated. As a kid, I always enjoyed watching him and I don’t think he had a bad game for England.

As a keeper, to have full-backs like Ashley Cole or Kyle Walker bombing forward every time you get the ball, it’s an absolute pleasure to play with them, to just drop the ball in front of them and see the road runners go.

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