Success Stories

George Elokobi

Elokobi joined ASPIRE after arriving in England from Cameroon in 2002, he was a valued member of a successful youth team before stepping up to league football with Colchester United in 2004 after being spotted by scouts whilst representing us in a Kent Youth League fixture.

He did not feature for the team in his first season and was loaned to Chester City for a month in early 2005, working under Ian Rush. He made five appearances for Chester, including his professional debut against Swansea City on 29 January 2005.

The defender then returned to Layer Road where he made twelve league appearances in a season that saw the club promoted from League One. He scored his first goal in a 1-1 draw against Huddersfield Town on 24 September 2005.

He made a further ten league appearances in the 2006-07 season as the team stabilised in the Championship, and went on to establish himself as a regular first team player in the early months of the following campaign. However, he was later dropped from the team for several matches, prompting him to hand in a transfer request. This alerted fellow Championship club,

Wolverhampton Wanderers to sign him in a two-and-a-half year deal for an undisclosed fee on 31 January 2008.

Elokobi quickly became first-choice left-back at Molineux but his run in the side was ended when he suffered a knee injury just three games into the 2008/09 season. Unfortunately injury will keep him on the sidelines for the rest of the season. George regularly seeks advice from us and is constantly held up as an example to current participants as to what can be achieved if you dedicate yourself to technical and tactical improvement.

Albert Jarrett

Albert Jarrett is a Sierra Leonean international, and is currently playing for Gillingham.

Jarrett started his career as a schoolboy at Arsenal, but when not offered a scholarship with them he joined Aspire and was offered a professional contract in the summer of 2003, at MK Dons. He played 10 games for the Dons in the 2003–04 season, but was released at the end of the season and during the pre-season of that year trained with us and ASPIRE assisted him to source a trial with then Championship side Brighton & Hove Albion, where gained a contract.

In his two year spell at Brighton, He played 25 games in all for the Seagulls, scoring one goal, and had loan spells with Conference side Stevenage Borough in March 2005 and League One side Swindon Town in January 2006.

On being made available for a free transfer by Brighton at the end of the 2005–06 season he went on trial at Watford. After impressing in several pre-season friendlies, Jarrett was signed on a one-year deal on 16 August 2006.

He made one league appearance for Watford, as a substitute against Bolton Wanderers. In February 2007 he was loaned to Boston United for a month. Having returned from Boston, he was immediately loaned to Milton Keynes Dons for the remainder of the season.

On 30 September 2006, Jarrett received his first call up for the Sierra Leone national team.

On 18 September 2008, he joined Gillingham on a one month contract, and made his debut as a substitute in a home win over Port Vale on 27 September. Since then he has signed with Gillingham until the end of the 2008/9 season.

Simeon Jackson

Jackson was born in Kingston, Jamaica but grew up in Mississauga, Ontario. At the age of 15, he moved to England, where his talent was immediately identified by the ASPIRE coaching staff. He joined Rushden & Diamonds in 2004 following trials with Manchester United and Manchester City, and was the club's top scorer in the 2006-07 season, scoring 20 goals.

On January 4, 2009, Jackson scored an equalising goal for Gillingham in their 2–1 FA Cup Third Round defeat by Aston Villa. His impressive performance resulted in him being linked to a £1m move to Villa.

Jackson has seven caps for the Canadian Men's Youth (U-20) team. His first game was a friendly against Brazil in May 2006. His most recent action was at the 2007 FIFA U-20 World Cup when he played in all three of Canada's games. On November 14, 2008, he received his first call up for the Canadian senior squad for a match against his country of birth, Jamaica. He received his Canadian passport in June 2007.

Notably Simeon will go down in Gillingham history as the man who scored the goal which took the club into League One, following his last minute headed goal in the Play Off Final against Shrewsbury Town which secured promotion for the Gills.