Cole Palmer’s grandfather told for the first time of his family’s extraordinary journey from poverty in the Caribbean as England’s rising star won his first cap for his country.
Palmer, 21, is set to join football’s mega-rich elite after setting the Premier League alight with his dazzling performances which led to his appearance at Wembley Stadium as a 61st minute substitute.
The Chelsea winger – whose career hit new heights after he quit treble-winning Manchester City and his hometown – has told how he would never have achieved his footballing dreams without the unwavering support of his father Jermaine, 49, and his side of the family who hail from the island of St Kitts.
Now in an exclusive interview with MailOnline, grandfather Sterry Cole revealed the painful struggles the family endured as part of the Windrush generation.
Sterry told how his parents took the painful decision to leave him and his older brother St Clair behind as they tried to establish a better life for their family after travelling to the UK in 1955.
He spoke of his early memories living in the family’s modest stone home in Basseterre, the capital of St Kitts and Nevis.
Just two years before leaving the family behind, Sterry’s mother gave birth to him in the property where he shared a bed with his brother and two cousins.
Cole Palmer’s grandfather told for the first time of his family’s extraordinary journey from poverty in the Caribbean as England’s rising star won his first cap for his country. Pictured: Cole and his grandad
In an interview last year Palmer told how his first memories were about football. Pictured: Cole playing football when he was younger
He said: ‘The house was my grandmother’s, it was made from stone and it was a decent, fairly modern house for those times. But it was crowded.
‘My aunt Pearl, another auntie and uncle lived with us and there was my grandmother. I think the house only had three bedrooms but it was always full of people.
‘My parents had already left for England, they went in 1955, five years before my brother and I, so we were brought up by my grandmother and aunties.
‘My mum and dad were part of the Windrush generation who left the West Indies to help rebuild Britain and get the country back on its feet after the Second World War.’
‘They knew people who’d already moved to Manchester. In the area where we came from in Basseterre most people had set up home in the city and the North of England.
‘My memories of growing up in St Kitts are hazy but I remember playing cricket with my friends. Cricket was huge in the West Indies at the time.
‘Funnily enough I didn’t know anything about football until we arrived in England.’
Describing his journey to the UK he said: ‘What I do recall more vividly, however, is the two week voyage from St Kitts to Southampton in 1960.
‘It was awful. I came over with my Aunt Pearl, my brother St Clair and two of my cousins and we shared a cramped cabin. I was seasick pretty much right the way through the crossing.
‘When we finally docked at Southampton I was massively relieved to leave the ship but my first recollection of being in England was how cold it was. Even in May.
‘My mother and father met us at the docks. That was the first time I remember meeting them because I can’t even have been two-years-old when they left.
‘That was the first time I remember meeting them. It’s strange now thinking back but at the time I didn’t really give it too much thought.
‘We got on a train from Southampton to our new home in Moss Side, Manchester.
‘We had a terraced home and whilst they’d been in England, my parents had had three more boys who were aged four, two and six months old. So I also met my three younger brothers for the first time.
‘They’d go on to have a daughter and another son, so it’s just me and St Clair who were born in the Caribbean.’
Speaking of his new life in the tough inner city area he said: ‘Life was very different in Manchester, the people were different as was the weather and the food so it was a bit of a culture shock at first but when you’re young you adapt quite well.
‘We didn’t stay too long in Moss Side before heading out to Rusholme.
Palmer’s mother Marie, 48, was a divorcee with two young daughters – Lucy, now 31, and Ashley, 28, – when she married Jermaine in Manchester in February 1994. Pictured: The family together
Palmer said his father practiced playing football with him for ‘numerous hours every night’. Pictured: Palmer kicking football as a child
Sterry said that the family were ‘so excited’ that he was selected to play for England
‘My dad was a mechanic back in St Kitts and he got work in a garage in Manchester when he first arrived but he later got a job at the Turner & Newall asbestos cement plant in Trafford Park but moved before it shut down due to health fears over asbestos.
‘He finished his working days at the nearby Kellogg’s factory. That’s where he retired.
‘My mum worked for years as a sewing machinist based in Ancoats.
‘She passed away in her 70s in 2008. My father died about six-years ago aged in his late-80s.’
Sterry’s brother went on to find fame after joining Manchester soul group Sweet Sensation, who had a number one hit in 1974 with Sad Sweet Dreamer.
He said: ‘My brother ended up going into the music industry. He was a performer and joined a soul group who some hits in the 1970s.
‘I sort of gravitated towards the construction industry working as a fabricator welder so my time at work was spent cutting and shaping metal.’
One of Sterry’s cousins who he travelled to Britain with later returned to St Kitts and his aunt Pearl went to live in Canada.
But Sterry added: ‘The rest of us are still in Manchester, this is where we all laid down roots and I’ve never really thought about moving back.’
He is close to his grandson who grew up supporting Manchester United but spent 15 years at rivals City after starting out in the club’s academy.
He made the £42.5 million move to Stamford Bridge in September and last Sunday scored a dramatic last-gasp equaliser against his former club to earn Chelsea a thrilling 4-4 draw last Sunday – his fourth league goal for the club.
Sterry spoke of his joy as his grandson’s career has gone from strength to strength.
He said: ‘We are all tremendously proud of him.
Palmer is pictured with his father Jermaine signing his contract with Chelsea
Palmer is pictured with sister Hallie signing a Manchester City contract in 2019
‘He’s worked so hard to be where he is and deserves all the success he’s getting.
‘We were so excited that he was selected for England, half of our family from Manchester were in London to see him at Wembley last night.
‘He was absolutely buzzing after being picked by Gareth Southgate.
‘He phoned his dad – my son – straight after the game against City to tell him the news.
‘I was watching on TV and cheering him on from home. I know the family in St Kitts will be either watching or looking for the score.
‘They are always reading about Cole in the news and are closely following his career.’
He said of his grandson’s younger days: ‘When he first joined City, he used to wear a United shirt or some sort of United garment under his sky-blue shirt.
‘He was a United fan but City offered the better set-up, they had the better training facilities and were able to better nurture his talent.
‘The fact that he did support United never held him back, though, when City played against them at junior level because he used to absolutely smash them.
‘He’s been with City since he was about eight-years old, and he’s been involved with England since he was about 15.
‘Ever since he was knee-high, he’s been mad keen on football and he’d run rings around the other kids. We knew he was special even back then.
‘But he’s worked hard, trained hard and just kept at it. But what you’ve seen from him now, just watch…there’s more to come!’
Palmer’s pride in his Caribbean heritage became clear when he was featured showing off his rapping skills in a TikTok video which went viral turning him into a social media sensation.
The video has now become a trademark symbol of celebration posted by excited fans every time Palmer scores or puts in a good performance.
In the video Palmer is shown performing a series of moves as he sings along to a track by little-known Jamaican rapper Vybz Kartel who was jailed for life in 2014 for his role in the murder of an associate in a row over guns.
Palmer revealed his sister had encouraged him to perform the reggae song as part of a TikTok trend
The Chelsea winger has told how he would never have achieved his footballing dreams without the unwavering support of his father Jermaine, 49. Pictured: The pair together
Palmer said without his father, he ‘probably wouldn’t be a footballer’. Pictured: The pair together
The song called Clarks, which is sung in Jamaican patois, is an homage to the sensible shoe brand and the rapper was credited with helping to boost sales in his home country after its release in 2010.
The video also features one of Palmer’s colourful football boots which are emblazoned with the English flag of St George alongside the flag of St Kitts.
It was posted with the encouragement of his sister Hallie, 22, who while studying for a fashion degree has already set up her own brand creating oversized hair ribbons and scrunchies for women.
Asked about the video after his call up for England’s Euro 2024 qualifying match against Malta on Friday night, Palmer said: ‘Me and my sister were in the house one day and there was a TikTok trend going around. People were singing songs and stuff and my sister said ‘Come and sing this song so I was like ‘Umm… alright will do it’.
‘On my boots it has the St. Kitts flag and the England flag and my sister wanted to make sure the St. Kitts flag got in.
‘She posted it and it stayed quiet for quite a while to be fair and then one day I saw it everywhere and now I can’t stop seeing it.’
In the run up to the ENgland match Palmer, who insiders say has remained a modest young man with his feet on the ground, told how he owes his success to father Jermaine.
He said: ‘Without my dad I probably wouldn’t be a footballer.
‘He did numerous hours with me every night, working with me to try and make me a professional footballer. And yeah I am trying to repay him as much as I can.’
Perhaps his father’s work ethic and desire for his son to succeed came from the tough times his family went through as they struggled to establish themselves in their new homeland.
Jermaine, whose middle name is St Clair, was born in 1974.
Palmer’s mother Marie, 48, was a divorcee with two young daughters – Lucy, now 31, and Ashley, 28, – when she married Jermaine in Manchester in February 1994.
Until last year the family lived in a modest semi-detached home in Cheadle, Cheshire which they sold for £350,000 last October.
Palmer’s sister Hallie, 22, is studying for a fashion degree has already set up her own brand creating oversized hair ribbons and scrunchies for women
Jermaine, who fixes dental equipment for a living, was a self-proclaimed pub football legend, who spotted the talent in his young son when he was aged around four and quickly instilled in him a love of the game.
Palmer told how he started out using the gates in front of the family home as a makeshift goal before his father began taking him out to the local park across the road every day to practise his skills.
Touching family videos show Palmer as a toddler bouncing and picking a ball round Wythenshawe’s Hollyhedge Park as well as a couple of blistering goals taken during his schooldays.
In an interview last year Palmer told how his first memories were about football.
He said of his daily trips to the park with his father: ‘We would do that every single day whatever the weather – and my dad’s family is from St Kitts and Nevis in the Caribbean. He hates going out in the cold. But he’d do it for me anyway.’
He also remembered his dad taking him to watch him play for his Sunday League team.
He said: ‘He used to sit me down on the bag of balls on the sidelines, wrapped in one of his rain jackets. I would just take it all in – the crunching tackles, the shouting, the arguing.
‘Dad doesn’t play anymore since he done his knee, and I don’t really remember any specific games, but he’ll tell you how good he was!
‘He fixes dental equipment as his real job, but to listen to him you’d think he’d had a 20-year career in the Premier League!
He added of his earliest days: ‘I think I was a pretty happy kid to be honest. I was always smiling – that’s what my mum says.
Jermaine, who fixes dental equipment for a living, was a self-proclaimed pub football legend, who spotted the talent in his young son when he was aged around four
‘Back when I was at school, the teachers used to tell my parents that when I was acting up or being naughty, there was one promise they could make to get me to behave: They’d offer to give me a ball.
‘When they’d give me a football I was fine. I just always had to be playing football to be honest.’
Comparing his father with Manchester City manager Pep Guardiola he said: ‘I don’t like admitting it to him, but dad taught me everything about football growing up. He was Pep before I met Pep.’
He was aged around six when he was spotted by scouts playing for his local football team NJ Wythenshawe.
Manchester United were among a number of teams interested in signing up the youngster and despite being a fan of the club Palmer and his family decided to take up Manchester City’ offer to join their academy.
He said: ‘City said I would actually get to play actual matches on Friday evenings. That was an easy decision, then!
‘After that, everything became organised around football.
‘Dad would travel across the country to make sure I was going to training. They’d be finishing work at 5pm, picking me up, giving me food in the car, then sending me out to train. It was round the clock.
‘I have this mental image of stuffing my face with Weetabix in the car after school on the way to training ’cause we didn’t have time to go home and eat.
‘School, train, home, sleep, repeat. That was it.’
Despite his success, Palmer has remained a quiet and modest young man whose feet remain firmly on the ground.
He said: ‘Off the pitch, I’m not really the loudest guy. Maybe I don’t say much. I’m pretty chill. So sometimes when people see the way I play, they’re surprised. It’s like my true personality comes out. Like I’m free.’
It was his love of playing which led him to make the switch to Chelsea as he wanted more time on the pitch – and it certainly seems to be paying off.
Palmer said: ‘I’m still that kid who is just dead excited for football, because it’s the best way I can be me.’
‘It’s always been like that.’
Despite his love of the Caribbean and its culture, Palmer has been too busy focusing on his career to travel there.
But his grandfather said: ‘He’s going to go soon. He’s always been aware that part of his family comes from there and so part of him is from St Kitts.’
Source
Disclaimer: No copyright infringement intended. All rights and credits reserved to respective owner(s).
Add Comment