Run of the Mill

Ricardo Fuller

RICARDO Fuller has turned down the chance to meet up with the world’s fastest ma, in favour of a run-out at Mansfield.

A prearranged trip to Jamaica should have seen Fuller (36) travel home to Kingston this week. Instead he has been called by manager David Dunn to feature at Field Mill.

It meant giving pal Usain Bolt a miss - and shelling out for rearranged flights. But Fuller’s hunger to get up to full speed means he is happy to have altered his plans, which were made before he joined Athletic.

“I was supposed to go to Jamaica this week to link up with Usain and Ricardo Gardner and Chris Gayle,” said Fuller - referring to the former Bolton left-back and the big-hitting West Indies cricketer.

“We are a tight-knit group. I was supposed to go back for family reasons and see them, but the gaffer said he needed me so I changed my flight. It cost me a lot of money!

“These are the games the gaffer was saying I will probably get more of a run in. It is a nice game to play in, against a lower-league team in the FA Cup. It will be a battle, which is good as you sometimes you have to do more running.”

Fuller has happy memories of the FA Cup, which has brought him goals against some of the best sides in the country. Five years ago he scored twice in Stoke’s 3-1 win over Arsenal, and after helping to the club to the final of the competition in 2011, only a knee injury stopped him playing in the 1-0 defeat by Manchester City.

Fuller feels an outing tomorrow will help bring him close to full speed. But when it comes to getting his legs pumping with keen footballer Bolt, Fuller admits the advice runs one-way.

“Bolt came to a game in Jamaica,” Fuller recalled. “I was running slowly on to a ball played by Rudolph Austin and he called me lazy getting out of the blocks!

“I told him that was because I’m a footballer, not a runner. Usain is always trying to tell me what to do. But I don’t tell him what to do!”