Katie wins England call-up

WHILE dad Alan tried to prevent goals as a goalkeeper at Macclesfield in their days as a non-league club, daughter Katie Zelem’s job is creating them.

The midfielder, one of the brightest talents at the Manchester United Foundation team, has been selected for England under-15s.

Katie, from Failsworth, will join up with the rest of the national squad at Lilleshall on Monday for a four-day training camp.

“We’re really pleased for her,” said mum Gillian. “Katie certainly won’t brag about it — I think I’d want to tell everybody in earshot if it was me — she just gets on with it.”

The Blue Coat pupil played alongside the boys for Failsworth Dynamos in mini-soccer, before joining United’s centre of excellence at the age of nine.

She hasn’t looked back and was among a group of eight girls from Old Trafford who were put forward for the FA regional talent camp at Edge Hill University, Ormskirk, earlier this month.

Reds fan Katie (13) impressed the watching coaches and was one of two players from United to be selected.

Apart from trying to improve her football skills next week, she will also undergo various fitness routines. But it’s not all sport as she will also be given school work to do.

Katie is football-mad — “she’s always got a ball at her feet” says Gillian — and trains twice a week at United, with matches against other centre of excellence teams at weekends.

But it’s not just the national game that she shines in.

Gillian continued: “Katie likes athletics — she runs cross-country, 1,500m and 800m — and played cricket for the school, but hasn’t got the time to do that anymore.

“She is just a very sporty person and would like a career in sport of some shape or form after she leaves school.”

Katie comes from a sporting family. Alan’s twin brother Peter — Katie’s uncle — played professional football for Chester City, Wolves, Preston and Burnley, while cousin Ross plays cricket at junior level for Lancashire and football for Oldham schools.