There is a refreshing confidence about Walsall loanee Tommy Simkin whenever he speaks.
Some footballers shy away from setting targets in public, others retreat into a protective shell when things get tough.
But Tommy is different. From my very first interview, he laid down his aims for the new season and promotion was top of the agenda.
Most, even when Walsall were flying at the top, refrained from using the ‘P’ word, but Simkin sets his aims high, and then goes about achieving them.
His latest prophecy was to earn a call-up for the England under-21s with a view to booking his ticket on the plane for the European Championships this term.
On Friday, the 20-year-old was named in Lee Carsley’s 23-man squad.
That confidence can sometimes be misinterpreted as arrogance but Stoke City academy director Gareth Owen feels Simkin strikes the right balance between confidence and humbleness.
“There is a fine line between confidence and arrogance. Some players manifest confidence in a poor way but Tommy is nothing like that,” Owen explains.
“He is supremely confident in his own ability, supremely single-minded in wanting to get to where he wants to get, but is humble enough along the way to acknowledge any mistakes.
“Tommy knows that it’s a lot of hard work and looks for support around him to make him better. I have no doubt that he’ll be a successful goalkeeper and have a long professional career because I’ve not seen many of those attributes, I’ve not seen in many people of his age.”
Simkin has had a mixed spell at Walsall. He registered 11 clean sheets in his first 21 games and became the first Saddlers shot-stopper to keep five successive league shutouts in 49 years during December.
Since the turn of the year, Simkin has shipped 22 goals and Sam Hornby was given the nod for their 2-2 draw at Bromley last Tuesday.
But in line with his mantra of “smiling through the setbacks”, Stoke have been pleased with the progress that Simkin has made during his loan stint at Bescot.
“It’s been a loan spell which has been fantastic. Likewise he has taken to professional football as we thought he would and hopefully he has endeared himself to the Walsall fan base,” Owen notes.
“I felt a little bit sorry for him in the first half of the season. Nathan [Lowe] was doing so well that everybody wasn’t really talking about Tommy.
“On occasions he has made world class saves. I saw his save against Salford [in the 2-2 draw in February] to tip it over the bar.
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