I was working in a quarry, eating pies and gave up football at 20 - now I'm marking Erling Haaland
manchestereveningnews.co.ukWhen Salford City captain Curtis Tilt was 20, a career in football wasn't at the back of his mind - it wasn't even in his mind.
Tilt had stopped playing Sunday League when he was 16 and had since started working in a quarry, using JCBs to haul tonnes of sand around before sending it on its way.
At lunch, Tilt would head to the fast food van that pulled up at the side of the site and gorge on sausage rolls or pies. As he admitted on the eve of Salford City's trip to the Etihad and an FA Cup third-round date with Manchester City today, when he put the boots away at 16, he never thought they would come back out.
It is the beauty of the FA Cup's early rounds that it can throw up stories of such romance and intrigue, and the fact Tilt, now 33, will be tasked with trying to stop Erling Haaland, destined for a career at the top of the game from almost the moment he was born, is a classic cup fairytale.
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