TWO decades have passed since the car accident that shattered Peter Mitchell’s hopes of becoming a professional footballer, and yet, as he takes me back to that day, the emotions are still just as raw.
Speaking from his home in Derry, Northern Ireland, Peter relives the horrifying car crash that left him paralysed and his childhood dreams destroyed.
It is a story that he feels comfortable sharing, having delivered it to the next generation of footballers as part of his role at League Football Education - the organisation formed by the Professional Footballers’ Association and the English Football League to manage the education and player care programme for apprentices.
He shares his experience in the hope of educating young footballers on road safety and the importance of wearing a seatbelt.
Peter said: “When I present, I usually play a snippet from a documentary I did a while back.
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"And whenever I get to the accident part, I get goosebumps. Everything comes flooding back."
To comprehend the remarkable journey that the 38-year-old has been on, you have to rewind to the turn of the century, when a fearless 15-year-old Peter Mitchell earned a scholarship with then Premier League giants Leeds United.
As soon as he moved away from Northern Ireland and across to Yorkshire in 2000, he was tipped to achieve big things at Elland Road.
It was his attitude that impressed the coaches, particularly youth team manager Warren Joyce, who is now in an identical role at Nottingham Forest.
“I was a hard-working right back, who liked to get stuck in,” Peter said with passion.
“Nobody worked as hard as me to get that opportunity at Leeds.
"It culminated in a handful of sessions with the first team.
"I recall smashing Alan Smith one day and scoring past England international Nigel Martyn another.
“I just remember thinking, ‘this is it; I’m going to be a professional footballer, nothing can stop me.’”
But Peter’s career was stopped two years later, and in the cruellest of ways.
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Travelling in the backseat of a teammate’s car, Peter was involved in a serious single-vehicle collision which left him with a broken back in two places and, consequently, unable to ever walk again.
“We had driven down that road hundreds of times before and even on the very morning of the accident,” he said.
“When we got home after training, some of the lads suggested that we go out for some food, and after some convincing, I decided to go.
“We approached a bend and, unfortunately, we were going too fast. We ended up on a golf course, with the car somersaulting and landing on its back.
“It felt like the longest few seconds of my life as we went through the air. Straight away I knew I was in big trouble.
“I wasn’t wearing my seatbelt and I was clinging to the front seat for what felt like an eternity, bracing myself for impact.
If we were to rewind time and go back to that split decision of whether to get in that car or not, I would get in it. I have everything I could ever want in life and I’m not sure I would be the person I am today if I hadn’t been in that car.
Peter Mitchell
“I was sandwiched in between the front seat and the back seat. I couldn’t move my legs.
“As I lay there, I started thinking about my family back home.”
Fractured ribs, a broken collarbone and a broken sternum were some other significant injuries that Peter suffered, while his four Irish friends crawled out of the car windows unscathed.
“With the injuries I had, the doctors told me I would never walk again, and, at the time, that was soul-destroying.
"I couldn’t process the news for a long time. ‘Why me?’, that’s all I kept thinking. ‘Why me?’,” he said.
The weeks, months and years that followed were gruelling. Peter was lost.
“I wouldn’t leave my room for days,” he admitted.
“When I said goodbye to my family in Northern Ireland and arrived in England, I never thought I would ever go back.
"But just three years later, there I was, returning in a wheelchair.”
Moving away from his hometown eventually gave ‘Mitch’, as he is known by his loved one, the lift he so desperately needed – the chance to reinvent himself and get away from the ‘promising footballer who was in a car crash’ identity that had followed him around since losing the use of his legs.
Fast forward to the present and his revival, from where he was to where he is today, will warm the hearts of those that watched his world collapse in 2002.
It is a career in acting that has provided a new focus for Peter, who has appeared in some of the UK’s most loved TV soaps, such as Hollyoaks and Coronation Street.
People voiced their doubts over his capabilities at the beginning of his acting career, including his own mother, who questioned his decision when he first revealed he was auditioning for a part in a television show.
However, as he has proven so many times when the odds are stacked against him, he stepped up and thrived when the cameras turned to him.
Those characteristics that made him stand out as a future prospect at Elland Road are the same ones that drive him on as an actor.
“My mind often races back to a cold Saturday morning as a youngster at Leeds. We were losing 5-0 and we were playing terribly.
“It wasn’t in me to roll over and give up, so I continued to get around the pitch and when I saw an opportunity to lift someone, I did. I put someone into the water bottles at the side of the pitch, and after the game, the manager praised me.
“Two days later, I was playing for the reserve team. It was how I reacted when the chips were down.
“I now use that message to inspire footballers and teach them to train and play like it is their last ever match.”
And while the question of whether the young Peter Mitchell would have gone on to become a Premier League superstar will remain unanswered, the love he has for his wife Brenda and daughter is everything he could ever wish for.
“I have no regrets,” he said. “I gave it absolutely everything during those two years - that comforts me when I look back.
“If we were to rewind time and go back to that split decision of whether to get in that car or not, I would get in it.
“I have everything I could ever want in life and I’m not sure I would be the person I am today if I hadn’t been in that car.”
