Soccer tricks genius sets out to meet Maradona

Aug 15 2007 Mike Chapple Liverpool Daily Post

Mikey Fisher

See footage of Mikey in action - click here

DREAMS do come true – just ask Liverpudlian Mikey Fisher. A product of the Everton youth academy and contemporary of Wayne Rooney, the club let him go at 16.

For some it could have been a blow from which they would never recover. Not Mikey.

Now at 21 he is one of the greatest performers of freestyle soccer, as a body double on screen in adverts featuring the likes of his old teammate Rooney, who dubbed him Tricks, plus a host of other world stars including Steven Gerrard, Thierry Henry and Eric Cantona.

He is also in a new documentary feature film in which five ordinary lads – united in their devotion to freestyle and the player whom they regard as its godfather, Diego Maradona – embark on a pilgrimage to Argentina to meet their hero.

Suitably entitled In the Hands of the Gods, after Maradona’s notorious goal against England in the 1986 World Cup Finals, it documents their often traumatic journey as they busk their skills over 15,000 miles in an attempt for an audience with the man.

“When I left Everton I could have gone to other clubs I suppose but I wanted to act and appear in TV and films so I suppose that dream’s come true now,” said Mikey, who honed his amazing ball skills playing out with his mates on the streets of Croxteth and later Anfield, where he still lives with his mum Phyllis and 16-year-old brother Jay.

His big break came when he beat 10,000 others to the 2003 Nike National Freestyle Championships.

He almost gave up his new life a year later, however, when two friends, with whom he practised on the streets, were killed in a car crash. But his mother persuaded him to carry on. He now has the pair’s names Bencheikh and Mark, tattooed on his arms and devotes every performance to them.

The film came about when fellow freestylers Paul Wood and Jeremy Lynch from London asked him to join them. They were augmented by Sami Hall and Danny Robinson. and the cash-strapped team set about the tricky question of getting over to South America.

They convinced the film’s producers of their viability by saying they would busk with their skills for a day in London and use the takings to pay for a slap up-meal at the Savoy.

“At the end of the night we paid for the meal with something like £500 in coins that we’d collected – from then on the attitude changed,” explained Mikey.

He also managed to use his charm to convince British Airways into giving them five return tickets to New York.

“They’re going to be sceptical aren’t they especially with some cheeky Scouser on the phone but BA went for it,” said Mikey.

Whether his ultimate dream of a Maradona meeting finally came true, though, you’ll just have to wait and see the film.

Meanwhile, another wish will be fulfilled this weekend when the Liverpool FC fan performs his skills at half-time in the blockbuster match with Chelsea at Anfield.

“From here I want to represent Liverpool to the max because I Iove where I’m from – it’s the best place in the world,” he concluded.