Big Interview: Diagnosis has made Chorley star Willem Tomlinson a better player and person

The 24-year-old midfielder appeared to have a bright future ahead of him as a youngster at Blackburn Rovers.

Having risen through the ranks at Ewood Park, Tomlinson broke into the first team under Tony Mowbray as a teenager.

He played a handful of games in League One as the club made an immediate return to the Championship. Unfortunately, the young Tomlinson was not quite living the life expected of a professional footballer.

Eventually, he was released after a 10-year association with Rovers and joined League Two outfit Mansfield Town in February 2019.

The Burnley-born lad was well thought of at Field Mill as more than 30 appearances for the Stags would testify.

But once again misdemeanours away from the pitch soon tested the patience of the management.

He was released in September 2020 with Town manager at the time Graham Coughlan going on record to state that his departure was owing to a breach of trust and that he ‘let himself, the changing room and the football club down’.

Coughlan insisted that he thought Tomlinson was a good player but needed to sort himself out.

Fast-forward to two years later, Tomlinson admits he reflects on the past with major regrets but now aged 24, he believes he has matured as a person.

His time with part-timers Chorley over the last couple of years has certainly kept him on the straight and narrow – and being diagnosed with ADHD means there are support avenues open to him.

"I wish I could go back to when I was 14 and start all over again,” said Tomlinson. “Blackburn is a good club and I just didn’t listen to the people around me.

"I am not ashamed to say that because everybody who knows me, knows that I have made mistakes but that I am a different person now. In the last year or so I have been diagnosed with ADHD and I don’t know how people feel about that.

"I take tablets which kind of calms me down and mellows me. When I was younger, I always needed to be doing something.

"So I feel that has been a massive factor to how I was because lads could sit in on a Friday and Saturday night, I couldn’t do that.

"I always needed to be doing something or I would go crazy. When I was 17 ADHD wasn’t really a thing spoken about as much as it is now. I just feel if I had taken some tablets back then and got a proper diagnosis then things could have been different. It is a illness and I am just glad I have found it early.”

Tomlinson does not pin much blame on his previous club and has pointed to the lockdowns caused by Covid-19 for a particular downturn in his off-the-field behaviour at Mansfield.

"My attitude wasn’t the problem when I was in the places at Blackburn and Mansfield,” he added. “I was always one of the fittest players in the squad – it was just the boredom and stuff away from playing.

"I made a few mistakes at Mansfield. I was living on my own down there and I went into lockdown on my own – living three hours away from family.

"I kind of lost my way – I was so lonely. Probably nobody really checked up on me from the club. At 21-years-old living away from home somewhere with kind of no support was hard.

"But I always made my own decisions and I take full responsibility for my actions for everything which I have done.

"I won’t hold on to my mistakes and I am a different person now.”

While he has full respect for his former clubs, especially Blackburn, Tomlinson’s time with the Magpies has been life changing.

He arrived in the midst of the club’s famous FA Cup run to the fourth round where he featured against Wolves and has since become an integral member of the squad.

The Magpies reached the National League North play-offs last season and are flirting towards the upper echelons of the table this campaign. Tomlinson has made no secret of his ambition to make a return to the full-time game, but would love to achieve some success with the Magpies

"I still get contacted by some of the coaches at Blackburn now, asking me how I am and stuff,” he said.

"I have got nothing but good to say about Blackburn. I played a few games for them and experienced a promotion.

"But I do really enjoy it at Chorley. The club welcomed me like I was a member of the family.

"They put an arm around me and said, ‘This is what we do, we’ll help you’.

"I had offers to go and play higher but I sat down with the manager Andy Preece and said that I was going to stay. It just felt like the right thing to do.

"The owner Graham Watkinson – I can’t speak highly enough of him.

"Any problem I have had, he’s been there to help and everybody else at the club, they have really helped me.

"I have come to a good club in Chorley and hopefully they can help me back up the leagues again.”

Tomlinson revealed he is loving life playing under new boss Preece.

The Magpies manager took over at Victory Park in the summer following the departure of Jamie Vermiglio.

Former Crystal Palace striker Preece was certainly no stranger to the players having served as the previous boss’ assistant for four years before taking on the top job. Despite being a part-time outfit among a number of clubs with bigger budget, Chorley continue to punch above their weight in the National League North.

They won promotion in 2019, and have been a constant in the play-off conversation most years, with this season no exception.

"I think the thing about Preecey is he dives into everything one million percent,” said Tomlinson, who is a likely starter for Saturday’s trip to National League leaders Notts County in the third round of the FA Trophy.

“He will watch several games of the team which we are playing on Saturday. I think we have managed to keep the togetherness which we have had the last couple of season..

"He seems to get the balance right between being your friend and getting us to play our best and win on a Saturday.”

The Magpies have been in fine form at home this season in the league, winning six and drawing five in an unbeaten run.

Away from home has been a different matter with the team struggling at times.

Tomlinson admits that will have to change over the course of the second half of the season if they are going to achieve their aim of promotion.

"We haven’t been beaten at Victory Park – barring a cup game – this season,” said Tomlinson.

"Away from home, we’ve just been missing something but I think we are capable of picking up points – we just need to believe.”