Max Little First Interview
Monday, 25th Jul 2022Towering Londoner hopes to earn his keep in the north
Dunfermline’s most recent signing goalkeeper Max Little was out of contract at Queens Park Rangers but he kept himself fit and impressed when he came in on trial at the start of last week.
Max was without an agent but when he signed up with DW goalkeeping Academy they got him the opportunity to come to Dunfermline to show what he could do. Max continued:-
“I impressed the boss, I did quite well and got myself in here. I came up Monday, I trained on Tuesday, had a game on Wednesday. It`s like I`ve never had a break. I trained well, impressed the coaches doing what I had to do.”
Indeed Pars goalkeeping coach Alan Main watched Max in the U18s pre season friendly at Burntisland Shipyard on Wednesday night and Max imposed his presence especially with his height, in that match achieving a shut out in the 4-0 away win.
The big keeper was disappointed that his vision of progressing through the QPR academy set-up into the Championship team, ended when he was told that he wasn`t getting kept on. He quickly realised that going elsewhere, not just staying in England, would be pretty good for him:-
“I am quite independent and I don`t mind going anywhere. I think Scotland was a good move for me. I knew of Dunfermline`s history and I knew about Alex Ferguson and everything. It`s got a rich history and I`m very very happy I`m here.”
Max filled in a bit of his early development and it comes as a bit of a surprise that it is not too many years ago that he transformed from central defender to goalkeeper:-
"I was born in London but grew up in Gloucestershire. My dad`s side is all English but they`ve got a little bit of Scottish in there. I joined QPR as a schoolboy at 17. Before that I was playing Sunday league as a centre-back, I wasn`t a keeper at the time. I played a little bit in school as a keeper but just a little bit.
"I wasn`t a big fan of running around - I want to stay in goal and dive about. So I changed up and became a keeper just before I was 17. I sent over some stuff to QPR and they managed to get me in for a trial and a few months later when I turned 18 I signed with them as pro - and now I`m here.”
At QPR Max kept goal for their U18s, U23s and B teams and also played against a lot of Vanarama South teams. With his experience as a defender Max confirmed that he is good with his feet and feels that is a great advantage for goalkeepers in the current game:-
"In the modern game keepers have to use their feet a lot now. At QPR we practised being under pressure a lot of the time - probably most of the time. Now I`m very comfortable. I think at Dunfermline that will help, especially if the gaffer wants us to play quick from the back, I`m ready to do that whenever.”
Twenty year old Max is excited to be working with Alan Main, someone he has already recognised as a coach with loads of goalkeeping experience and claimed that he was very happy to be working with him."
Saturday`s match was disappointing in that Dunfermline didn`t get the win but Max who signed a two year deal the previous day, watched from the stand and he observed:-
“You could see that at times we played well, moved the ball quick. I can`t wait to get in goal, I was on the side just bouncing about. I want that to be me but we`ll wait to see what the gaffer says and hopefully I`ll be playing soon.
"I want to get the first-team experience. It`s a massive club and they`re looking for promotion and I`m eager for that, I want that. I`m hungry. So playing men`s football, play pro and see what I can do to improve. There are a lot of games ahead. I can`t wait."
Watch Max’s Interview with Jordan Burt for PARStv
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