A NEW LIFE NEAR AN OLD RUIN

I watched Luke Steele in the Barnsley goal over a number of years and he was good, loyal and playing behind a dodgy defence. At 17, in 1999, Manchester United spotted his potential and signed him from Peterborough, where he had played only twice for the league team. He had various loan spells at Coventry and WBA, until he settled at Oakwell making over 200 appearances for the Tykes in six years from 2008.

He is now first choice keeper at Panathiniakos, moving last summer and presently enjoying his new life, living by the beach and strolling through the Acropolis. Whilst his team are only going to come second behind arch rivals Olympiakos, he should have a chance to play in European competition next season, his greatest achievement since becoming an international football for England at U18 and U19 level.

Having been relegated with Barnsley last season, his contract gave him the opportunity to move and he made the challenging decision to up sticks and go to Greece. Nikos Dabizas, the former Newcastle defender, is in charge of Panathiniakos' recruitment and he got Steele to join him.

Since then Steele has been revitalised, learning new skills in a new environment. He is playing further out of goal, a sweeper keeper with lighter feet, starting moves with de Gea like passes.

His nimble footwork helped him avoid a firework fired towards him in the recent Athens derby, games that are vigorous and sometimes dangerous. If you read back a blog or dozen, you will find that the Greek league was suspended due to violence at grounds.

Gate 13, the notorious Panathiniakos “ultra” make matches colourful, although UEFA and FIFA are not impressed, carefully viewing the way that matches are played and patrolled in Greece. After a three point deduction for violence in their recent home derby, Steel's club are still likely to have a play off as the season ends, to decide which clubs goes into Europe competitions.

As he finishes his season, he will return to homeland Peterborough to run his coaching school and after 14 clean sheets in 28 games so far, he has much knowledge to pass on to those dreamy youngsters from the Posh.