Kenny Dalglish walked over to Jimmy Carter in the Liverpool dressing room and handed him his new shirt. It wasn't just any shirt - this was the number 7, one with a special place in the club's history. Then Reds' manager, Dalglish, had worn it. So too had Ian Callaghan and Kevin Keegan, celebrated players dear to Anfield hearts. It was 12 January 1991, and Carter had only signed for the reigning English champions from Millwall two days earlier. The winger, aged 25, was about to make his debut. But there was something many did not, and still do not, know about him: he was a player with Indian heritage. You can imagine, every single one in that Liverpool dressing room was an international. "To think that Kenny had just come up and given me that seven shirt - this skinny little Indian boy who grew up in Stoke Newington."
Carter joined Arsenal and when he made his debut for the Gunners in August 1992, became the first British Asian to play in the Premier League. He lasted 25 games and parted company with the Gunners, in 1995.
It would take 11 years for another Asian to follow in his footsteps. None of the handful of the British Asian players since Carter have scaled to the Premier League. Now aged 55, Carter admits his Indian background still comes as a "shock" to many when they learn of it and, because of his surname and light skin tone, "no-one really identified" him as being of Asian origin during his career.
Carter explains that his surname dates back to an English ancestor from the 17th Century who, after moving from London to India, married an Indian woman and settled in the country. His father, Maurice, was born to Indian parents in Kanpur and brought up in Lucknow in the north of India, where he attended La Martiniere College, a prestigious private school established in 1845 under colonial rule. Maurice was orphaned at the age of 14 and, left "lost" with "no family to speak of", joined the Indian merchant navy when he was 16. "He sailed the seas and loved his sport, he was a boxer in the navy and turned out to be one of their leading boxers of all time. He had 38 fights and never lost one."
Maurice eventually came to England and married an English woman but, after having two boys, the pair divorced. Maurice took custody and brought his sons up in Hackney, east London, "essentially as Indian kids". Carter had a "tough" upbringing during the 1970s and 1980s. Suffering racist abuse was a common part of a far from regular life, the beginnings of a rags to riches journey that would not be out of place in a Bollywood script. He would be woken at 6am by his father on frosty winter mornings and ordered to go out running in his local park to "get one over" the other kids trying to make it as footballers. He would also be told to get some milk off someone's doorstep on the way back if they had none at home.
His father also liked to gamble and would sometimes tell Carter and his brother, who were "free dinner school kids like Marcus Rashford", not to run around at playtime as there would be no evening meal because he had lost his money on the horses. Sometimes, though, Carter says, "he won and we'd go up to Drummond Street in Euston and we'd have a curry and buy Indian sweets".
On the pitch, despite "getting kicked all over the place" and dealing with "major abuse" playing for his youth team, Carter was picked up by Crystal Palace when he was 14. "Whenever I got abuse, I always wanted to prove the person who instigated that racism wrong," he says. "I wanted to humiliate him on the football field."
Carter's dream of making it big took a hit when he was released by Crystal Palace at 19. He worked his way back into the game at Queens Park Rangers before making his name at Millwall. Aged 22, Carter was part of a Lions side that won the old Second Division title in 1988 (1987-91). With Teddy Sheringham and Tony Cascarino in the team, they were promoted to the top flight for the first time. Still, only those closest to him - such as Sheringham, who had played in the same Sunday team growing up - knew about his Asian background. "Hardly any of my team-mates knew of my Asian heritage apart from Teddy. I always felt welcomed at Millwall but I'd sometimes get a few racial comments from the opposition just because I looked a bit different. "It was all about getting your head down and making sure you stayed in that first team to better your career." Carter did just that as Dalglish came calling and he moved to the reigning English champions Liverpool.
British Asians to have played in the Premier League since Carter include Michael Chopra, who made his debut for Newcastle United in May 2003, and Zesh Rehman, whose first appearance for Fulham came against Liverpool in 2004.
At present, there are 10 British Asians among 4,000 professional footballers in the UK - that is 0.25% compared with 7% of the population as a whole.
"I was very lucky to get my second chance in football and what I didn't want to do - looking back - was bring anything to attention which could possibly be seen as a detriment to me. There were no Asian players back then. "People would still talk about black players saying they didn't like it in the cold, or that Asian players were too lightweight. I couldn't afford for anything to be brought up where it was going to be a detriment to my career.
"If I had highlighted my British Asian heritage it would have, perhaps, shone a light on being the first one to ever play for Liverpool and Arsenal. "It could have given that belief to youngsters up and down the country, that they too could make it. But, on the whole - even taking that into consideration - I still don't have any underlying regrets. "There is part regret that I wasn't able to feel strong enough or have the conviction at the time to actually come out and shine a spotlight on it. But outweighing that was the fact that, to do that would be pointing myself out as someone different, when it shouldn't be like that. It shouldn't be about the colour of your skin. "It has to feel right in all aspects for you to disclose something. It wasn't a conscious decision that: 'I'm going to keep this a secret.' It was nothing like that.
"If people came up to me and said, 'I spoke to your dad the other day, I didn't know you were Asian', I was pleased as punch. I would never be one to hide that."
Carter's playing career ended in 1999 with a final stint (16 apps) at Millwall, following spells at Oxford and Portsmouth 72 apps (1994-8). He now works as a co-commentator for radio and does some work for the English Football League, as well as playing in Charity games for An Arsenal XI. He lives in Hertfordshire, on the outskirts of London, with his wife and two children.
Rashid Sarwar (1984-7) might be considered the earliest (in history) Asian to play in Britain-at Kilmarnock with 24 apps. He also played at minor clubs; Maryhill, Glenafton Athletic and Largs Thistle.
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