 Welcome to another edition of Yes, We're Here. I'm Ian Joy and today's guest is a man I've been trying to get for a long time. He's a hard man to track down. He's a busy man. He's our young starlet, NYCFC former midfielder, Jack Karrison. Thanks for joining us. No, thank you for having me. I didn't realize it was that long. It's been a while trying to get my hands on you, my man, because it's of course been a long time since you've been away from the club. Now your life sort of changed a little bit. But before we get into all that, how are you doing during the quarantine? How's the family doing? Yeah, everyone's doing well. Thank you. We spoke about before just trying to get everyone to stay at home in the quarantine. It's always hard trying to entertain yourself at home. And for us players wise, you know, it's hard because we don't know when we're gonna start. We just have to try and keep fit and do our best to prepare for anything really. But apart from that, just trying to stay positive, trying to do different things in the house, to stay entertained, and it helps about it. All right, let's go back a little bit. You moved to the United States of America. You get drafted, number one, into Major League Soccer. You end up at New York City Football Club via a trade. It seemed to me like life was moving very fast for you at that stage. How was it for you to deal with because you went from moving over to the US, high school, player of the year, drafted MLS, into Major League Soccer? Yeah, I mean, it was a very quick transition. But I think every step that I took prepared me well for the next phase in my career. And spending time at Berkshire School, it was a different experience than I could have ever imagined. But it prepared me well for Wake Forest and what I learned at Wake Forest, although it was a short amount of time, only one semester. But even playing at that standard and getting used to that level definitely helped me prepare for the MLS as well, despite being injured at the start. But yeah, I think it was a quick transition. But every step that I took prepared me and I always learned something new along the way, which helped me in the next step. And yeah, it's just been like that since. Yeah, it seems like it's been a bit of a crazy journey. But again, Patrick Vieira seems to have been a key man in your life. How influential was he on your career? No, I mean, he's huge. He's the one that started off, you know, my professional career. He's probably one of the first people that had any, any sort of faith and so I only saw any sort of potential in me at all. And, you know, through NYCFC and going through the draft and everything, I've been so grateful for the opportunity that they've given me to, you know, to go to New York and to play there two years. It was an incredible experience. And, you know, I am so appreciative of everything that they provided for me. And I learned a lot whilst, you know, being under Patrick Vieira and playing with the, you know, all the stars that everyone knows that were there at the time as well. So, yeah, it's just an opportunity that, you know, I've always been grateful and I've always seen it as like the kickstarter to my professional career. All right, you played under NYCFC 1.0. It's sort of changed a little bit now. Back when you were there, there was a ton of stars, as you just mentioned there. Was there one in particular? I mean, we can talk about Vieira, Lampard, Pirlo. I mean, you played with some of the best players that have ever played the game in New York City, but is there one particular player that had a massive impact on you personally? I think it's hard to say really because, you know, during my time there, they were all so supportive of not only me, but all the young players as well. They were always trying to help them out. It'd probably be difficult between either David and Frank. I think on Frank, I've gotten to know him on a personal level, on and off the pitch as well. And he's always helped me out with any problems or any queries that I've had about the game and anything off the pitch as well that I need help with. And even, you know, to this day, we always talk and he always makes fun of me on Instagram and all that stuff. So now we're keeping in contact with him, but also with David too. I think obviously playing alongside him and just, you know, not that Frank didn't have, you know, all the passion and all that stuff, but just watching some of the things that he does, you know, as a goal scorer and something that, you know, I want to do myself. It was brilliant to be able to watch how these two players conduct themselves. So I can't really say one or the other and I don't want to hurt anyone's feelings either. So I'd probably be David or Frank. Do a nice moment. Alright, 61 appearances, 14 goals and then 10 assists in Major League Soccer. That's pretty good stats and very good going for a youngster who's just entered into the league. What did you enjoy most about playing in Major League Soccer? I think just just playing in general, I think it's, you know, it's so hard. At that point in my life, you know, you see a lot of, a lot of teenagers playing around the world and you see people talking about, oh, they have all this potential, but they're either on the bench or they're not playing and, you know, and that's something that I always saw in Europe and I was like, wow, I'm so fortunate to be to be able to play, you know, every week. And, you know, I learned so much just through the game experience and just actually getting out there and playing. And I think that's something that I really enjoyed the most is just playing because you had all the support of NYC FC behind me, all my family and friends behind me as well. And also, you know, the fans in New York were so supportive of me being so young and, and you're playing a lot as well. They were always encouraging me. And yeah, that's probably something it's bit, bit unorthodox, really. But I think, I don't know, it's just something that stands out for me is that just I was able to play at that point in my career. Yeah, it's so important to be able to get minutes, right? As you're a youngster, you want to play, you don't want to sit on the bench, you don't want to have to be patient, you want to play and getting that experience is so vital. So you get the move to Manchester City. Was that always the dream for you? Was it always I want to be able to play, do my best in Major League Soccer so that I can garner enough interest and get that move to Europe? Yeah, I think, you know, me personally, I've always wanted to push myself as, as far as possible and to the highest standard possible that I could play and, you know, every, every kid's dream is to be able to play at one of the top leagues in Europe or the Premier League or something like that. So that was always in the back of my mind. I wasn't exactly sure. Even at the start, when I first moved to the US, I still wanted to come back to Europe. That was still one of my aspirations is come back and play professionally. But I just wasn't sure how it's going to happen. But yeah, it's just something in the back of my mind. I always wanted to come back. And yeah, I knew once, once I went with New York, I knew with the affiliation that it could be a possibility that way. But signing with Man City always just kind of seemed a bit weird to me like, like me going from the MLS signing with Man City just seemed a bit strange. But it all happened in the end. And now I'm at that stage now I'm looking for the next thing. And yeah, it's just trying to keep pushing myself really. We started a trend because there's a lot of players now making that move from Major League Soccer into big, big clubs in Europe. And now you're at Leeds United. And you have played for some terrific names. And now you're under Marcelo Bielsa. I mean, this is a tremendous human being, a tremendous coach, great reputation. You know, what is what advice does he give you personally? And how does he coach you sort of man to man like that type of relationship you have? It's a bit different, really, than I could ever really describe or anything that I could ever expect. I think the relationship he has with the players is, I don't want to say nonexistent, but is he likes to keep his distance from his players. And there's a mutual respect between the players and himself. And obviously, with the reputation that he has, and all the knowledge that he has about the game, the way he conducts training is, it's like, I've never experienced before. And, you know, it takes a little bit of time to adapt and get get used to his training methods and his methodology really just about the game and everything and the way he breaks down and makes it so detailed. And, but ultimately, you know, it's going to be good for you. And so it took a little bit of time to kind of adapt and get used to that training regime. And I think once you get around that, you understand what he wants and you can kind of get your head around all of that stuff and you just let yourself play with all that in the back of your mind. I think you can really start to build on different parts of your game, which is what I've basically done the last two years. I've gone through ups and downs with him and just reset myself going back to the training sessions and what he wants out of me as a player is what I kind of used to kind of back myself up a little bit. I'm not sure really sure if I'm making that much sense, but he likes to have a lot of meetings with his players before every game. He has individual meetings with every player. And this is before every game as well. You go over about 10 minutes of clips or highlights of the game before and he basically explains things that he did well, things that he didn't do well. So he shows it on a video exactly what he wants. So for you as a player that's great to see because you can see the things that you're doing right and the things that you're doing that is not helping the team or yourself at all really. So there's a lot of video analysis and a lot of tactical analysis as well. But ultimately it's only helping myself as a player. I'm just trying to take in as much as possible whilst like you said he's got a great reputation and to be working with him I feel lucky again. Yeah. I mean you have to be a sponge. You have to take absolutely everything you possibly can from someone like him because he's worked with the best players that have ever played the game. I played 10 of my 14 years in Europe and I know that feeling. A lot of coaches keep it very professional. They want to do their job. They don't want to be your buddy where it's a little bit different in Major League Soccer. What about for you personally going from Major League Soccer where the media, the pressure from supporters is a lot more intense now where you are in Europe. What is the difference for you personally? I mean you're in an unbelievably tough fan base there in Leeds because the pressure is incredibly high. Yeah I sure know that. I think in New York I was really lucky you know being with Patrick he was so approachable and I was able to talk with him about anything and you know like you said with the fans and everything the pressures everything around it is you know it's not as intense as it is here and I think that's something that kind of took me a little bit by shock. I've never experienced it. I always kind of knew that with the you know the with the English culture and the football culture in England it always had this kind of hostile atmosphere about it but I never really experienced it from a player's perspective before. So once I came to Leeds I think I was I was going through a couple rough patches it wasn't playing too well and not scoring, not doing any assists or anything like that and you know the fans definitely let me know. So that's something that really took me by surprise and it took me quite a while to kind of get used to that and I was really lucky actually having the support from Man City behind me. They have a team of people that work with loan players. So there's someone that overlaps everything you have like a psychologist, you have a video analysis like a coach you have a physio there if you need it and you have like a team of people that only work with loan players. So for me having that behind me as you know it was incredible I could just kind of use those resources to get through some difficult times in my career that I've never really experienced before and I think working with a psychologist there really really helped me and in ways that I never really thought that were possible either and just finding ways to kind of get through these difficult obstacles in my career and just looking at things from different angles just trying to make it work in my favor really and I think once I kind of got through that rough patch and and you see if you start doing little things well the the fans will you know get behind you get behind you and you know that's that's been something that I've kind of carried on from the back of last last season going into this season and just kind of kept trying to build little good things up and or doing something good in the game even if it's something this or the fans will always recognize that and you know it's it's been great so far this season because they've been so encouraging behind not only me but the team and now we're in you know a good position with you know well who knows only nine games left so with the potential of winning the league so it's like you said it's a lot more intense here but you know it almost once you kind of figure out how to to manage all of that you can make it work in ways that can be good for you and as a team and kind of kind of drive you forward as well so I made a transfer once from HSV Hamburg to the city rival St. Pauli and I remember when I left the last training session I gave my jersey to a supporter who used to come to the training sessions you know you know the type of person they could there are every single training session everywhere like if my jersey my last ever match worn jersey to this this gentleman and he must have been in the 70s anyway we played the Darby game the next time in their stadium and I'll never forget this it was the warm-up and I could hear him shouting in the warm but you know it's quiet we're kind of just getting ourselves ready and he held up my jersey and had it on a stick and he set fire to my jersey some of the fans they're crazy they'll do anything they they live and die from football and that's just how they are here it's just like a religion for most people like let's talk about what you mentioned there a moment ago you know last season was a little unfortunate what happened with the playoffs but this year it looks like you've managed to use that experience and make yourselves better what's been the difference between the two seasons for you um I think the biggest thing is really last year like like I mentioned with Marcelo you know no one had ever really um trained under his kind of regime before been been used to his training sessions or anything like that so I think towards the back end of last year maybe I think some of the players were a little fatigued with everything that was going on but I think coming into this year everyone has just been on the same page and you know what you're expecting you know what you're going to get from him and he knows what he's going to get from you as well and I think just having having that mentally it can you know go a long way and um just even when times have been rough this year having each other's backs on the team and encouraging one another in different ways as kind of helps us kind of get back on the right path and keep driving us forward and to the position that we are today and I think that's probably been the biggest thing is just um knowing what what is expected really yeah and kind of doing everything you can to you know adjust to all of those things so um yeah that's probably been the biggest thing from the two seasons that I've noticed do you know this weekend would have been the last game of the season for you guys and there probably would have been a massive celebration for you have you guys been talking about that during the zoom um well a little bit there's been some talk on the on the chat and stuff obviously this morning with um the league one in france um yeah the the announcing psg the winners and stuff so there's been talk of that too um who does and yeah talk about going down to cornwall and uh where the sun is and having our holidays down there so well but I don't know who knows at this point so we're just trying to wait and wait to see what happens and yeah go from there really all right well before I go I know there's a lot of fans that miss you in and around new york city and they'll want to know this what do you miss most about new york city well that's a tough question um you know as you know I think the last two years I've always gone back to new york it's always it I think it's always has and always will have a place in my heart and um I think just just being in the city the vibe is just um the people the the atmosphere and just I don't know I always love just being in the city and what it what it brings to you as a person and um and that's something that I always admired whilst whilst being there and one of the reasons why I always go back or try to go back not maybe not this summer but um you know in the past two years I've always gone back to to train and it's you know as a place in my heart that I'll always be grateful for everything that that I had there so um I it's hard to say one specific thing but I guess just the city in general just how everyone is is is just fantastic to be around jack thank you all the best to you I mean good luck with the promotion when the ball finally does get rolling or does not get rolling again in the meantime it means a lot that you came on here and had a chat with us a lot of people in New York still talk about you they miss you believe it or not I've voted you as my player that I would bring back from all the players that have been at the club you are the one I chose that I wanted back on the team because of the impact you had on everybody so thank you so much for joining us stay safe buddy thank you you too thank you for having me