WILL MANNION has been training to become an aeroplane pilot.
And the keeper hopes his Charlton team will be flying in tomorrow’s play-off final against Leyton Orient – before landing a place in the Championship.
The 27-year-old has already done 15 hours of flying lessons and is a third of the way through being able to fly solo.
Mannion told SunSport: “I was 14 when I took my first lesson. It was something I was going to do properly if football didn’t work but thankfully it did.
“Now it’s something I want to do after football. I’m going to do more lessons so I can get my Private Pilot Licence in the next couple of years.
“I’ve been flying Cessna 172 planes, which are like a four-seater washing machine with wings! I’ve got a fair way to go yet.
“When I was at my last club Cambridge, I flew out of RAF Duxford, which was awesome because you would have Spitfires taking off in front of you!
“It’s hard to describe the feeling of flying a plane. I would liken it to riding a bike in the sky!
“It’s intuitive when you’re up there with the controls.
“It’s not as scary as people think. It’s fun, especially when taking off and landing.
“Although taking off and landing are the two hardest things because that is where things can most likely go wrong.
“But I’m never frightened, you just have to know what you’re doing.
“The plan is to get more lessons locally. Biggin Hill isn’t too far away so will probably fly out of there.”
Mannion cannot pinpoint why he fell in love with aviation but he then took it up in case a football career did not pan out.
And now he is contemplating a career in the sky when his days in football are over.
He added: “The next stage for me is to go out solo. I’ve got to do around 45 hours to get my licence.
“The great thing is it’s not something you need to do by a certain deadline, you can just chip away at it in your own time.
It was something I was going to do properly if football didn’t work but thankfully it did.
Will Mannion
“There are various exams — theory and practical — you must do. Then I can be in a position to just take a plane out for leisure at the weekend or on my days off.
“But that is only the first stage.
“There are quite a few more exams before you can fly a plane for easyJet.
“At this stage I don’t know how far I’d go with it but might consider working in the commercial airline industry one day!”
Back on the ground, Charlton have the chance to return to the Championship after five years stuck in League One.
Mannion has played a crucial role in helping the Addicks reach this Wembley final – having kept a club-record TWENTY-FIVE clean sheets this season.
Not bad for a keeper who only joined last summer from Cambridge.
He said: “To have played in as many games, finish fourth, play like we have as a team and keep as many clean sheets has been massive.
“It’s not something I predicted when I came but as the season progressed you could see we were a solid defensive unit and it paid off in terms of our league position and reaching a Wembley play-off final.
It will be surreal but it’s just another game. We cannot afford to get carried away by the occasion and romance of it.
Mannion on Wembley
“The clean sheets aren’t just down to me. It starts from the front in terms of how we play, we’re a high-pressing team.
“That transcends throughout the team.
“The lads in front of me have been outstanding all season. They’ve limited what I’ve had to do to a minimum.”
Mannion is establishing himself as a No 1 after a lot of years doing the hard yards.
He was a young pro at Hull – rubbing shoulders with the likes of Harry Maguire, Jarrod Bowen and Andy Robertson – after being signed by Steve Bruce.
He had loan spells in non-league with Aldershot and Kidderminster before a season with Cypriot team Pathos having struggled to find a club at home.
He said: “It was during the Covid spell. I couldn’t even find a club to look at me, never mind sign me. So I had this opportunity to go abroad and I gave it go.
“As a life experience it was good to see a different culture – although on the football side I didn’t get a lot of opportunities.”
A move to Cambridge brought 29 League One appearances over three years before what has turned out to be his best season yet at the Addicks.
Mannion has only previously been to Wembley as a spectator — watching Crystal Palace beat Watford in the 2013 Championship play-off final and the 2009 FA Cup final when Chelsea saw off Everton 2-1.
He said: “It’s one thing imagining yourself playing there and quite another actually thinking you will play there.
“It will be surreal but it’s just another game. We cannot afford to get carried away by the occasion and romance of it.
“We’ve one more game to achieve what we set out to do – win promotion.”
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