By Sean Cole

THEN AND NOW: Billy Clifford in action at Chelsea 
PICTURE: Action Images

THE Chelsea academy primed Billy Clifford for success. He had access to exceptional training facilities, pristine pitches and an army of support staff.
But life in the lower divisions simply couldn’t compare and he struggled to adapt as he drifted further away from the elite.
Within a year of leaving his boyhood club, Clifford joined Boreham Wood.
“It was probably a blessing in disguise,” he told The NLP. “It made me wise up to the real world, to real football. I was no longer in this bubble of academy...