Macca: I owe it all to my wife

By Andy Mitchell

ROAR PASSION: Macauley Bonne is back in the goal groove thanks to wife Chloe, inset

THERE is only one face Macauley Bonne will be trying to pick out among the thousands at Wembley – that of the loving wife who pulled him back from the abyss.

Southend United’s 29-year-old striker has featured from the Championship right through to the National League in a rollercoaster career that has tested him physically and mentally.

Departing League Two Gillingham last summer left the Zimbabwe international at a crossroads – hang up the boots or go again.

It was a tough call having spent more time with doting wife Chloe who, despite living through the down sides that the beautiful game had put her hubby through, backed him to answer the call of Shrimpers boss Kevin Maher in September.

Bonne told The NLP: “I didn’t have a club and wanted to retire from football. I just didn’t want to play anymore but when I got the call from the gaffer and came to training there was only one place for me.

Homely

“I had fallen out of love with the game. I had a few moves that didn’t really work out and I wasn’t playing.

“I can’t lie, I really enjoyed spending time with my wife. In the off season I had got so used to that. When the season started I was still going to the gym with her. I am a homely person anyway and I became even more so.

“Football wasn’t even on my mind and that is a hard thing to say, the hardest thing I have ever had to say, but fast forward eight months and I am going to Wembley.

“My wife has been through a hell of a lot with me – I know I am talking about her a lot but I love her dearly.

“She has seen it all, my good days, my worst days, and everything I do is for my family. She is there day in, day out, doing the little things. I wish I could give her everything in the world.

“It is the people at home who you need, the ones who look after you that help you when you’re out there on the pitch. I got back to the dressing room (after winning at Forest Green Rovers in the play-off semi-final) to a message to say she was proud of me – I teared up, I was gone.

“I cannot appreciate her enough. I went through depression and I was in the mud. I went through a really bad stage that I didn’t think I would get out of and she helped me day by day, telling me that everything would be okay.

Depressed

“Football wasn’t healthy for me. I was going home with it and was depressed for the best part of a year and it was one way or the other, no football or playing again.

“I needed that routine, got back into it and coming to Southend was one of the best decisions I have made.”

It marked Bonne’s return to the National League which he won in 2019 during a prolific spell with Leyton Orient that instigated his jump to the second tier with Charlton Athletic.

“A lot of people turn their nose up at coming into the National League when they have played higher but you tell me a better two (play-off) games that you’ll see than the ones we had against Rochdale and Forest Green,” he said.

He experienced defeat at Wembley with the O’s in the FA Trophy, albeit after an EFL return had been sealed.

“I am a Wembley loser so it is time to be a Wembley winner,” he added.

“This is the first time I have been in the play-offs and while I’m not at the end, it is the latter part of my career. What a time it would be to get a promotion.”