Welcome to the Pharrell Bell Blog

Hi everyone. Welcome to my new blog for ESPN Soccernet.

I'm sure you all already know who I am, but I have been told to give you a quick introduction anyway. My name is Pharrell Bell, and I am a 26-year-old midfielder for Premier League side Redcastle Town.

I signed my first professional contract on my 17th birthday on May 24 1999 after coming through the academy at Leeds United.

Back then, I was a bit of a 'wonderkid' (my dad still has the cutting from the local newspaper when they said I could be "potentially as good as David Batty") but it wasn't easy for a youngster to break into the Leeds side back then, because they weren't as crap as they are these days.

I only managed to make a couple of first-team appearances for Leeds before I moved to Newcastle United. I had two great seasons there (32 appearances, 0 goals) before I moved on to Fulham (15 apps, 0 goals) and then Charlton Athletic (10 apps, 1 goal) and finally Middlesbrough (seven apps, 0 goals).

After five different clubs in six seasons, it would have been easy for my fans to think that my career was slowly being flushed down the toilet. Believe me, the same thought crossed my own mind when I was at Boro, sat on the subs bench watching that fat, imitation 'Brazilian' Doriva being picked before me time and time again.

But the summer of 2006 brought the move that changed my life. I got a call from my agent, telling me that newly-promoted Redcastle Town were interested in buying me for a club-record fee, and asking whether I'd be interested. After nine days of talking it over with my (now ex) girlfriend, I rang my agent back to tell him I would jump at the chance.

Two fantastic seasons (36 apps, 1 goal) later, and here I am: a new four-year, £25k-a-week contract; Baby Bentley in the driveway; guitar-shaped swimming pool in the back garden; and a new girlfriend who made it all the way through Boot Camp on the X-Factor.

I guess that's why Soccernet approached me to do the blog: to give fans a behind-the-scenes look at the life of the average Premier League star. But this isn't going to be just another bland, insipid (thanks thesaurus!) column, ghost-written by some random, washed-up journo in an office somewhere.

No, this is going to be different. When I get back from a full day of training at about 11am, I am actually going to sit down at the desk in my library and type at my laptop, letting you guys know what's really going on with me and my team-mates - warts and all ('ey up, I'll say no more, Robbo...).

There will also be the chance for you to send in all your comments and questions for me to answer, although I won't be giving out my email address in case I get any abuse or death-threats from mentalists or rival fans.

I think at first, all this typing and reading and emailing and thinking is going to be a bit weird for me because it will be a bit like I've got a proper job - and I bet I'll get a load of grief from the lads at training the next morning, who'll be quick to point out all my spelling and grammar mistakes and that (hope I can find the spell-check button on this thing).

But my agent reckons it's a good idea for me to be thinking about life after football, and I agree with him. I know I probably don't have the skills to be offered anywhere near £25k-a-week in a normal job when I retire, so I need some more strings to my bow.

And I can honestly say I'm quite excited about getting down to it. It's going to be a lot of fun, I reckon, letting my fans know about all the laughs us top footballers have at training, on coach journeys and team-bonding nights out and stuff.

Maybe, if Paddy can stop getting himself booked for giving gip to the ref and we finish top of the Fair Play League, there might even be some away trips in Europe to write about next season. Some of the boys have said that Prague and Riga are a top night out (is Riga in Europe?).

I don't know how much Soccernet are paying me for this because my agent deals with all that stuff, but I am going to donate my fee to a charity. The fee is probably only peanuts anyway, but I thought it would be a nice touch to help out some people more needy than me. Anyway, I'm obviously not writing this blog because I need the money (£25k-a-week contract - ker-CHING!).

I haven't yet decided which charity I should give my money to. I think it should be something to do with kids, though. Although my mum and dad are loaded now because I buy them loads of presents, our family didn't have a lot of money when I was growing up so I do know what it feels like to be poor.

Perhaps you guys can help me choose a good charity that I can help out? Also, tell all your mates that I'm giving my money to a good cause - they might be able to think of someone worthy.

Okay, that's going to be your lot for my first entry. Make sure you come back next time, when I'll be blogging about our away trip to Arsenal - and hopefully that England call-up that the newspapers are predicting…

Thanks, 'til next time,

Pharrell.