Four years on from his final game as an Orlando City SC player, Orlando City UK caught up with longtime Lion Luke Boden.
Still Orlando City SC‘s record all-time appearance holder with 87 appearances in USL and 45 in MLS (132 overall), the Englishman spoke about life in Florida, making the transition to MLS, and his memories following his time at the club.
You’ve been involved with Orlando City SC since its USL form in 2011. How did the whole process of moving to America come about?
Back home I was at Sheffield Wednesday and the manager I had at the time was Paul Sturrock. He first gave me my chance when I was 17 and it was Plymouth Argyle away. I’ll never forget it; it was nerve-racking to say the least but it was amazing. I thought my career would kick on from there and I continued to get chances under Sturrock. Then he left and Brian Laws came in after his time at Scunthorpe United. Then Alan Irvine came in and my career kind of came to a halt. Football is made up of opinions and I wasn’t a fit for Irvine.
Then through James O’Connor at Sheffield Wednesday, I had an opportunity. He said the guy that looks after him has good connections in North America and I said that’s something that I want to do. James O’Connor is a big reason why I’m sitting here today. He put me in touch with Clive Clarke and Gary Mellor and figured out a way to get me to America under Adrian Heath and that’s how it came about. I was frustrated, I wasn’t playing and I just wanted to play football. I didn’t work as hard as I did as a kid to just sit around and be a number. All I wanted to do was play. It was the perfect opportunity to come over and play.
Was making the transition difficult at the start?
Everyone thinks that because they speak English in America, everything is pretty much the same but the culture is so different to England. I was very naive and thought it would be a simple transition. If you ever get a chance to ask Adrian Heath about my first six months at the club, it was like I’d never kicked a ball before.
It was really difficult for me and I missed home and friends. Even though I had friends on the team like my room-mate Lewis Neal who is a close friend of mine, it was a really difficult transition and after those six months, I found my feet and I started to enjoy my football again.
Do you visit the UK and get back to Hillsborough often? Are you actually a Sheffield Wednesday fan?
My family is split. My Dad is a Manchester United fan and my brother and the rest of my family are all Sheffield Wednesday fans so playing for them was amazing. I went to all the Wednesday games with my brother and then my Dad used to take me to the Manchester United games so I was set in both worlds. I would probably say I follow them both which is really unusual for an English person to say but in America, people have their favourite Premier League teams, Italian teams and Spanish teams. It’s not like back home where it’s one club.
You’re currently assistant coach for Rollins College’s men’s soccer. Tell us what that role involves?
The college game is similar to the professional game in a way and it has its differences with the educational side. I knew I always wanted to get into coaching but I never knew it would be college coaching. I’ve known Rollins College head coach Keith Buckley for a long time as we used to play them in pre-season and he called me one day to say his assistant coach at the time had to leave due to personal reasons. He asked me whether I’d like the spot. I’d just left Tampa Bay Rowdies and one of his first questions was “what do you want to do with this?”
I said I really want to be a head coach and he said that’s great but you need to get your degree. I said excuse me? Leaving school at 16 in England and going into a YTS Scholarship, I never got a chance to get my education. Now, I’m going through my studies because I eventually want to become a head coach in college. The thing I love about it is that you give the players more than just football. You’re setting these kids up for the rest of their lives by getting their degrees. We’ve got great players and people, and I really love working with them. We have players that have aspirations to go on and play professionally and I want to help them do that because it is the best job in the world.
Orlando City SC actually played Roma at Rollins College, right?
We did. It was a game that came out of nowhere. The first one at Rollins College when it was grass at the time, Roma were training down at Walt Disney World for their pre-season and Adrian Heath came across the game. We had a lot of first team players out of town at the time and Inchy text everybody and said we’re going to play Roma – if you can make it, great. We had a depleted team and had a lot of guys that were trying out but it didn’t take away from the moment. It was a fantastic game and we played against some great players.
Did you manage to get a tackle in on Francesco Totti?
Funny story because Adama Mbengue did get a tackle in on Francesco Totti and got a slap on the back of his neck for his troubles. I just spoke with Miguel Gallardo, Rob Valentino and Bryan Burke, and we spoke about this game and when Totti came on. We were in awe but Adama’s reaction was completely different and it was just to try and tackle him. He was fairly rough with him and Totti slapped him on the back of his neck and it was really loud and echoed around the Rollins College stadium. The referee did nothing and everybody kind of giggled it off. Something that we never let him live down, that’s for sure.
#FillTheBowl was over 5 years ago now. Describe your emotions on that day and how gutted were you not to start over Brek Shea?
It’s a conversation I’ve had a few times and it was devastating not to start. I played for Orlando City SC for the four years previous and I was on the bench for the biggest game in the club’s history. Going into the new era of MLS, I knew there was going to be difficulties. I’d already experienced competition for places in England and there’s always going to be new people coming in the door. Things were going to change from what the club was to what it is today.
That was inevitable so I knew these challenges were going to come along. For #FillTheBowl, they spoke about selling out the Citrus Bowl with 62,500 people and when I found out I wasn’t playing on the day, it was devastating. But it was still an amazing day and an amazing experience to look out and see that many people in Orlando come and cheer on their team. Luckily, we did #FillTheBowlAgain in 2016 and I managed to start that game. It was a similar crowd and it was an amazing experience.
On that day, I don’t think I’ve been as hot in my life! How do you guys deal with the Florida heat?
I have these conversations now with student athletes that come from abroad and you need to make sure you’re fit. If you think you’re fit then you need to get fitter because the heat over here is unbelievable. The humidity and the sun are so powerful and the only way to combat that is to be as fit as you can possibly be. Even then, it’s still going to hit you like a brick wall because it’s just so intense. For us, we trained and played in that heat every day. I remember that game being early in the afternoon and it was just sweltering on the turf. Everybody was fit and ready to go and play in that game.
The different time zones and climates make Major League Soccer a very difficult league, right?
It’s an extremely difficult league and I’ve spoken to friends back home that want to come over here and play. I explain to them that the travel is extremely difficult. When we played up at Toronto FC at the weekend, we went straight and played LA Galaxy in midweek and there wasn’t much space in between. You’re away for around a week to 10 days, which is already difficult, and then you’ve got the time zones too. Travel alone is exhausting and the clubs do their absolute best to try and help with recovery for the players and doing that quicker.
You guys fly commercial out of MCO right?
You only get a certain amount of games where you can do charter flights. We chartered to Seattle Sounders and back for one game but there are very few games that you can do that. To make MLS better than what it is now, this is going to be really important for wanting to attract some of the best players from around the world. You want to make sure players are getting to games and feeling 100% and not feeling jet-lagged. It does get on top of you and causes injuries because people aren’t recovering in time for the next game. Taking away the exhaustion of travel would be very beneficial.
Your only MLS goal was a beauty against Joe Bendik at Toronto FC in 2015. Is it the best you’ve struck in your career?
I played left midfield that game and at home the week before against Columbus Crew. Playing as a striker as a kid, Paul Sturrock wanted me to play central midfield when I got into the first team at Sheffield Wednesday. I played there and then left midfield for Brian Laws so I was used to playing further forward.
When I went to left back, defending wasn’t my strong point in all honesty. My strength was going forward and the way the game is today, athleticism is a massive part. The modern day player is rapid and I definitely wasn’t rapid. I enjoyed my goal at Toronto FC and I definitely let Joe Bendik know about it when he joined Orlando City SC. He wasn’t pleased about it as you can imagine. I enjoyed that one to say the least.
You spent many years in the locker room with Adrian Heath. Tell us something we wouldn’t know about Inchy.
Adrian Heath was really good at allowing players to be human beings. He wanted you to enjoy yourself but when it was time to train, he made it very clear that you had to be at 100% If you couldn’t go out and enjoy yourself then bring 100% to training, then don’t go out. That was a strong message that we had, particularly in USL. Go out, enjoy yourselves and be young guys, which we were. We all got along and that created a unity. We all ate together, had barbecues together, had drinks together but we all knew that when it came to going on the field, it was time to train and time to play. That was something that everybody knew in the dressing room.
You were part of Orlando City SC’s glorious years spent in USL. What is your favourite memory?
When we played Charlotte Eagles in the 2013 USL Pro Championship. It wasn’t the best defensive display by anybody. Adrian Heath wasn’t best pleased about that but I think that was the first time we had like 20,000 supporters watching. People were really buying into what Orlando City SC was trying to do as a club. We had worked really hard as players to produce what they saw on the field and Adrian had a way of playing that we all bought into. We also played against the likes of Newcastle United, Bolton Wanderers, Fluminense and these teams weren’t expecting us to be as structured or good as we were. I think that Charlotte game was great and from there, you could see the club was going places. We had support throughout the year but that game was like… here we go.
You were certainly a fan favourite at Orlando City SC. How did it feel seeing fans with replica shirts with your name on the back?
The support that I got was an amazing feeling. I was at the club a long time and I think everyone appreciated that I left everything on the field in every game and training session. I took great pride in playing for Orlando City SC. To see people wearing my shirt is amazing. The connection that every player had with the club is a big reason why the club is so successful today. After every game, we’d go and sign stuff and have that connection with the fans. They came out every weekend to see us and the least we could do was sign some stuff for 20 to 30 minutes. It was a special time with some amazing memories.
James O’Connor was actually your team-mate back in your Sheffield Wednesday days. Did you feel he would go into management back then?
100% I was with James O’Connor at Sheffield Wednesday and I had actually played against him when he was at Burnley. Brian Laws knew James from his time there and thought he’d be a great addition. When people talk about being professional, James O’Connor was the ultimate professional. A great person, he was a completely different person when he was on the field. He was always about winning, he was very aggressive and sometimes he was a bit too much for some people. I remember when he first came over and how intense he was. I knew James and knew this was common but he was such a winner on the field. Off the field, he is such a great person.
Rob Valentino was captain in USL but just because James O’Connor didn’t have the armband on, didn’t mean he wasn’t a leader like he was in England. He was all about winning and that’s what we needed. Going into management, it was always going to happen. I used to sit next to him in the dressing room at Sheffield Wednesday and he was in the middle of doing his A and Pro coaching licenses. There was no doubt in my mind that he was coming over to North America for management.
It was great to see him get the opportunity as Orlando City SC head coach. I wish he got more of an opportunity as he’s a close friend of mine and I was sad to see him leave. I do think that he changed the culture. With James, he’s so intense and I think it’s difficult for some people to understand that he’s a genuine guy with people’s best interests at heart. I still speak to him now and he’s a great person.
And finally, what food and drinks do you miss most from the UK? Do you ever import anything over? Bacon perhaps?
To be honest, I’m not really a bacon fan but over here it’s too crispy and there’s no meat and it’s just like eating fat. The biggest thing for me, and I get my Dad to ship it over, is Cadbury’s chocolate buttons. My little boy is starting to eat them and I have to hide them. He’s an American; he should be eating Hershey’s!
But I miss the basic stuff like salad cream and brown sauce. I miss the fish and chip shop and every time I go home, I go to all these places instantly. A chip butty, Yorkshire Tea, Hula Hoops, Skips and our chocolate that is so much better in England. Easter eggs and chocolate buttons that disappear every time I turn a corner. There are certain things that I do miss.
We were supposed to go back to the UK this year before lockdown but when I’m back, it’s straight round to my Nan’s house for a cup of tea and biscuits. I’ve got more of an appreciation now than I did before. All this proves my point that the cultures are so different. You can go to the pub or carvery and sit outside and I’ve got much more of an appreciation than I did before.
*THIS INTERVIEW WAS EXCLUSIVELY CONDUCTED BY ORLANDO CITY UK ON JUNE 5TH 2020*