Victor Aiwone caught up with Ricardo Santos at his home in East London for a chat on life at Peterborough, being away from home and his goals for the rest of the campaign…
Ricardo Santos hasn’t always had it easy on his journey to League One football. After being released by Dagenham & Redbridge at 15, the Portuguese defender dropped out of league football and joined Ryman North team Thurrock in 2011 before signing for Peterborough United in July 2014 and has enjoyed a wonderful start to his first full season as a professional footballer.
Victor Aiwone: Ricardo, lovely to see you again.
Ricardo Santos: Any time, my brother, anytime
VA: Right, I’m going to jump straight into it and ask how did the move to Peterborough come about?
RS: I guess they had been watching me for some time because I just finished a training session in the morning and the gaffer (Thurrock manager Mark Stinson) pulled me to one side and told me he wanted to have a chat with me. I thought I was in trouble to be honest. Later he said, “Ricky, I had a phone call from Darren Ferguson yesterday and Peterborough want to sign you.” I was a bit surprised but the gaffer was brilliant; he said if I want to go then he won’t stand in my way. I used the next couple of days to think about it and talk with my mum, my brothers and a few mates of mine before deciding to sign with them.
VA: What made you sign for them then?
RS: Opportunities like this don’t come around too often and Peterborough have a good reputation with players from non-league football; I thought about Dwight Gayle immediately. I had a brief chat with Darren Ferguson on the phone and he said only good things about the club and his plan for me and that was it really, I was a Peterborough player a few days later.
VA: Speaking of Peterborough now, describe your time at the club so far.
RS: It’s been fantastic; I’m really enjoying it, enjoying my football and have learnt so much in such a short space of time. Everyone has really helped me settle in, it was a little difficult the first few weeks being away from home and that but that was always expected.
VA: Talking about being away from home, how does Peterborough differ from East London?
RS: Obviously it’s a smaller town and it’s a lot quieter, I can tell you that for free [laughs]. There isn’t as much going on as in London but apart from that there isn’t much difference.
VA: Now you and I are from the same area, how does it feel seeing Stratford now compared to six, maybe seven years ago?
RS: It genuinely warms my heart simply because I think what the Olympics has done is it has broken down that stereotype of Stratford being a gang-related, crime-filled area. We hosted the biggest sporting event in history without any problems whatsoever. I’m proud of that. Now it is time for the city to build from that.
VA: I love that. I really do. Now, finally what are your aims this season?
RS: Promotion. It’s as simple as that. The reason I say that is because of the group of boys we have here, the position we are in the league and the gaffer. There’s still a long way to go and a lot of football to play but we are good enough to be playing in the Championship; we’ve shown that this season and hopefully that is what we will be doing this time next season.
VA: Well, thanks for taking time to sit and chat with me, Ricardo, and all the best with the rest of the season.
RS: No problem, Victor, any time.