Big Interview: Feed the Horse so he can help the homeless
Geoff Horsfield has been trying to auction off his medals and his football memorabilia to raise money for the homeless.
Albion’s Great Escape hero dreams of building a special hub in Birmingham city centre to shelter those less fortunate than him.
He successfully shifted his First Division runners-up medal won with the Baggies in 2003/04, when his goals helped fire the club into the Premier League.
But the fan who stumped up a large sum for his League Cup runners-up medal, won with Birmingham City in 2001, gave it back to him.
“He didn’t want me to lose it,” said Horsfield. “I seriously did not know what to say to him. Somebody paid £1,600 for that medal and then gave it back.
“I ain’t going to keep it though if I’m brutally honest. I said to him, we’ll try and sell it again and raise money for some different charities.
“People say I must be mad, but it’s going to a better cause and if we can help underprivileged people, it’s not a problem.
“I’ve done it all, got promoted, been to cup finals, but all my memories are in my head.”
Horsfield raised £6,500 in total from the recent auction of his collection, but some of the reserve prices on the shirts he’s collected down the years were not met, so he’s going to try and sell them again.
He’s confident that once they are flogged, he will have raised £10,000 towards his new hub for the homeless.
“I’m trying to raise as much as I cam to try and get external funding for a large Hub in Brum where I can put a gym for ex-armed forces, emergency showers, and workshops where we can help rehabilitate people on drugs, or suffering from alcohol abuse.
“The money is going into the bank until we can get external funding.
“I have not got a clue how much it’s going to cost, it could be £100,000, or £500,000, I really do not know I’m just trying to start somewhere. I’m going to go to Brum Council, tell them this is what I’m trying to do, and see if we can try and get a building as cheap as we can so other people can benefit from it – that’s my main aim.”
Horsfield may originally be from Barnsley, but he enjoyed his spells at Blues and Albion so much that he stayed in the West Midlands and currently lives in Sutton Coldfield.
Like all players, when he retired from football he needed to find a new purpose in life.
A man from humble beginnings, Horsfield was a bricklayer before making it big, and he returned to the housing trade after football.
“I’ve got a business side of it, a property portfolio,” he explains. “We’ve got six houses in Erdington which range from five to seven bedrooms.
“We house homeless people and get paid through housing benefits. That’s the business side of things.
“But my Foundation is designed to give something back. If I get a discount from Selco Builder’s Warehouse or Johnstone’s Paints, then I will put whatever I get off the bill, whether it’s two or three hundred pounds, into the charity.”
Horsfield already houses around 35 underprivileged people, but the long-term aim is to build a hub for those in need that can help them get their lives back on track.
Because putting a roof over someone’s head is only half the job.
“It’s not just about housing people,” explains Horsfield. “It’s about rehabilitating them, putting them on courses for joinery, bricklaying or gardening, getting their CVs sorted, or getting them off the drugs or the alcohol.
“It’s about more than just putting a roof over their head. First and foremost you get them off the streets but then you have to support them.
“We try and advise them and support them, take them to Alcoholics Anonymous.
“It’s all in stages, we’re trying to get them into work, jobs, voluntary work. We’ve got people who have been seriously ill who are now working.”
Horsfield didn’t know he was going to do this when he retired; his passion for helping people has grown over time.
“I started working doing general maintenance (when I retired from playing),” he explained. “After I’d done a job, straight after that the residents were coming to me and saying can you stop and have a coffee.
“I said I’ve got to go and do another job and then I realised, all these lads and girls need is just a bit of company. That’s how it started.”
Horsfield does more than just house the homeless though. Every Monday night he and his eight-year-old daughter Lexie head into Birmingham city centre to feed those still living on the streets.
“Her morals are really spot on at the minute, she loves helping,” beamed a proud father. “She comes and talks to the residents, they just need a smiling face, she’s got a very similar personality to me.
“I always look at life and if there’s someone worse off than me, then I try and make a small difference just by having a coffee and a chat.”
Of course, around these parts, Horsfield’s face is quite well known, and he says that has helped the Foundation.
“I drink and I work in a Villa area,” he explains. “Fifteen years ago I wouldn’t have been able to step foot into the vicinity because of what I did for Blues.
“We have the craic but when all the banter stops, the fans are unbelievable. There have been donations, van loads of toiletries and clothes from all types of fans.
“Albion, Blues, Villa, Wolves – Fulham fans have been sending cheques up to help too. The football family really comes together for things like this.”
Horsfield is a busy man, which means he doesn’t get to The Hawthorns as much as he’d like to these days, but he was delighted to see his former team-mate Darren Moore given a chance as head coach.
“When you look at the results they pulled out of the bag – and some of those players have got to look at their attitude under Alan Pardew – but you couldn’t overlook Mooro for the job. He had to take over. I’ve heard West Brom fans saying we don’t want him to get it because we don’t want it to go wrong for him! That’s how much he’s loved.
“I played with him, he was a motivator, he was driven, he organised the back four even when he didn’t play.
“That’s why Bryan Robson and Nigel Pearson wanted him around (for the Great Escape) even when he wasn’t playing.
“He deserves the chance and hopefully it will go well for him.
“He’s played in it most of his career, he’s done all his badges, he may be inexperienced but if you bring in a foreign coach who’s not experienced in the Championshp what difference is that?
“It’s a ferocious and hard league, it really is. But Mooro’s got the attributes, hopefully the club will back him.”
Follow the Geoff Horsfield Foundation on Twitter @geoffhorsfield9 and on Facebook at facebook.com/thegeoffhorsfield
foundation
