A STUDENT has landed his dream job with a Premier League football club after taking a leap of faith.

James Allan, 23, took up an engineering apprenticeship after leaving Jarrow School, in South Tyneside, and secured a job with British Engines.

He said: “I just thought sport would be my hobby, something I did after work. I knew I enjoyed doing it, but never really considered it a career option.”

After nine months in the job, he decided his heart lay not on the factory floor put rather on the sports field and he got in touch with the University of Sunderland to get onto a Sports Science degree course.

James has now landed an internship providing sport science support to Southampton FC’s under-18s, beginning in July. He saw off competition from more than 150 others to land the role which will see him providing strength and conditioning training to some of the country’s most promising young footballers.

James has already worked with players at Durham County Cricket Club at the Emirates Riverside in Chester-le-Street, provided strength and conditioning support for the University men’s rugby team and coached five to eight-year-olds at All-Stars Cricket at Ashbrooke Sports Club in Sunderland.