An interview with Jon Otsemobor is unlike many others.
In the half-hour he spent with the ECHO on a scorching hot day in May 2020, before finishing a run across Sefton Park, we talked about being shot in the backside, being arrested at training, and El-Hadji Diouf gate-crashing his apartment with several scantily clad pals.
But Otsemobor, who is 39 today, is a very charming character. He has been teaching his son’s under-eight squad and hopes to return to his former club in whatever manner…
“It would be an honour,” he says.
After retiring from football in 2014, he became interested in property management and personal training, but both activities have been put on hold for the time being as he pursues coaching certifications.
He also speaks glowingly about representing Liverpool, the club he adored as a child despite being offered a YTS by Everton first, and what it means for a young Scouser to play for his team.
Basically, it’s a memorable half-hour.
During his two-and-a-half hour appearance on Under the Cosh, Otsemobor discussed getting shot, which occurred in Wonderbar on Slater Street in the city centre in 2003.
He explained that the incident, which took place less than a year after his Liverpool debut, was a regrettable accident caused by a mistaken identity and being in the wrong place at the wrong time.
The bullet went straight through Otsemobor’s buttocks, but miraculously missed his hip. It did, however, remove the finger of a reveller nearby, who wound up at the same hospital that evening.
The gunman shot another victim that night, prompting speculation that Otsemobor was connected in the Liverpool gang scene. He admits to having grappled with this notion at times.
“The people who mean anything to me, the people close to me and friends and family, know who I am and what I’m about,” she says.
“I believe that Speke, where I am from, is not the nicest district in Liverpool.
“There’s always been difficulty there over the years, and even if accidents didn’t occur, I was always going to be perceived differently by the group of friends I was with.
“I didn’t mind that because I knew who I was, and wherever I go, people who know me don’t have that impression of me.
“So it wasn’t so much that, but the people who didn’t know me, who always believed he was a scally, he’s this, he’s that, and that’s why he was released from Liverpool.
“It was so far from the truth that people are going to make their opinions of what and when and you leave them to it.”
Ironically, the fullback recovered quickly from the strange injury and returned to the club two months later.
However, this wasn’t the only challenging situation he had to explain to Gerard Houllier.
His brand new BMW once caught fire on his mother’s path. He was also arrested while training with Liverpool.
Otsemobor noticed a brawl in the street as he drove by a bar where he knew his pals would be.
He discovered it was one of his pals and tried to aid him. A few days later, police detained Otsemobor in Liverpool on GBH allegations. He claimed that the other group tried to coerce him into paying to have the accusations dropped.
The arrest resulted in nothing, but given that it occurred within eight months of the shooting, Otsemobor’s reputation was not exactly glowing.
“I did get in stupid bits of trouble down the years but I’ve put that down to being very inexperienced,” he says with a laugh. “Much of my trouble occurred away from the football club, such as during nights out.
“I could have managed things if I had a more rational head on my shoulders and not been in those places at those times, but other than that, as I progressed through my profession and began to mature, I had no problems anywhere else.
“It was just unfortunate that it happened at such a young age at a club where I had so much potential of doing well there.”
Does he believe that if he had kept a different set of friends or a lesser profile, things at Liverpool would have been different?
Could it have been him turning over the baton to Trent Alexander-Arnold some seasons back?
“I would never know,” he says. “You’d have to question those in control. Looking back, if I were the owner of a football club, you would not want your young players… Otsemobor wanders off.
“Imagine one of the young lads now goes out and gets shot and there are rumours flying about?” he says. “I was not even on the first team at the time. Any football club does not require it, but fortunately, Liverpool did at the time recognize something in me.
“I suppose if they hadn’t, it would have been much easier to kick me out.
“It was simply my way of absorbing and thinking at the time. I was thinking like a young Liverpool kid, rather than thinking, “Wait a minute, I am young, but I am at Liverpool Football Club here.”
“I can’t go out to town when people are trying to cause confrontations with me. I have to be mature enough to walk away from those situations and not get involved in other people’s problems, whether they are friends or strangers. “I need to ignore it.”
In an attempt to get away from his off-field problems, Otsemobor relocated from Speke to a flat on Albert Dock.
Here, he unintentionally arranged a party for Liverpool teammate El-Hadji Diouf.
After forming a connection with the Senegalese international – he believes Diouf may have thought he was his personal driver after showing him around the city – he was woken up at 2 a.m. by the doorbell.
Diouf was outdoors. “Sem, open the door!”
Otsemobor obliged, but not just for his teammate. He estimates that there were about ten partygoers, largely ladies, with Diouf.
They both had training later in the day.
“When an older pro like that approaches you, you feel obliged,” he explains.
“I was still a young lad, and I was disappointed that he took advantage of my friendship.” When I first entered the dressing room, I thought, “You can’t just use me like that; I’m your friend.”
“If he needed a place to stay and all that, fine, but I’m not hosting parties for all different people who were flying into the country every weekend!”
However, Otsemobor remains an uncommon voice in Diouf’s corner.
“Other than that though, I know a few other lads in the dressing room didn’t like him, but I never had a problem with him,” he said. “He came across as arrogant at times, but don’t get me wrong, he was a brilliant football player.
“I believe that because of his background in Senegal, he was revered as a god there. He was doing well and great at the World Cup before joining Liverpool, and the club spent £10 million for him.
“I believe he still embodied that God-like demeanor. When he entered the dressing room, he quickly saw that there were many other lads there who were either as excellent or better than him.
“Maybe he didn’t get the respect he expected from some of them, but I’ve never seen him fight or argue with anyone. I don’t remember any, anyhow.”
Otsemobor admits that it was difficult for youth players making the move to Melwood at the time to outperform the surge of French and foreign stars brought in by Houllier.
On Under the Cosh, he described Anthony Le Tallec as ‘arrogant’ and ‘cocky’.
Did he detest any of the imports?
“No, no, there was nobody I didn’t get along with at the football club,” said the player.
“I just think they were young and came in with greater contracts than us, and I thought, as I’m sure many other younger lads did, that they were treated differently than us.
“I believe there was some jealousy involved, possibly on my behalf. I would not spend as much time socialising and engaging with them.
“I didn’t dislike them, I just kept a wide berth and that was all.”
So, how about actually playing for Liverpool? Otsemobor has lived his dream.
He put on the red shirt and ran out at Anfield to You’ll Never Walk Alone.
“It was like I was walking on water, just playing for the football club,” he said. “I’ve played for other teams and participated in significant games, derbies, and so on, but I’ve never had the experience of playing for your hometown team.
“Unless you’re a Liverpool lad, support Liverpool, and have the opportunity to do so, you won’t fully comprehend it.
“I’ve seen incredibly brilliant players come and play for Liverpool, and looking at how they play away from the football club, I sometimes think they don’t get it. They do not grasp it.
“How about putting a Liverpool shirt on a Liverpool guy at Anfield? It’s a whole other thing.”
When Rafael Benitez replaced Houllier, he informed Otsemobor, who had already been loaned to Hull City, Bolton Wanderers, and Crewe Alexandra, that his contract would not be extended.
The defender confesses he sobbed as he begged for an extension.
His playing career would continue for another 250 matches, but something was missing.
Something was constantly missing.
“You never think you’re going to leave,” he said. “You believe you’re going to spend the rest of your career there, and everything is going well, until you get smacked with it.
“When I was at Liverpool, I was out on loan but knew I’d come returning. I knew I’d be at Liverpool at the start of the season, so it was a little disappointing in that regard.
“I’ve always felt like there was something inside me that I couldn’t let out….it’s bizarre, it’s a strange thing.
“I played at other football clubs and played well in other games but there was something about Liverpool I’ve never experienced with any other shirt I put on during my career.”
Otsemobor is about to have a run at the park.
He manages his son’s squad, and after lockdown is lifted and life hopefully returns to normal, he intends to focus on his coaching credentials.
He is unsure of the level or caliber at which he would like to work, although returning to Liverpool is not out of the question.
As a young lad, he slept with a sketched image of Bill Shankly, Ian Rush, Robbie Fowler, and Steve McManaman above his bed.
“If I could do anything at the football club it would be an honour,” he said. “I love Liverpool and will always follow them.
“I’m a Liverpool boy from the city. It would be an honor to return and do any type of coaching or work.
“So hopefully….I’ll have to get my coaching badges out of the way first!”
