We spent the night on the boat and then the helicopter took us to Conakry in Guinea.” A helicopter picked us up from the beach and took us to the boat. My partner was living in Walsall so I went through her and found out there was a boat coming in for an evacuation. But there were no flights going in or out and it was just about how we got out. It was very scary at the time but we just went home and it all went quiet for a while. “There was a lot of firing and an invasion and the rebels had come into Freetown. By the time we realised what was going on we had to leave to go back to where we were staying and everything had gone crazy in Freetown. We came into training at the national stadium one morning and somebody said there was a bit of bother and a coup going on. “There were rumours about a coup at the time but nothing was really clear. I was caught up in the whole saga of instability in Sierra Leone. Myself and my brother had to be evacuated. “There was a group of rebels who staged a coup. “In 1997 I was called up by the national team and a war kicked off,” the former Sierra Leone international and manager tells The Athletic.
