Knight: The worst day of my life

Aug 31 2007 By Emma Cullwick, Birmingham Mail

ASTON Villa star Zat Knight today opened his heart to talk about the "worst day of my life" following his drugs raid arrest.

The 27-year-old Aston-born defender revealed he thought he had blown his chance of a "dream" move to the club he supported as a boy.

Knight, who was bailed after being arrested with brother Carlos at the family's home in Poppy Lane, Erdington, admitted: "I thought my dreams were slipping through my fingers."

The former Fulham centre back spoke of the roller coaster of emotions he had been through since his "nightmare" began with a police raid early on Wednesday morning.

"It's been the worst few days of my life. I've gone from being over the moon to going to all this speculation in the papers about me dealing drugs," he said.

The £3.5 million star, currently on police bail, said: "I'd gone to Villa to sign the contract and then I went to my mum's in the evening as I hadn't seen her for a while.

"When I woke up in the morning the police were at my door. I thought I was still dreaming. I had woken up early because I was nervous about coming to a new club.

"To be honest it still feels like I'm in a dream and I want to wake up and find it never happened."

Police quizzed Knight for more than 45-minutes, taking his mobile phone off him.

"I was worried because I had no way of contacting anyone to tell them what was going on," he said. "After I was released I drove to Villa and I sat with the manager and told him the full story. He was a bit upset in the sense he had signed a new player and already I was getting bad press."

But Knight admitted his darkest fear was that strict disciplinarian O'Neill would pull the plug on the deal.

"All I thought was, what are they going to say - are they going to send me back to Fulham," he said. "I thought my dreams were slipping through my fingers. They were the worst few days of my life and they were supposed to be the best.

"When I opened the door and saw the police all these bad things were going through my head - I didn't know what to think but I didn't have a single good thought."

Knight insisted he now wanted to put the episode behind him, stressing: "I haven't done anything wrong, people who know me know I'm not that way inclined.

"All I'm about is football, I love playing football. All I want to do is play for Aston Villa and put my jersey on. When I play my first game it's going to be an emotional day for me. It's something I've wanted all my life, it will be a dream come true when that day comes.

"You start to question yourself, you think maybe I should have stayed somewhere else that night, maybe I should have done this or I should have done that."