New Sutton defender Will Tizzard returns to England after spending two years across the border in Scotland, and is now set to settle back in his home country after securing a move to the VBS Community Stadium.

The 22-year old arrived at Gander Green Lane in order to get a feel for the place for the first time, and sat down with SUFCtv to discuss his relatively short career so far, as well as his aims and ambitions after becoming a Sutton player for the foreseeable future.

“Yeah, it feels amazing” he said “I’m really excited to get started now and get started with pre-season, start playing some games.”

“Just really, really looking forward to the season ahead.”

Originating over in Bristol, Will spent the bulk of his early career at Southampton, and as a result got the opportunity to learn from a Premier League and briefly a UEFA Europa League club’s youth setup, as well as being invited to train in the first team on occasion. As such, he got the chance to defend against the likes of James Ward-Prowse, Nathan Redmond, Armando Broja, Tino Livramento, Theo Walcott, Stuart Armstrong, Adam Armstrong, Che Adams, Paul Ocuachu, Mohamed Elyounoussi and Takumi Minamino.

He was certainly in good company, but having joined the club at young age, credited the coaching staff especially as a key reason for his development during his time at St. Mary’s, and was notably named Scholar of the Year at the end of the 2020/21 campaign.

“I started off when I was about 8 or 9 at Southampton. I really enjoyed my time there; I was there until I was about 20 so about ten years there in total. I learned a lot, learned a lot about myself and it was a really good place to have a footballing education as it were.”

“I think the level of coaching you get is amazing being in the academy and the facilities and all that type of stuff is amazing to grow up with. I’d probably say being an all-round person; they really emphasise that there – not just the footballing side of it it’s everything that comes along with that, so I was really grateful for that.”

On winning Scholar of the Year, Will added:

“A lot of people who have won that have gone on to do good things. It maybe didn’t go as I would have planned after that but it was still an amazing achievement and something I will remember for a long time. I put in a lot of hard work during the time I was there.”

All good things must soon come to an end though, and an 11-year association with the Saints was closed out when they opted to release Tizzard following a loan spell in the National League South with Chippenham Town.

As a result, he made the bold decision to move far away from home, and he went on to make the journey from one end of the country to the other, leaving the border behind him as he moved up to the Scottish Championship.

“I left Southampton when I was 20 and moved up to Scotland for the last two seasons where I played for Queen’s Park and again; a physical league the Scottish Championship, learned a lot again especially in the first season and I think I found my feet especially last season; I played the majority of games and I really enjoyed my time there as well.”

“It was good opportunity for me at the time, the way the direction of the club was heading; they nearly got promoted the season before so I was quite an exciting prospect to move up there. I think football can take you anywhere and it was just an experience I quite fancied, quite fancied the challenge moving quite far away from home in Bristol. It was more just the prospect of what could have happened during my time there and I made some amazing memories.”

Will notably put it the performance of his life against Scottish giant Rangers, helping the Spiders secure a 1-0 win at Ibrox in the Scottish Cup which saw him named in the Team of the Week, and he was keen to talk about what he described as one of his ‘best footballing memories’.

“It’s something I’m probably not going to forget for a while. Celtic and Rangers are two of the biggest clubs in the world and to go there and keep a clean sheet and win in the fashion that we did – I’ve spoken it loads but – it’s probably one of my best footballing memories so far.”

“I think it was the fourth or fifth round of the [Scottish] Cup, no one really gave us a chance and it was just an amazing day with the fans there and in front of that many people.”

Looking ahead though, Will opted to depart Glasgow and return to England, where he is now set to settle in London. He is no stranger to the National League – having previously spent time on loan at Chippenham when he was at Southampton – but he is yet to show what he is capable of at the highest level.

“I’m really, really excited” he said, “I’ve got experience in Step 2 with Chippenham [Town] again when I was a lot younger and it was definitely what I needed at the time but I’m excited to prove myself and push on in Step 1 now.”

“I’m really excited for the season ahead and seeing what we can do as a squad and as a team. Let’s try finish as high up in the table as we can.”