AFC Wimbledon manager Neal Ardley spills the beans on his love for a cat called Flopsy and Belinda Carlisle.

First goal: Good question. I cannot remember my first ever goal, but I can remember my first senior goal for Wimbledon. It was a flick on from John Fashanu at home to Blackburn Rovers in 1992, vollied into the bottom corner, but it was swiftly equalised by a young Alan Shearer (the game finished 1-1). I was quickly swarmed by the players, my dad has a photo of it, and when you’ve got Fash, Vinny Jones and Dean Holdsworth on your back you cannot forget that.

First car: Bright yellow VW polo – £850. It lasted about a year, but the engine was only a 900cc – it was like driving a hairdryer.

First pet: Cat, unfortunately it was named by my mother and it was called Flopsy. One of the worst names I have ever heard for a cat.

First hero: Daley Thompson, pictured below. I actually ended up becoming a friend of his, which was really nice, and I got to pick his brains on a lot of stuff. Back then I was very much into athletics, and British athletics was a very good place to be. He came to train with Wimbledon, and I was training with him through the summer. I still get text messages from him occasionally.

First lads’ holiday: In Gran Canaria, with my three best mates from school, John, Ally and Anthony – it was for two weeks, but as the years went by, two weeks became two days because the ability to party that hard goes down as you get older.

This Is Local London:

First pin-up: Belinda Carlisle, don’t ask why because I cannot fathom out why I used to like her, but for some reason she was on my wall.

First date: I’ll go with the first date with my wife, Sarah, in case I get in trouble. We went to a pub called the Common Rooms in Wimbledon. My wife drove, and watched while I had a few pints and got nicely relaxed and then went back to mine to watch Pretty Woman.