Norwich City Academy graduate Max Aarons recently made his 150th senior appearance for the club at the age of 22.
After reaching the milestone, he sat down with canaries.co.uk to discuss his time at the club so far, and you can read the full transcript below.
On reaching the milestone of 150 Norwich appearances…
“It’s an amazing feeling. It’s everything I’ve worked towards. As an Academy player coming through the system, it’s an amazing achievement to achieve 150 games, especially when I’m just turning 22.
“I want to get more and more, reach 200, 250 and so on. I’m grateful for every opportunity I’ve been given. Whether it’s my debut or my 150th game, that feeling is still the same whenever I put the shirt on.”
On making his debut against Stevenage…
“It feels like a long time ago now, but also like it was yesterday! It was an amazing day for me and my family, I remember being very nervous and getting told on the same day that I was playing. It was a cup game.
“I remember realising the opportunity that I’d been given to show everybody what I can do and knowing that I needed to take it. It’s one that I’ll never forget, having my name and number on the back of the shirt for the first time.
“It was a hard one at the time because we’d had a tough start to the season in the league so I didn’t really know if the manager wanted to approach it with more experience in the cup or to use a younger team.
“I had to be ready and make myself believe that I was going to start in case I was called upon. My game face was on and I was ready to play.”
On scoring his first senior goal against Cardiff City…
“That was one of the best moments of my career and always will be. I played my first game against Stevenage and found my feet. Cardiff was the game where I put my marker down. I was playing left-back and remember my dad travelling there.
“When I was in that position, I wanted to score. I remember being delighted and lost for words after the game because it was a cup game but that feeling of scoring my first ever goal professionally.
“It was a good celebration, I’ve got that one in me! Just the arms out. I didn’t really know what to do at the time, a bit confused, but I ran over to the fans and it’s amazing.”
On making his league debut in an East Anglian Derby at Portman Road…
“We had played Cardiff on the Wednesday and this game was the Sunday after that. I’d scored in the cup but still didn’t think I’d play in the league. I thought the manager wanted to stick with the experience that we had and that summer we’d signed a lot of players.
“I thought he’d want to give them more of a chance, but it got to the Saturday before and we did an 11v11 game in training and I was in a team with Teemu, Emi and those types of guys. I was looking around and thinking I was in the starting team, so it kind of hit home then.
“I was rooming with Ben Godfrey the night before the game and I still hadn’t really clocked on that it was the East Anglian Derby the next day and I was trying to be as relaxed as I could. Ben said to me ‘you do know you’re starting and what a big game it is?’
“I was like ‘oh thanks!’ He kept telling me and I was like ‘alright, I’m trying to sleep here,’ but I knew the size of the game and the task at hand. We drew that day but that’s the game that led us onto amazing things in that season.
“What a day. I remember the nerves, but once I was in the game, it was all guns blazing and ready to go.”
On scoring his first league goal against Rotherham United…
“We went 1-0 down in the game, then Todd scored to make it 1-1 and then I’ve seen him open out from playing on the left and seen my run. I ran in behind and he chipped it and I glanced the header in the far post.
“What a day and to get the winner in that game was amazing. Those wins in that season, the 2-1s and the 3-2s, were what got us promoted. My first professional league goal was an amazing experience and I’ll always remember that.”
On scoring against Bristol City to draw 2-2…
“Those points in any season are crucial. We were 2-1 down and I’ve seen Onel running with the ball, dribbling, and he’s flashed it across the box. I moved up from right back to left wing at that point, so I ended up at the back stick and headed it in.
“That was very close to the other goal that I scored and that celebration was probably even bigger because we knew what that point meant to us at that time in the season. The other teams were in and around us and we knew each point mattered, so another amazing feeling during that big season for us.
“Onel often went to right wing back, so we were both attacking from each wing and popping up with goals that meant a lot to the team, which was crucial. It’s a massive thing for us as a team.”
On beating Leeds at Elland Road and growing belief…
“I remember coming in from the pitch into the changing room after that game and that was when I fully believed we were going nowhere other than to the Premier League. As soon as we beat Leeds, I knew we were going to get promoted.
“You can see me and Ben giving a bit of stick to the Leeds fans, which was good. That was an amazing game, probably the best of the season performance wise. It had everything. We were so clinical and absolutely bossed that game.
“It was mad, especially the reception we got when we were walking in. It was my first season so I hadn’t felt too many atmospheres that were as hostile as that. It was first against second in the league and we knew the size of the game.
“Obviously the Leeds fans were bang up for it and so were our fans. It was a cagey affair at the start and when the goals started going in for us… it pushed us on to go and win the game comfortably.”
On Rotherham away, Ben Godfrey scoring and standing on Max’s toe!…
“I felt that one for like a week or longer after that! For some reason he scored, ran off and didn’t even see me. He’s big and heavy as well, so he stepped all over my foot and I felt that one for ages. The way he did it, he was obviously buzzing that he scored and he stepped back all over my foot.
“I went to go and grab him but I couldn’t get near him because of the pain I was in! I just about played on but it wasn’t nice.”
On winning the Championship title at Villa Park…
“It couldn’t have gone any better in my debut season, getting promoted to the Premier League with my best friends and a team that had so much energy and character. No-one expected us to get promoted that year and we were a very young, inexperienced team.
“That was the year everyone started to take notice of what we were doing and we went up quite comfortably in the end. Towards the end it got tense, but the feeling when it all settled and sunk in was amazing.
“I always said to Ben that he could spray champagne over me when we go up, so obviously that’s what we were all doing. The feeling then was definitely special.”
On making his Premier League debut at Anfield…
“It was another milestone that I’d hit. A target of mine from when I was young had always been to play in the Premier League, so that day was when it happened.
“I’d have liked to have come away from the game with something, but going to Anfield to face the Champions League winners at the time, it was always going to be hard, but it was an amazing day for me and my family.
“At that point, I was so grateful to be on that pitch and to have been given the opportunity to play on the highest level on that stage.”
On the assist for Jamal Lewis against Leicester City…
“It was just before the pandemic hit, so no-one knew what was to come. We were battling against other teams in and around us in the league at that point. It was a huge win for us at the time and it was massively disappointing that we went into lockdown at that stage.
“We were starting to pick up some good form and had just won in the FA Cup against Tottenham as well. It was a great feeling to get the assist for Jamal and a great finish for him. I was delighted with that game and getting the win.”
On beating Tottenham Hotspur in the FA Cup…
“That was definitely one of the highlights of the season. That was special. To have the amount of fans travel to the game, the support we had that day when you can see them all at the back, I remember coming out to warm up and thinking ‘wow, the game hasn’t even started yet and the amount of people here is crazy.’
“The noise in that stadium was unreal. It was a very tense occasion on penalties but the best way to do it for sure. It’s got the most suspense but when you do win it’s an amazing feeling.
“When we were off in lockdown, that was the game I looked back to and wanted to get back to, to have fans back and re-live moments like that. Hopefully there are many more in my career. What an occasion.”
On Daniel Farke’s influence…
“All of those moments have been my hard work and what I’ve done to get to that point, but he’d given me the opportunity to showcase what I can do. I’m forever grateful to him for that, but relegation was a really sad day and one that hit me hard.
“Getting relegated from the Premier League was an emotional time. He put his arm around me and said ‘we’re going to come back and this time we’re expected to get promoted.’ I was disappointed for a while, but I knew that we’d come back and do what we needed to do."
On valuable experience provided by relegation…
“It was really hard at the time. All I had ever known up until that point was constant success and progression, going uphill. We just played West Ham and how we lost that day was really hard for us as a group as well as for me and a lot of the other younger players.
“We hadn’t been used to any sort of negativity really, but we had to dust ourselves off and go again.”
On scoring against Sheffield Wednesday in front of 2,000 fans…
“That goal makes me laugh because we were in the middle of a pandemic and I’ve gone and hugged one of the fans! What a season last season was.
“Those wins against the teams that you’re expected to beat are so crucial. They happen so regularly in the Championship to get to the end goal.
“It was a really odd feeling playing nearly all of the season behind-closed-doors and to finally get a chance to be with 2,000 fans, it felt like the stadium was full because of the noise they were making.
“Playing without fans for so long and then having just a small number there was amazing. That helped us and led us onto the victory.”
On scoring against Queens Park Rangers in the title run-in…
“I’d forgotten about that third kit! Really nice. You get moments in the season when you know that certain checkpoints are huge for you and you’re on your way to getting promoted. That was one of them.
“To get a goal arriving at the back stick again was amazing for me. It’s disappointing that it was behind-closed-doors. Some of the football we played was unbelievable, but another great moment on our way to getting promoted again.”
On lifting the Championship trophy for a second time…
“The first time we went up, we weren’t expected to and there was no pressure on us whatsoever. Game by game, the target was getting closer, but I don’t think we even knew what our aim was that season because everything was coming so thick and fast.
“The second time we got promoted, we were expected to and had all felt disappointed with the relegation the season before. We all felt like it was our duty to go and get promoted again. It was still amazing.
“It made it a lot harder to not have fans there, but to put the smiles on their faces and life the trophy again, the feeling was still the same. It felt like it was right for us to get promoted.”
On taking on the Premier League again this season…
“We’re a lot more experienced this time around and I definitely feel more comfortable knowing the task ahead. We know the quality of each team in the league and there’s not one you go to and get an easy game.
“Each game, you have to completely battle and give more than one hundred percent because that’s what it takes to win a game on this level and even that doesn’t guarantee victory.
“It’s an amazing feeling to be playing on the highest level, but we want more of that. This club deserves to be on this level for years and years.
“We have a lot of quality in our team and other teams can see that. We’ve got to take that forward.”
On the assist for Teemu Pukki in Dean Smith’s first game against Southampton…
“I don’t even know where I’m looking, maybe towards the Snakepit, down that end, but I definitely didn’t see Teemu head it in. My head is pointing in that direction but I didn’t see what was going on.
“I’ve gone on the overlap and Milot’s played me closer to the line than I expected and I’ve had to stretch to get the ball and keep it in. I’ve fallen backwards and didn’t know if my head was going to hit a camera, but I managed to get the cross in and the assist for Teemu.
“That was the new manager’s first game, so to kick that off with a win was amazing and what a win it was. Hopefully there are more moments like this. One thing I’m striving for is more assists and to contribute with goals for the team.
“It’s just part of me loving to win games and have success. Each time a goal goes in, you realise what it does for the team and the club and how goals can change games. Each goal that goes in and each game that we win takes us closer to our goal.
“You can see the delight or passion on my face. That’s the passion I have for the club and for every game.”
On making 150 appearances for Norwich City…
“It’s an honour every time I put the shirt on. I don’t take for granted what the club has done for me and I hope that I’ve repaid that and can do even more.
“How hard my family have worked to get me to this point… I just want more and more and keep going.
“From that first game against Stevenage to my 150th away at West Ham, it’s still the same feeling.”