HIS parents originally wanted Brick Lane-born Judan Ali to go into business.
Sadly, the damage was done early on when his mum bought him a beach ball at the age of four - after which he only had eyes for football.
Trial after trial and rejection after rejection, Ali, using a Christian name of Jordan as his alias in football, finally grabbed his chance.
Arsenal's youth team gave him a go and the Indian national side also came calling, which led to a role in a Bollywood movie.
Unsurprisingly, he played a footballer in the 2007 feature, Dhan Dhana Dhan Goal - a rags-to-riches story set in west London's Asian football-playing community.
The plot has the fictional Southall United overcoming all obstacles in true film style to become top dogs in the Combined Counties League.
But in reality, Ali's dream of playing for a top-flight team also came partly true when he strutted his stuff for Chelsea - donning a Blues shirt for SKY TV's Premier League Allstars. He's also involved in the Show Racism The Red Card Campaign, and his latest project finds him as as assistant manager of Sportsman's League Division Five outfit Accrington Stanley Bowles.
The side that pays homage to one of QPR's all-time heroes has already reaped the benefits of Ali's mind games.
Two weeks ago, their league opponents cried off so Ali organised a friendly, but did not tell the team. The result? An effort on the pitch just as good as the real thing - and a win to show for it.
Bowles and British-born Asian youngsters making it in football will do for now on Ali's agenda - unless a producer out there has Dribble Like Drogba in mind, as a follow-up to the girls trying to bend it like Posh's other half.
