Craig Rocastle on his cousin David, a tricky relationship with Paul Sturrock and leaving Jose Mourinho to join Sheffield Wednesday

The former Sheffield Wednesday midfielder, who achieved League One promotion with the Owls via the playoffs in 2005, is otherwise a joyful and upbeat 38-year-old who speaks to The Star from his Kansas home to the sound of laughing children crashing around behind him.

The phonecall takes place on the 19th anniversary of David’s death from non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma. The former Arsenal man is one of the select club icons immortalised on the side of Emirates Stadium having played nearly 250 times for the club.

Craig had tweeted a heartfelt tribute a few hours earlier and the gravity of the date is apparent in the younger cousin’s voice, who despite a 15 year age gap describes him as one of the inspirations behind a career that went from non-league football to the MLS, via Jose Mourinho’s Chelsea, Hillsborough and Greece.

“We got the phonecall saying that he hadn't got long left,” Craig said. “He'd kept it quiet and initially, our family were all very similar in saying "it'll be OK". And it wasn't.

“It's sad how he went because really we didn't have much time with him. He went to Malaysia [to play] and stayed on there. He wanted the time after he stopped playing to spend with family, but we never got that.

“He was a massive inspiration. David always had this ‘eye of the tiger’ mentality. Watching how quickly his career grew and how well he had done, it was a huge inspiration.

“I didn't want to be him as such, but I wanted to be on the same platform. Watching him achieve all that gave me fire in my belly.”

Craig’s route to Wednesday was one less travelled. He was nearly 22 when he signed for a Chelsea side taken over by Roman Abramovich just weeks beforehand. Hernan Crespo arrived from Internazionale, Claude Makelele from Real Madrid, Juan Sebastian Veron from Manchester United. Rocastle signed from Slough Town.

A surreal couple of years followed, he admits, from having Claudio Ranieri’s training sessions translated to him by Marcel Desailly to being slapped by Winston Bogarde for being inconsistent in training.

“Every player trained as though it was World War 10,” he said. “There were no smiles, it was like a Premier League game or an FA Cup final. Every player just did their job to the very highest level.

“If you were up against John Terry, he kicked the sh*t out of you. That's what made them great players.

“Jose was incredible. He was so hands-on with man-management. As soon as he came in he knew everything about me, he knew my history. I was blown away by it. He'd just won the Champions League.

“It was a remarkable experience, we'd speak in-depth, not just about football but about life.”

A short loan spell at Barnsley struck up an ongoing friendship with Garry Monk and there were further loan stints at Lincoln and Hibernian before the option to join third-tier Wednesday arose in 2005.

Offers from Championship clubs and a move to French top-tier side Nantes were on the table, but it was always going to be Wednesday, Rocastle explains: “I wanted to play at a historic club. Being a fan of football as a kid and watching my cousin play against Sheffield Wednesday, they were at the highest point.

“They were always a club I knew a lot about, they have a huge fanbase. It caught my ear straight away out of all the offers that I had, even though they were in League One.”

He would go on to play only 28 matches for the Owls, though playing a central part in that promotion campaign and providing a standout performance in the final itself. He is honest in his assessment of his relationship with then-manager Paul Sturrock, which he describes as ‘interesting’.

“It wasn't a bad relationship by any means,” he said. “Paul was really funny and was always willing to speak to his players. He wasn't someone who hid or shirked tough talks with anyone. He was very honest and up-front.

“The only negative I had was that he wasn't a 'footballing manager', he was more of a 'percentages manager'. He didn't really play fluent passing football, he wanted to play to the percentages all the time.

“He didn't coach much, he didn't take sessions, it was the coaches who took care of that stuff. He would come out with his whistle on a Tuesday and run the sh*t out of us, basically. We used to call them 'Terror Tuesdays’.”

Sturrock gave Rocastle the option of leaving midway through the following season and he moved on loan to Yeovil before stints at John Sheridan’s Oldham and Port Vale.

Once-in-a-lifetime spells with Thrasyvoulos in the Greek top tier and in the MLS for Sporting Kansas City followed before he retired in 2012 at the age of 31 after the mother of his now-wife was diagnosed with terminal cancer.

Packing up and starting again at a new club, he says, was something he was unwilling to do to his family. He is now coaching and completing a degree in business management.

“What happened to David happened to her mum, it was very quick,” he said. “It was a tough decision but it was the right decision for me. I decided just to be here, be a husband and be a father.

“I look back on my time at Wednesday with happy memories. We were a really tight group and everyone just wanted to win. I loved my time there. I have no regrets.”