On the 29th of December 2023, it was announced that Josh had put pen to paper for the second time in a year and had extended his stay at the world-famous City Ground with Nottingham Forest.
But cast your minds back to September 2016 when The Becket School welcomed Josh to the school.
You are probably thinking why this is relevant, but the catholic secondary school has produced other talented footballers such as Jermaine Jenas, Mary Earps and myself… well maybe not me.
Despite a two-year difference in Josh’s favour and a massive gap in talent, also in Josh’s favour, we played with each other a few times at school.
“Oh yeah, I remember that.” He said with a cheeky chuckle.
“I don’t think I should’ve been doing that just in case I got injured and being smaller than most of you guys, I’m surprised it didn’t even happen.”
Many people and I in my year could see how good he was but none of us would have predicted how his young career has gone so far.
A goal at Old Trafford, a pre-season with a Premier League first team and for the talented left-back, the footballing world is his oyster.
After the game in M16, Josh’s life changed.
The game in question is the 2022 FA Youth Cup final, between favourites Manchester United and Nottingham Forest in Manchester.
A Manchester United team that featured Kobbie Mainoo and Alejandro Garnacho, who scored two, is now a first team regular and is the bookies favourite to win the Premier League 2023 / 24 goal of the season as of January 2024.
Yet despite this, Josh’s performance on the right flank earnt plaudits up and down the country.
The aftermath after the game was described as “completely unexpected” and “beyond anything I could’ve imagined.”
“It was so weird; I went from maybe a few messages after a game from the few fans who had made the trip to what seemed like everyone and their dog in like the first 24, 48 hours after the final.”
In an Instagram post by Josh after the game, over 1300 likes and hundreds of messages which consisted of congratulations and commiserations as people were finally able to see his talent and potential.
The final itself was an enjoyable game as the dubbed ‘Class of ‘22’ were eventual 3-1 winners through an Alejandro Garnacho brace and captain, Rhys Bennett contributing a first half header.
“It’s one of those experiences that you’ll never forget.”
“Scoring at that ground is an achievement that not many can say but I’d switch the goal for the trophy in a heartbeat, all the lads gave it absolutely everything but sometimes football doesn’t go the way you want.”
His professional performance in front of a FA Youth Cup record crowd of 67,492 and thousands watching at home made sure that his name wouldn’t be forgotten anytime soon.
“I couldn’t believe it, when we walked out from the tunnel.”
“I’ve walked out on to a pitch so many times but genuinely, absolutely nothing could have prepared me for that.”
Being 17 at the time, some may have argued that the attention could be seen as a negative for him but his performances on the pitch have shown otherwise.
In the 2022 / 23 season, despite turning 18 through the season, he still notched 23 appearances across the U18 Premier League, FA Youth Cup and the majority coming in the Premier League Two.
Three goals and six assists over the season was self – described as a “good season.” by Mr Powell.
“I really enjoyed last year, playing in competitions where I might not be the tallest or strongest or eldest, yet I was still able to contribute to the team was a nice feeling.”
One team they came up against in the Premier League 2 was Derby County.
Being a Nottingham native, Josh knows all about the rivalry between Nottingham Forest and Derby.
“You hear people say that there’s certain games they look for when the calendar is released and it’s not wrong, I looked for Derby straight away.”
In the first fixture, away from home, he contributed an assist from left back and in the reverse fixture, he scored his first two goals of the Premier League 2 season in the 7-2 win against the local rivals.
In the 7-2, he opened the scoring and then netted his and the teams second goal, which was an equaliser before they scored five without reply.
“I couldn’t believe it to be honest, me and goal scoring isn’t something that comes around often, then I got two in the same game so it was a new feeling that’s for sure and I couldn’t tell you when or if, it might come round again.”
The 2023 / 24 season for the versatile fullback started off with a pre-season tour with the first team.
Being in the squad for a seven-game pre-season that included trips to Spain, the Netherlands and Germany to play against teams such as Valencia, Levante, PSV and Frankfurt.
“I remember when the gaffer (Steve Cooper) told me and you try to be calm on the surface but underneath, I was going crazy.”
Josh was one of the youngest on the tour, something that again speaks volumes about his footballing abilities.
In the three-week period that followed, he “wasn’t expecting much, maybe a start and some minutes at the end of a few games.”
But what followed was more than just that.
Steve Cooper gave him three starts in seven games against Notts County, Leeds United and Levante and regularly used him in their other four games.
“It was fun, it was my first one with the main squad and I felt I did well. I got to travel, playing in amazing stadiums across Europe, you can’t really complain, can you?”
However, like all fresh players on a team, an initiation had to take place.
And the 18-year-old was no exception.
When I Was Your Man by Peter Gene Hernandez, who is more commonly known as Bruno Mars, was Josh’s choice and it was clear that his talents in football didn’t exactly cross over to his singing ability.
Granted nerves probably influenced his singing, with senior players Felipe and Gustavo Scarpa seeing the funnier side of the initiation along with the 608 thousand followers that Felipe has on his Instagram.
“It wasn’t the best, was it? It’s banter at the end of the day, we’ve all got to do it. I’m just glad that everyone saw the funnier side to it and ignored my singing, I can only apologise to Bruno Mars.”
As the 2023 / 24 season started, noise around his first team involvement was inevitable after pre-season but for him it was just about playing football.
“Obviously, you give it some thought and start thinking about if you’re going to be involved in the first team and if you are, how much?”
“But I’m 18, I know that I probably wasn’t on the forefront of Steve’s mind which is totally understandable, and I’ve had a good season so far this season in the EFL Trophy and Premier League 2 so far this year.”
Playing at centre back, along the left flank and two appearances on the right-wing have highlighted his versatility, which is only improving his development.
Even though the majority of games have come against Under 21s, the EFL trophy has allowed them to have games against to play three games against senior sides Carlisle, Harrogate Town and Accrington Stanley in the group before being dumped out by Doncaster Rovers.
Despite some of the teams using a mix of first team and academy players, the Nottingham Forest outfit allowed the competition to be played using just players through their youth ranks.
“It was so enjoyable; we didn’t win but it only helps the team get better and better and eventually we’ll give headaches to the right people when it comes to selection.”
A sign of the trust the club has in him was awarding him the captaincy in the win against Accrington Stanley in November.
“It’s a privilege to captain this club but it’s just the start. We won which made it that little bit sweeter, but the season still goes on and we still need to make sure we get the results.”
So far this season, it has been a mix of emotions with the left back and Nottingham Forest finding themselves 15th out of 26 in the Premier League 2 with two assists in the competition so far and a goal in the EFL trophy.
67 games since the 2020 / 21 season, 20 goal contributions and doesn’t plan on stopping there with the hopes of captaining the first team.
One thing is for certain, we haven’t heard the last of Joshua Alan Powell.
