This interview is taken from issue 245 of HeedLines, sold at our Vanarama National League fixture against Woking on Saturday, December 14.
Football is life’s great equaliser for Jean Belehouan.
Like many of his fellow professionals – and fans alike – the defender finds enjoyment most when a ball is at his feet, and is grateful enough to have found a profession in his passion.
Though it might be difficult to believe to him now, the beautiful game hadn’t always seemed that way, until sitting through the 2006 World Cup final as a child alongside his family made him take notice.
“Don’t get me wrong, I didn’t really understand what was going on!” he said.
“My family were talking about ‘look at this guy, look at Zidane’ and I was thinking, these guys are making out like football is the thing – like it’s special.
“At the time, I didn’t think it was special – I just wanted to mess around.
“I didn’t really take football that seriously before then – it wasn’t really my thing, I can’t lie.
“I thought if it’s really this special, then I want to be part of it, so I got into it from that game and went on from there.”
From that point on though, he hardly looked back.
Playing in his adopted home of Salford – having originally been born in Ivory Coast – Belehouan turned out for local grassroots side Parkwyddn, as well as playing with older age groups as he began to develop as a player.
Interest from Everton, Liverpool and Manchester United followed, though it was only ever ‘Man United or nothing’ for a kid from Salford.
Though Salford has been home for the majority of his life so far, his roots also lie firmly in the Ivory Coast, both his and his parents’ birthplace.
“My Mum fled the civil war in Ivory Coast and came to England, I was only six months or a year old,” he said.
“I grew up here, but I still have that connection in knowing that I was born there.
“It brought me closer to my country because I wanted to find out about my background and my roots properly, because all I knew growing up was Salford and being English.
“That has brought me closer to my country, and when I’m around my family and speaking French as well, it makes me feel part of Ivory Coast.
“Looking at footballing idols, Didier Drogba was my type of person, not necessarily as a player but as the influential type of person he was for my country.
“Things he did like stopping the civil war in our country just through his voice and being that icon – if you’re Ivorian you want to look up to someone like him.”
The defender was a Red Devil until the U16 age group, before heading to Sheffield United and earning his first professional contract.
He remained in Sheffield through to age 22 before a period of free agency led him to Tranmere in September 2023, where Nigel Adkins handed him his Football League debut and a further seven appearances last season.
Through all of the trials and tribulations of professional football though, Belehouan remains in touch with football at its purest through his other endeavour, a simple weekly five-a-side programme he coined, ‘JB Sessions’.
Beginning as a simple pre-lockdown kickabout call-out to the Manchester Powerleague via his Snapchat, JB Sessions sees those from all walks of life travel from across the country for the simple purpose of playing football.
“I can get emotional about JB Sessions – I’m very passionate about that,” he said.
“The day before lockdown, I put something on Snapchat saying: ‘who’s on for a kickabout before we go into lockdown?’
“I’m telling you now, the whole car park was absolutely full to the brim.
“The players who turned up, I knew them growing up being Manchester boys, but we’re talking Cole Palmer, Jeremie Frimpong, all these big names pulled up to the Powerleague.
“There were so many people who came through that I just said we’d do a tournament, and everyone heard about it in Manchester.
“Everyone was asking for more tournaments, so every year or so I’d put one on here and there, but I ended up thinking why not make this a re-occurring thing?”
Fast forward to today, and JB Sessions has become a weekly Sunday endeavour.
Though closer to four times a week in the off-season – for pros and non-pros alike – Belehouan’s network sees people travel from as far and wide as Birmingham, South Shields and Oxford to play five-a-side in Manchester.
“It’s football, it’s what brings people together,” he said.
“To see people who work their 9 to 5, or go to university come and join in with people who play on a professional level, that’s important for me.
“I’ve had people come up to me and say, ‘I never thought I’d be playing with Cole Palmer in a five-a-side’, and they go home and rave about it.
“For us it’s the norm, because we just know them, but to other people that could mean the world to them.
“They might have things going on at home, but they come to that session and it just goes out of the window.
“Some of the people I’ve come across are so fascinating and I’m like, I’m happy you’ve come to this.
“I’ve had people talk to me about their struggles and how they come to play to get away from it and it’s like wow, is this what a simple five-a-side is really doing for people?
“That’s the power of football, what it can do is crazy.
“As crazy as it sounds, I look forward to that every weekend – it probably brings the most joy to my life.
“Don’t get it twisted, I love football and I love where I’m at now, but that for me is everything because of how I know it benefits other people.
“Next year I want to keep pushing it to the point where it gets more exposure, but JB Sessions is something very close to me, for sure.”
For Belehouan though, football within the professional game is providing just as much enjoyment as it is out of it.
Arriving on Tyneside two games into the current season after spell with the PFA’s free agency scheme, the defender was quickly making his debut in the reverse fixture against today’s opponents.
A mixture of enforced injury and illness absences, as well as normal squad rotation, hasn’t seen him play week in, week out so far, but he remains grateful nonetheless.
“I needed the right move in my career, and I think this has been the best one I’ve made,” he said.
“An opportunity arose for me to come in and Rob [Elliot] contacted my agent, so I came in and trained, and that’s how I got my chance to come in.
“It’s crazy because I signed and went straight in for the Woking game, but I’m grateful as soon as I step on the pitch to play.
“What happened in the game obviously wasn’t ideal, but we managed to win and cracked on from there.
“It hasn’t been as consistent as I may want it to be, but one thing about me is that I’ve got a lot of resilience, and regardless of the circumstances I’m always ready to put the shirt on and play.
“Overall, it’s been very positive – it’s been the best time in football in my life.
“I’m playing, developing, we’ve got ambition as a team, and that’s all I’ve ever wanted.”
