Mike Pejic: From Stoke legend to Taekwondo champ, the football hardman on his way to becoming a grandmaster
He played for England alongside legends like Gordon Banks and Bobby Moore, but now the 68-year-old is on his way to becoming a Taekwondo grandmaster
TALK about progressing from a cold, rainy night in Stoke.
Mike Pejic was a legend at the Potteries, clocking up 344 appearances in nine years.
The football hardman also played for England, alongside icons such as Bobby Moore, Alan Ball and Gordon Banks.
But the galloping left-back did something novel when he quit playing professionally... he became a Taekwondo champ!
While taking up a coaching post in Kuwait, he discovered the ancient martial art.
Now, 68, he's been the national champion in his age group for the past five years.
Incredibly, he still competes around the world and finished runner-up in the World Championships last year.
His next challenge is to become a grandmaster, which he hopes he will achieve in the next few months.
Mike spoke to SunSport and told us where it all began when he was 44-years-old.
He said: "I was coaching in Kuwait with Al-Arabi.
"Because it was so hot in the evenings we trained early in the morning, so I had my afternoons free.
"At the club they had lots of other sports, and I saw that they had a Taekwondo class so I thought I'd take that up.
"I loved it so much I ended up doing fight training six times a week for 12 months.
"I had a Korean coach who took me under his wing, a Pakistani coach and then a Kuwaiti coach.
"I use to have to fight them after training! It was a really interesting period."
Mike is adamant that being a footballer helped him perfect the art of Taekwondo thanks to its similarities.
"I thought the transformation from football - the upright stance, the movement and the footwork seemed like a natural progression.
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"Also, the kicking aspect of it was a seamless transition from my playing days.
"And the fitness levels you have to reach with endurance and short explosive actions, which can be spontaneous, are what you'd do during a game."
Mike fought in the National Open Championship in Kuwait in 1995 after just a year of training.
Up against the number one in the country, he was only just beaten.
But he got a taste for competition and decided to return back to the UK to work on his gradings.
"It's competitive and I've always been competitive, admittedly a little at the sharp end.
"And it's really exciting, that is the thing that I took to.
"All I did over there was the fighting side of it, but when I returned back to England I joined a club.
"That helped with the technical side of it, the art and the grading and coaching side.
"I worked with Grandmaster Shin in Manchester. He took me through my gradings and I'm very thankful to him.
Despite having a sinister edge as a player, Mike confessed he's mellowed a bit because of his Taekwondo.
He credited that to having to be controlled and respectful to master the art.
Mike said: "It's a nasty side, but it's a controlled side as well.
"Although it's aggressive, there's an in-built self-control there that you abide by.
"Respect is a big part of it and the art of that is different again with the technical side of it. It's quite a disciplined activity.
"I teach both the fighting and the technical side of it too.
"When I began teaching, you have to encourage that respect in the kids and the adults you teach.
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"It's certainly helped mellow me out a little bit."
Mike is preparing to become a grandmaster, which he admitted will take a lot of hard work.
"In April this year I'm hoping to become a grandmaster," he told us.
"I've got to take my grading in Northern Ireland.
"It's taken years and years of work, understanding the past history of the art. It's a long, drawn out process.
"There's a big exam and I've got to write a thesis and perform a practical exam that's quite demanding."
Mike, who is also a black belt in the art of the Japanese samurai, believes that becoming a martial art expert was tougher than his football career.
"I would say my career in Taekwondo has been more exhausting than my football career was," he revealed.
"Sometimes I'm doing six hour sessions, that's how hard it can get.
"When I was footballer we'd train for an hour, maybe an hour and a half football.
"It wasn't nearly as strenuous."
Mike set up his own Taekwondo school in Newcastle called Pejic Taekwondo Academy around six years ago.
It said it gives him enormous pleasure to put his students through their black belts.
In 2012, he competed in Britain for the first time at the National Open Championship.
His performance got him an invite to train with Great Britain's Taekwondo team.
"My grandmaster got the gold and I got the silver.
" And two days later I got a letter from Great Britain if I'd go to training with them.
"I trained with them for 12 months and then they put me in the European Championships. I just missed out on bronze.
"After that, they encouraged me to compete in Bali in the World Championships and I finished tenth in 2013.
"I was competing against the grandmasters of each country, so you're up against the world's best.
"But I didn't do too bad. And for the last five years I've been the national champion in my age group of Great Britain."
Despite his success, Mike doesn't feel like he's ready to put his feet up just yet.
"It's very technical and you never really crack it. There's so much detail to what you have to apply," he said.
"It's really difficult to get maximum marks for accuracy and how you present your performance.
"The presentation part of it, the breathing, fluency... there's quite a number of things you have to cover.
"It's a highly technical performance and you have five judges judging you on the mat."
In last year's World Championship, Mike remarkably won silver. However, his competitive side comes to the fore recalling it.
"I think I was hard done by in last year's World Championship when I got silver," he remembered.
"I got beaten by an Australian guy, but I thought I should've won.
"In the quarter finals I'd beaten the number one in Korea, who was a grandmaster.
"I thought I'd done enough in the final, and I keep thinking about it now and how I was scored."
Mike divulged he's still in touch with former teammates Martin Dobson and Dave Thomas from his Everton days, who are both pleased for him.
Looking back at his achievements, he just can't help but think about finishing second in the World Championships last year.
He said: "It's been a massive challenge to get through the world rankings, and I looking back at it I'm disappointed not to be world champion.
"But at least I'm second, and it's been quite a journey really."
Because of his new-found success, it's easy to forget that Mike had a very good football career too.
He was capped by England four times, playing under Sir Alf Ramsey who also selected him for the under 23 team.
Mike also achieved a lifelong ambition of playing for Stoke after cheering on the Potters at the Victoria Ground as a boy.
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"I was a young kid, sat at the back the Boothen End at the old Victoria Ground with my dad and granddad as a fan.
"I remember saying I was going to run down that wing one day.
"Then, when I did, you set yourself a target of getting into the first team and playing for England.
"I was picked by Sir Alf Ramsey in the under 23s and I got eight caps with him there.
"Later he put me in the full England squad with all those great players, it was a dream come true. I was in awe of them really.
"It really was an honour to be on the same pitch as the likes of Bobby Moore, Gordon Banks and Alan Ball.
"And at Stoke, playing in front of Gordon Banks was incredible. I still hold him as the world's best and probably always will be.
"He barked at us all the time. But he was a natural with his movement, his positional sense.
"He made everything look so easy. I reckon he could've been good at Taekwondo himself!"