New County star Harrison Biggins has told of how Barnsley heartbreak and three years brutality in the muck and nettles of non-league Stocksbridge Steels chased away his boyhood forever.

At 17, Biggins, who joined the Exiles on a season loan from Shrewsbury Town this week, dreamt of following England and Manchester City star John Stones out of Oakwell – trailing his ex-Stoke striker father Wayne on the road to professional football acclaim.

Tykes rejection sent him spinning into the bone-shattering tackles and muddy pitches of a life that combined part-time sport with the biting cold, early-morning starts alongside his dad Wayne, assisting on a relentless and back-splintering pallet business.

Biggins once dreamt of wearing the famous blue and white shirt of his beloved Sheffield Wednesday, but he recalled, “When I left Barnsley I did find it very difficult. Football is all I’d known up to that point.

“I went into the non-league cycle at the Steel and thought that was it for me. My dream of making it was dead. I just knew it would be very difficult for me to get back into the professional game. 

“Dad really stepped forward and showed what life was really all about. He had a pallet business – selling and buying them. It was hard, but he had me alongside him and gave me a chance.”

Biggins senior was the perfect example for his son to follow, of course. The classic number ten chalked up 470 league games, firing 130 strikes from the top tables of Burnley, Norwich, Man City, Stoke, Barnsley, Celtic, Luton, Oxford United and Wigan Athletic.

But the raider, now 65, too rose from rejection – at Lincoln – to cut through at the outposts of Kings Lynn and Matlock, fighting to eventually etch his name in the game.

Reflected Biggins junior, “I suppose we followed the same path, dad and me. He taught me to never give up. If he hadn’t pulled me up into his business to instil proper values in me, where would I be now? I honestly can’t thank him enough for being the father he has to me.

“As I have got older he has let me get on with it. Football has changed a lot since the time he played in the Eighties and Nineties. Some of the things he has suggested simply don’t exist any more.”

Biggins is made from the same steel that his hometown city’s name was built on – the raven-haired needed supreme courage to deal with the COVID-19 pandemic which claimed the life of a beloved grandparent.

He said, “It was a difficult time for everyone wasn’t it? I lost a grandparent and my uncle was very seriously ill for months before, thankfully recovering. I contracted COVID as did mum [Jayne[ and dad.

“I didn’t know where I was for days, losing the senses of taste and smell. I’d lived on my own when I got back into the Football League at Fleetwood, but suddenly I was then living back at my parent’s house.

“There is no doubt in my mind, COVID cost Fleetwood opportunities for promotion. We had been going well, and then lost to Wycombe in the play-offs.”

Biggins rebuilt his career on Blackpool’s north coast and then starred as an all-action midfield runner at Doncaster Rovers – regularly on the scoresheet. He is now closing in on 275 pro appearances.

After the frustration of game time at Shrewsbury, the Yorkshireman is ready to make a mark at Newport.

He said, “As soon as County’s interest was confirmed, I wanted the move. I have been starved of games at Shrewsbury and I am ready to make up for lost time.

“It can become very difficult mentally when you are training hard every day and continuously don’t get picked for matches. 

“Now I am looking forward and not back. Rodney Parade can be a very intimidating place as a visiting player – I know that having played there three times, for Donny and Fleetwood.

“The fans let you know their love is for Newport County – I just want them to realise I am standing with them now and will give everything for this fine club.

“I also think I can learn from club management – Christian Fuchs and Mark Smith. The gaffer [Fuchs] once scored a purler into the top corner for Leicester against my Fleetwood team, ten minutes into a Carabao Cup tie at the King Power Stadium.

“I doubt if he would ever remember me, though !”