Interview with Finn Delap: Rory’s son and Liam’s brother to forge his own career path to the league a Burton side | Football news

His father Rory played more than 350 times in the Premier League and won the cult status for his long monstrous throws.

His brother Liam crossed the ranks of Man City and was the brilliant light of Ipswich in 2024/25, which obtained a move to Chelsea in summer.

And now Finn Delap is preparing a name in the Bet EFL sky with Burton.

Born in Winchester while his father played for Southampton, the central defender – who grew up by idolizing the formidable duo of Real Madrid, Sergio Ramos and Pepe – started in Derby after the family moved when Rory signed for Stoke.

His brother, two years from his senior, did it too, but they only played in the same team only once.

“It was during a tournament when I was 12 or 13 years old and he was 14 or 15 years old,” recalls Delap.

“We both played Cente-Mid and I never wanted to play with him again. It did not end well! We have always said that the best thing that could happen is for us to introduce each other.

“It would always be competitive when we were playing the top tennis or that we led to shoot in the garden, but there would be a spark. There was always someone who kicked someone!”

Many former sons of footballers followed their father’s footsteps; In particular in recent years, it seems that there has been a new face with a familiar family name that regularly bursts on the stage.

The natural question to ask is whether they feel the weight of waiting as a result of this.

“People have put it there that my father had a career, my brother had a career and I can’t drop them,” said Delap.

“In the end, my father always said that if we did not want to play football, we did not want to play football. It is the decision of me and me that we both wanted.

“My father helped me a lot and go to his games made me fall in love with football.

“When I did not have the biggest game when I was younger and he gave me an ear in the car, I didn’t see it in this way, but now looking back, it is a big factor of the reason why I continued and the player it made to me.

“Always to this day, he will tell me about the games when I come home and ask me for training every day.”

Finn was released by Derby in the summer of 2021 and then joined Burton nearby – where his father ended his career eight years earlier – on a scholarship.

In 2022/23, shortly after its 17th birthday, the club made the decision to give it its first taste for male football and it was sent on loan to the central city of the Southern League Central, a division below the North National League.

“It had the greatest influence on me and I am so grateful that it happened. I jumped directly in it and I loved every minute,” he said.

“I learned a lot of lessons by playing in the non-ligue that I would not have if I played in the youth teams. It was a question of winning. It was not like” Oh, you played well, but you lost “. You must win.

“I played with [five-time England U19 international] Kieran Fenton on the back. I watched it a lot. He was a good player and he took me under his wing and taught me lessons on football and also on life.

“The group we had there was incredible. Jamie Ward was the manager, Leroy Lita played up. Lee Tomlin and Chris O’grady were there too. We had a lot of experienced pros who had been there and that I could learn.”

Delap then spent the first half of 2023/24 in the same division with Mickleover, and shortly after his return, Martin Paterson gave him his professional debut when he brought him as a substitute during a 2-1 victory at Bristol Rovers in Sky Bet League One.

“This is the biggest step that I have taken so far,” he adds. “It’s like a dream come true.”

He played the last seconds at Leyton Orient the last seconds next week, then returned on loan, this time to Woking in the National League, and started 2024/25 on loan in Buxton in the North National League.

When he returned to Burton just after Christmas last year, Gary Bowyer was the man in charge at the Pirelli stadium. He included Delap in the next 18 championship teams and gave him a race in the first team with five appearances in the last six.

This faith played a key role in the defender of the signing of a new contract of two years in summer.

“The previous director [Mark Robinson] I always saw me as a young boy who needed experience and when the gaffer entered now, he said he wanted me to want myself here and wanted me to fight for a place.

“He saw the experience I had, but I also wanted I was building my experience here, rather than being ready.

“Knowing that it was going to be here this year was huge for me. I had a good race at the end of the season and talking to him during the summer period, it was very interesting to stay. There was no other decision for me after this conversation.

“I have such a good link with the gaff, probably the best relationship I have had with a manager so far.”

For the moment, Delap – who says he likes to be on the ball, but likes to “defense the old school if it should be done” – focuses on the nailing of an ordinary starting place under Bowyer.

Things are going well in this regard – and playing the 90 full minutes in the 1-0 victory against the favorites of the title Cardiff on September 30, that will not have caused its cause.

But he is inspired by the climb of his brother.

“I am very proud of him. The way he had passed, ranging from derby to Man City, to then have loan spells in the championship and some do not work, to be in the position he is today,” he adds.

“It just makes me want to do the same.”

The next Delap has forged its own path in the game, and it has high ambitions.