I played in the Premier League – but since I retired I have tried my hand at THREE different sports
FROM football to rugby, golf and then horse racing, it has been an incredible sporting merry-go-round for Jay Tabb over the last decade.
The former wideman, who celebrated his 40th birthday last month, spent six years at Brentford from 2000 to 2006 before switching to Coventry, where he was voted fans’ Player of the Year in 2007-08.
He then went on to help Reading to the Championship title in 2011-12, a promotion that earned him 12 Premier League appearances before playing the final three years of his career at Ipswich in the second tier.
He quit aged 32 in 2016 — and his ambitions have been unlike any other footballer after hanging up his boots.
He has worked as a builder, played amateur rugby union, reduced his golf handicap down to five and caddied on the Ladies’ European Tour.
He also qualified from horse racing’s Northern Racing College in Doncaster and went on to ride the Philip Hobbs-trained Umndeni to sixth place at Wincanton in the Fitzdares Racing Welfare Charity flat race in 2021.
Tabb said: “In the last couple of years of my football career at Ipswich, working under manager Mick McCarthy and his assistant Terry Connor was brilliant. I cannot speak highly enough about them.
“But I knew that my playing days were coming to an end.
“I had lost my appetite for the game. I know this sounds weird but I have really missed football — but I have not missed playing since the day I quit.
“I was in a bubble. I loved the atmosphere of being involved but I lost my mojo for playing.
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“Football has been incredibly kind to me and I will be forever grateful for the path it’s allowed me to take in my professional life.
“But I had new challenges once I stopped — and when the opportunity came along to play rugby or golf, and train and ride horses, it has been a pretty amazing journey.”
Between retiring and racing college, Tabb played rugby with his brother Harry, worked as a labourer with his father Tony, fitting bathrooms and renovating houses, and caddied for Lauren Horsford.
He explained: “My family have always been rugby mad and my brother was a pretty decent player.
“The moment I stopped playing football, the chance to play rugby was something I always wanted to do.
“The fact that I had a sibling involved in the sport and had friends who were all keen for me to give it a go was extra motivation.
“Playing for the semi-pro Old Wimbledonians was not rugby at the highest level but it was still a decent standard.”
It was former Coventry team-mate and room-mate Ben Turner who introduced Jay to racing by putting it on the telly after training.
They co-owned Mister Miyagi, who won twice at Cheltenham, giving Tabb a view of the winners’ enclosure.
He added: “There is nothing like Cheltenham. It has been another brilliant week for racing.
“My dream would be to ride in one of the amateur races at the Festival.”
But for Tabb it’s not about becoming a jockey.
He added: “I was 35 when I first went into racing — which is very late.
“I am still as serious about working in the sport long term.
“I had an eye-opening two-year apprenticeship at trainer Philip Hobbs’ yard as a stable lad.
“I have so much respect for jockeys and the incredible schedule they have. It’s not until you sit on a racehorse that you can fully appreciate how fit you have to be and how they are putting their lives on the line.
“I’m glad that I have come to learn how to ride a horse, because you can put things off.
“I thought: ‘Life’s too short, I’m not enjoying football, I do have other interests.’ So it was the right time.”
Growing up, football was everything to Tabb. He is a mad Chelsea fan but first got his chance at the West Ham academy.
He said: “My heroes were Dennis Wise and Gianfranco Zola.
“After moving on from West Ham, I went to Crystal Palace where I was eventually rejected.
“I did seriously think that my football career had finished before it had even started at Palace.
“But then I joined Brentford, where I had a brilliant mentor in Wally Downes, who believed in me and gave me my chance.
“A year to the day after I left Palace, I made my first-team debut for Brentford against Luton — and I started the game too.
“I worked under some great coaches at Griffin Park like Wally, Martin Allen and Steve Coppell.”
He was reunited with Coppell at Reading in 2009.
He said: “It felt very familiar, joining Reading and being part of Steve’s management.
“It was a brilliant, success-driven mentality even after Steve left.
“Winning the Championship title under Brian McDermott and being able to play in the Premier League were the biggest highs of my career.
“Playing in the top-flight was another huge ambition realised.”
He has recently sorted a framed montage picture of himself playing for each of his four clubs for his home.
Tabb added: “They are all wonderful clubs with incredible fan bases.
“I am hugely proud to have represented them all and every time I look at the picture I am reminded of a brilliant 16 years in the game.”