Catching up with former Southend United midfielder Franck Moussa

A knee injury saw Moussa end his professional playing career back in 2018.

But the 32-year-old is now cashing in on his talents elsewhere.

“I am based in London and I currently work in the financial sector for a bank,” explained Moussa.

“I always had a keen interest in banking and finances with an aim to use my experiences to eventually pass on my knowledge and services in an advisory role to footballers as someone who understands both worlds.

“I’m also a husband now and dad to a little girl which is great.”

Moussa was born in Brussels himself and caught the eye of a number of Belgian scouts.

But at the age of 14 he headed to England to join West Ham United and that ultimately led to him first signing for the Shrimpers.

“I spent a couple of seasons in West Ham’s academy but I ended up not being offered a scholarship with them,” recalled Moussa.

“But Ricky Duncan who had seen me play offered me the chance to join him at Southend and sign a scholarship which I did.”

Moussa immediately impressed the Shrimpers coaches and made his first team debut aged just 16 when coming off the bench in a 3-0 win at Colchester United.

And Moussa still cherishes those early memories with Blues.

“I remember playing in the in the FA Youth cup and performing for the 18s knowing that opportunities to join the first team was a real possibility,” said the former midfielder.

“Any opportunity to impress Steve Tilson was my goal from then on.

“This eventually got me to train with them and be involved with the seniors whenever there were injuries or a need for an extra body.

“My first league appearance at 16 against Colchester was probably earlier than I expected but when it came it was a thrill and I wanted to experience more.

“I signed a pro-contract at 17 and got called up to the Belgium youth international set up.

“I got to play in more games and eventually became more of a regular, scoring my first goal at 19, also at Colchester.

“That was the most magical moment for me.”

Moussa went on to score eight goals in 103 games before deciding to join Leicester City in the summer of 2010.

“I had experienced the highs of the Championship, I’d played in the League One play -offs and knew that the Championship was a league that I wanted to be in if the opportunity came about,” said Moussa, explaining his departure.

“Disappointingly, I wasn't able to get back in the Championship with Southend and when I knew there was a chance to join Leicester I thought I had to take it.”

Moussa went on to work with some big names while with the Foxes, including former England boss Sven Goran Eriksson.

But just two years later, he joined Coventry City where he also enjoyed a number of memorable moments.

“I enjoyed spending time under the coaching of Paulo Sousa and Sven at Leicester,” said Moussa.

“I trained and played with some top players.

“My time at Coventry was enjoyable too as I played with good players and won a few individual honours which I will always cherish.”

But, prior to joining Coventry in 2012, Moussa also spent time on loan at Chesterfield, who the Shrimpers face on Saturday.

And it was a spell which went incredibly well for Moussa.

“I had come back from a slight injury at Leicester and needed some game time as the season was drawing to an end,” said Moussa who scored four goals in 10 games for the Spireites.

“Chesterfield were getting ready to play in the Football League Trophy final at Wembley too.

“This was an opportunity for me to experience Wembley and to get a run of games.

“I scored a few goals for them and won the game at Wembley, so I have fond memories of my short time there.”

Moussa also impressed during a two year spell with Coventry before also spending time with Charlton Athletic.

But in 2016 he headed back to Blues and ended up staying longer than originally expected.

“The doors were opened to me to gain fitness back after being out for nine months with a tendonitis problem in my knee at Charlton,” said Moussa.

“Physio Ben Clarkson treated me as a youngster at Southend and helped me get back to full fitness.

“I was meant to stick around for a few weeks but the opportunity arose to sign a short term contract to help push for a play-off place.

“I got to make an appearance for the club on the last game and scored which was another good memory I was able to have.”

That goal came against Bury but proved to be Moussa’s final appearance for Blues as he soon opted to head elsewhere.

“I did have an offer from Phil Brown to stay on a two year contract,” said Moussa.

“But I had already spoken to Jon Witney, the Walsall manager and ex physio and it made sense to me to join Walsall as they had narrowly missed out on promotion to the championship the season before.

“In hindsight, I don't think I made the right choice.”

Moussa made 26 appearances for the Saddlers and scored a brace for them against Blues in March 2017.

But they proved to be the final goals of Moussa’s career and he hung up his boots little more than a year later following a short spell with Gillingham.

 “From the moment I had the knee issue at Charlton, I always felt like I was working my way to getting back to the player I was before the injury,” said Moussa.

“I experienced a few setbacks and no proper pre-season in consecutive years then never really felt like I got back to the levels I wanted to reach.

“After a period of reflection I decided that I had a very enjoyable career and I was ready to move on to new things with amazing memories.”

But, although Moussa may now be working elsewhere, he is still keeping an eye on the Shrimpers.

“I have seen some of the results from Southend and it’s good to see that they are climbing up the league table,” said Moussa.

“I have kept in touch with some team mates from the youth team and have bumped into many ex Southend team mates over the years.”