Life beyond the Premier League: Jake Hessenthaler is flourishing with his dad in the Gills’ dugout

Jake Hessenthaler admits to being scared the first time he stepped on to a football pitch in a Gillingham shirt. In fairness, he was six years old and the mascot at Wembley on an afternoon when his father Andy helped the Kent club win a Second Division play-off final against Wigan. “I got a bit frightened,” he recalls. “When you walk out, there are about 60,000 fans and you hear the fireworks and it is quite overwhelming.”

Fast forward 14 years and Hessenthaler is now doing it for real – and this time is rather less daunted. The 20-year-old is fast establishing himself at the heart of a Gillingham midfield which between 1996 and 2006 was his dad’s domain. After making his league debut last November, he ended last term with the club’s best young player and goal of the season awards – the latter for a brilliant 40-yard strike against Coventry which opened his senior account.

Priestfield regulars have even reworked an old Andy Hessenthaler chant in his honour and if he seems untroubled by the inevitable comparisons, he is equally unfazed by the fact his father is now watching his every step as manager Peter Taylor’s No 2, after his summer return to a club where he was previously manager and director of football. “It has not been any different since he has been back,” Jake, who lives with his parents, tells The Independent. “He is my father when I am not at work, and when I am at work he is the assistant manager and it is no different – he will tell me if I need to do this or that better.”

Footballer fathers seem to have no trouble doing that. In Frank Lampard’s autobiography, the former England midfielder talks about the “harsh” criticism his father would hand out and Hessenthaler has similar memories. “If I got in the car and played badly I would try to hide in the back seat because I knew he would give me a rollicking. But since I’ve got older it has been more him helping me off the pitch when I’ve had ups and downs – keeping my feet on the ground and then giving me a lift when things aren’t going well.”

Hessenthaler Sr has described Jake as a better player than he was for his composure on the ball – “he has a calmness about him” – but they have something in common beyond the blond hair and family name. Where Andy was rejected by Charlton Athletic at 18 – only returning to the professional game with Watford aged 26 – Jake was 15 when Chelsea released him after seven years with the London club. “I know he did it before, so I can listen to him,” says Hessenthaler of his dad’s example. “But I am not going to lie – it was a horrible time for myself. I fell out of love with football a little bit.”

After Chelsea had decided he was too small, he moved to Gillingham and, as he has grown, his football has flourished. “When I was 16 I was probably only about 5ft 2in,” he explains. “Over the last year or so I feel very fit now. I still want to get stronger and more physical but it has helped me compete in games.”

It helps too to have the guiding hand of Taylor, the former England Under-21 manager, who awarded him a new long-term contract in February. “He has worked with young players a lot of his career and he knows how to work with us. You can always talk and ask things.”

Above all, though, he has the opportunity to play league football each week. In that sense, leaving Chelsea to join the family business may have been a blessing in disguise. “To play all these Under-21 games is good but it is not going to be anything like playing in a competitive league. I do feel happy to be where I am at the moment with my football.” Even with Dad looking over his shoulder.