Non-League and Academy football writer

Luis Binks is a 22 year old centre-half for Coventry City, in the Championship, on loan from Italian Serie A side Bologna. His father, Tom Binks, is an experienced former non-League player, who was also a defender, playing for a number of non-League clubs (he played as a full-back). Both born and brought up in Gillingham, Kent, Tom Binks’ footballing journey started in local football in Kent, however, he would train with South London club Charlton Athletic as a schoolboy footballer (in the same age group as Tom at Charlton, was Jimmy Bullard). Later going on to play for Kent clubs Ashford, as well as Sittingbourne, the real highlight of Tom Binks’ career as a player in non-League, would have been playing for local side Chatham Town. At Chatham Town, who currently are a club that are definitely going places, Tom Binks made over 350 appearances for them. A tenacious right-back with a good balance to his game, as well as having really good leadership qualities (he captained Chatham on a good number of occasions), Binks is a Chatham Town legend, who gave a lot to the club. A player who played semi-professionally in non-League football for well over a decade, Tom joined Chatham Town the year that they had been promoted from the Kent League.

So following Chatham’s promotion to the Dr Martens Southern League, Tom Binks  got to play non-League football at a really good level. He would however, finish his playing career at the age of 30, in 2019, and this was because his son Luis, had first joined Tottenham Hotspur’s Academy set-up, and so Tom wanted to help his son and be there for him as he started his own footballing journey. Fast forward 14 years, and Tom’s son Luis Binks has made it into professional football, currently playing out on loan for Coventry City, and at a really good level too. Luis Binks, despite still being at an early stage of his footballing career, has already excelled at academy football for Spurs. He would later leave the North London club as a second year scholar, to join MLS side Montreal Impact in 2020, where he was managed by the legendary Thierry Henry. Since moving to Serie A side Bologna, who he made a good number of competitive appearances for during the 2021/22 season, Luis has since completed a full season on loan with Italian Serie B side Como, and he is currently on loan at Coventry City, in the Championship, from Bologna.

Luis Binks is a tall and commanding central defender, with great reading of the game and ability on the ball. Luis, like his father, he is a real leader out on the pitch, and he is aggressive in his defending. He would have undoubtedly learnt so much from his father, in football, and Tom has clearly played a massive part in Luis Binks’ development as a footballer, on his footballing journey so far. Both achieving really fine things in football at different levels in the footballing system, Luis Binks still has so much more to give in his journey as a footballer. However, I’m sure that Tom Binks will continue to play a big role in the future of Luis the professional footballer. The Binks’ are from a real footballing family, and both Tom and Luis are really good people.