NATHAN BAXTER got a 2:1 last week — and that will do him just fine this weekend too.
Bolton’s brainy keeper has just graduated with a degree in history from the Open University.
And six years of study while working flat out to forge a career in pro football could be about to pay off big time.
The ex-Chelsea stopper hopes to cap an amazing season by seeing off Oxford United in the League One play-off final to clinch promotion to the Championship.
Baxter, 25, will be hoping to show he is as clever between the sticks as he is between his ears at Wembley today.
He said: “Football is an intense environment at times, but you also get a lot of time to yourself in the week, in the afternoons.
“I just wanted to do something to take my mind off football. Everyone has their thing. Some play golf, some video games.
“History was always something I enjoyed as a kid.
“My dad would watch history documentaries at night. He would sometimes fall asleep on the sofa and I would stay up.
“That’s where my love of history started.
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“When I left school and was doing my scholarship at Chelsea, they paid for Mr Smith, my old history teacher from school, to come into the club and teach me my A levels. I did history and politics.
“It was an emotional moment when I got my graduation because he has sadly passed away.
“Me and my dad thought of him and hoped he was smiling down.”
Baxter was so determined to make a go of goalkeeping that he took seven loans while at Chelsea to learn about football the hard way — in competitive games that matter.
He was just 17 when he played for the Met Police.
From non-League with Solihull Moors to Ross County in the Scottish Premiership, he had boots and gloves in one bag and a laptop and textbooks in another.
Degrees normally take three years to complete and most undergraduates combine it with boozing and partying.
But teetotal Baxter said: “It was quite a lot of commitment.
“Sometimes I was questioning whether it was worth it because it was hard at times.
“I’d be up at night and having to play the next day.
“I remember being on summer holiday in Lanzarote with the family and having to do work.
“There were a couple of times it was tough around handing in time. But it was definitely worth it.
“The Open University was great too, giving me extensions if I had a lot of games coming up.
“The degree covered everything. I find it interesting when I watch the news and can understand why certain things have happened because of events 50 to 100 years ago.”
Ironically, it is with Wanderers where much-travelled Baxter feels most at home.
He said: “I didn’t quite realise how much of a difference it would be and I love it.
“I feel more settled and I have improved massively as a keeper.
“The whole aim is to get promoted and we are now one game away from that.”
