Cheltenham Town’s youngest ever player Sopuruchukwu Obieri has set his expectations for his loan spell with Gloucester City and reiterated his desire to continue to test himself in the men’s game.
The 17-year-old striker broke the Robins record when he came on in the Street Motors Trophy clash with West Ham United U21s in November 2023, with manager Darrell Clarke needing parental permission to name him in the squad.
Then 15 years and 303 days, Obieri is still now under 18 but with impressive pedigree has earnt himself a senior loan to Gloucester City until January and is enjoying the opportunity so far.
“It’s been good. Just to get that men’s experience again, just develop my football,” he said. “It was good [to play 75 minutes on Monday], I feel like I wanted it after some appearances of the bench so it was good to start.”
This move is not his first experience away from the Robins after loan spells with Hungerford Town and then Worcester City last season – helping the latter win promotion from the Northern Premier League Midland Division.
“[My aim at Gloucester is to] just to play as much as possible and really help the team as much as I can with goals and just put us in a good position to get promoted.”
The Tigers have enjoyed a great start to their league campaign as they aim to build a promotion push out of the Southern League Premier South, two levels below the National League, currently sitting second from 11 games.
Although still a semi-professional side, the ambition through the club to get to England’s fifth division is strong and one Obieri relishes.
“Yeah I’m really enjoying the responsibility of being out in men’s football, I feel like it’s helping me with my development, helping me become a better player. I’m learning new things off really experienced players, really good players.
“And to play at a top team like Gloucester it’s really good because I’m in an environment where I’m competing for three points where three points is massive every week, and really competing for a title.
“That of course is really really good for me at my age. It’s a bit of a break from academy football, I feel that I’ve learnt what I need to from the academy, the fundamentals of playing.
“Now it’s just time for me to develop my professional side and to step it into the professional side of football.”
Goals from Tom King, Arkell Jude-Boyd, Sopuruchukwu Obieri and George Miller helped Town to a 4-1 victory at Katye Lane this evening 📝#ctfc♦️
— Cheltenham Town (@CTFCofficial) July 4, 2025
This summer the teenager featured through the start of Cheltenham’s early pre-season matches, scoring a second half goal in the opener against Bishops Cleeve when Michael Flynn’s side won 4-1.
It wasn’t out of reach for Obieri to stay with the first team going into the League Two season, but his performances managed to catch the eye and a loan move was arranged.
“It was in pre-season and I think the [Gloucester] manager came to watch one of my games,” he recalled. “Then I just got told that they would be interested in taking me on loan.
“Then I’ve also been told I wasn’t really gonna get an opportunity playing with the first team, so I felt like that would be better than playing with the youth team so yeah, I took the opportunity.”
“So now with Gloucester we’re training twice a week, Tuesdays and Thursdays. On Thursdays I have college at the Uni in Cheltenham and then when my day is done I’ll come back home prepare for training.
“Routine wise I’ll prepare to go to college which is 9am-4pm, finish college, get dropped back home by a mate, then I’ll bike across to the training ground because it’s not too far from where I live.
“Training starts at 7:15(pm), you’ve got to report at 6:15(pm). So yeah I’ll train and then bike back home.”
Defeat here this evening.#ctfc♦️ pic.twitter.com/BYyPZ4rnjO
— Cheltenham Town (@CTFCofficial) October 7, 2025
Due to the loan deal being outside the Football League, parent club Cheltenham are permitted to field their youngster in cup competitions, and he was named on the bench in the EFL Trophy home defeat to Bristol Rovers last week.
That meant Obieri was able to get his first taste of Robins life under the returning Steve Cotterill, with the 61-year-old managing his first game back just a few days prior.
“Yeah, he’s already detailed. I haven’t really trained with him much but from what I’ve seen all the sessions I have been in is really detailed,” he said.
“He’s a proper coach, I think it was a good appointment. I just feel like, you know, he probably just understands the club more and he knows the in’s and out’s so he knows what it takes to keep us up.”
Opportunities may be more likely to arise now back at Cheltenham under new management and with striker in short supply.
Obieri’s loan is only set to last half the season and will be eligible to impress Cotterill in the remaining EFL Trophy match against Tottenham U21’s – but for now the forward is happy to just enjoy the current experience.
“Yeah, I think I’ll just see how it goes. Obviously football can change really quickly so you never know what will happened, but I’m just enjoying it at the moment.”
The table speaks for itself. Saturday is a BIG one! 🐯
— Gloucester City AFC (@GCAFCofficial) October 16, 2025
Be there at NMP when we take on @PooleTownFC looking to extend our unbeaten league run 👊
🎟️ https://t.co/oic68ENlgZ pic.twitter.com/b3KJMdFbQY
