Not everyone can say they have gone from playing casually with their mates to being snapped up by a Championship club just months later, well, if your name is Kai Churchley… you can.
“I started off with Bishops Cleeve, a nice local club, where I stayed until I was 16. Then I went and played in Shurdington with my mates, before finding my way back to Cleeve with the Under 18’s.
“I was one of the youngest in the squad, and I really enjoyed it, I love Bishops Cleeve as a club. I only played about 10 games, a good 10 games, a run in the FA Youth Cup.”
Churchley’s development was quickly fast tracked as he began to draw the attention of the first-team who played in step 5 of non-league.
“I was given my first team debut at Bishops Cleeve by Paul Collicott, whose brilliant and helped me a lot over the years, and from there things moved quickly, word started getting about, I was scoring a few goals.”
Churchley ultimately decided to commit his future to Bristol City, however they weren’t the only club in hot pursuit of the youngster.
“Cheltenham came and had a look at me, I’d had a bad experience in the past with the club so that wasn’t an option.
“Once one club finds out, six clubs find out, and I remember an FA Youth Cup game: Bristol City, Aston Villa, Tottenham, Leicester, Birmingham City and Forest Green all came to watch.
“Bristol City got in touch and asked me to come on trial, so I went there for a week, really enjoyed it, then Villa on trial for a week. As a Villa fan myself… family has season tickets, it would’ve been the dream move as a kid.
“I went back to Bristol City to train and they took me on as an Under-16 and gave me a two-year scholarship, which was unbelievable, especially a year earlier, it gave me a feeling of certainty which I needed.”
The Gloucestershire born forward’s time as a scholar with The Robins was hampered by injury, leaving him side-lined for a prolonged period of time.
“In the first year I picked up a knee injury which left me out for about a year. Then when I came back, I picked up another injury which kept me out for another seven months. I didn’t really get the chance to play much as a scholar.
“When it came to decision time, whether you’re getting a pro contract or not, I was half expecting to be turned away.
“Thankfully I managed to play the last few games as a scholar, thought I did quite well and the club rewarded me with a two-year professional contract.
“I loved every minute of it, not every kid gets to play at a Championship club, playing football, spending everyday there, it was a dream from 16 to 20 years old.
Understandably the significant jump from grass roots to a professional surrounding in such a short space of time could come as quite the culture shock.
“I was nervous at first, it was a big step up, two completely different sides of the game. Bristol City obviously a lot more technical and tactical focus.
“I loved playing football but I didn’t have a clue about the tactical side of things, my game was just running round chasing the ball and scoring a few goals.
“I really struggled to get to grips with how we played at City the first couple of weeks, I was out of my depth.
But when you’re playing with top players, and top coaches, UEFA A level coaches, who are nice enough to sit you down and tell you what they want from you, it really helped me learn, and a lot of that was just as I was going.”
As part of Churchley’s development at Bristol City, he spent time on loan with Gloucester City alongside Tiverton in step 3 of non-league.
Upon reflection, the 20-year-old believes his loan move to Gloucester came at the wrong time.
“It’s absolutely not Gloucester’s fault, it was purely on me. City have asked me if I want to go on loan to Gloucester. I’m thinking as a young lad, National League North, local, 17-years-old, yeah definitely!
“To be honest, at that age I wasn’t cut out for men’s football, I was probably a bit naïve. A lot of the players at Gloucester and in the league had football league experience, or a serious amount of non-league appearances.
“I was only there for a short amount of time, but even travelling to the games, getting minutes here and there is an eye-opener into what real football is like.
“When you’re at Bristol and playing 21’s and 18’s, it’s all about development and trying to give you a pathway into the first team.
“When you’re on loan to a team like Gloucester, or any team really, 3 o’clock on a Saturday you’re fighting for three points, managers are fighting to keep their jobs, players are fighting for their spaces and the whole development side is forgotten because it’s all about winning.”
Churchley joined Tiverton on loan for the 2024/25 campaign.
‘That move came a bit later, I felt I was ready to go out and get good minutes in men’s football, trying to toughen up a little bit.
“When you’re a young pro, you’ve got it in the back of your mind that you need to go and get minutes and non-league is the best way to do that.
“It’s important to get your name out there, in case you don’t get another contract somewhere like Bristol City.
“The Tiverton loan definitely helped me because they were in a relegation scrap, had a few different managers whilst I was there. It really helped me get up to speed with the grittiness and scrapping side of the game.”
Following the expiration of Churchley’s contract at Bristol City, the forward was snapped up in the summer by National League North outfit Merthyr Town.
Churchley is currently on loan at Evesham United until 4th January 2026.
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