“I am at a house fire,” Chris Lock tells Sky Sports. “I have a crew of four on my fire engine. There is a fire downstairs, a person upstairs at the window, someone screaming inside the property who I can’t see, and I have to think of the safety of my crew as well.”
He uses that scene to explain the pressures of 19 years with the London Fire Brigade. “You are constantly dealing with people on the worst day of their lives. I still feel pressure, of course I do. And I don’t want to belittle football. But it is still a game.” Those experiences, he says, taught him to make tough decisions and accept their consequences — skills he now relies on every day as Charlton Athletic’s Under-21 coach and as a coach with England’s age-group teams.
Lock’s path back to football is unconventional. A youth at Crystal Palace, he earned a professional contract with Fulham and remembers learning from coaches such as Paul Nevin, Steve Kean, Jean Tigana and Christian Damiano. “I was quick and inquisitive about the game. I always wanted to know why,” he says, laughing about being “maybe too opinionated” as a young player.
A pelvic injury and life’s responsibilities stalled his playing career. When his partner became pregnant, practicalities won out. “There was the football dream and the reality of becoming a father, having to provide for someone.” His uncle Nathan, already a firefighter, suggested a different route and Lock joined the fire service, finding camaraderie and teamwork that mirrored a dressing room. “It was literally like a changing room. It was a team with older guys — the senior pros — and then younger guys, the rookies,” he says. “Instead of going out to play, you were going out to an emergency.”
Parenthood and the pull back to football eventually converged. His sons began playing at Peckham Town, and when their coach left, Lock stepped in. The itch to coach — “needling me in the gut” — led him to start his own grassroots club, Carpe Diem FC, in 2015. What began as one team soon became three, founded on the principle of giving kids of any ability the chance to play. “It is about development not elitism,” he says.
Lock’s grassroots work produced notable talents. Reuell Walters progressed to England age-group squads, and Lock’s own son Paris is now at Charlton, subject to his father’s tougher standards: “I am much tougher on him than anyone else.” For a while Lock juggled firefighting shifts, running Carpe Diem, youth work at Charlton and England commitments — a workload that left little holiday time. As his coaching responsibilities expanded, he left the fire service and committed fully to football. “I put all my eggs in one basket.”
That commitment has been rewarded. Late last year he was part of England’s coaching staff at the U17 World Cup and has worked with breakout Premier League talents such as Liverpool’s Rio Ngumoha and Arsenal’s Max Dowman. “They are in that bracket of player where it probably does not matter who coaches them. Whether the coach is good or bad, they will come through. But it has helped me to recognise what elite looks like and I can push the Charlton lads in that direction.”
Working with top prospects has sharpened Lock’s coaching. Elite players “are not going to take waffle. They will recognise it if someone does not have the coaching detail they need. But I have always been good at building rapport. It is about fairness, integrity, respect.” He credits many colleagues and mentors across his journey: Steve Avory, Tom Pell, Rhys Williams at Charlton; Anthony Ferguson, Keith Boanas and Warren Hackett in his coaching education; and conversations with Chris Ramsey, Kevin Nolan, Lee Carsley, John McDermott and Tim Dittmer. Assisting Michael Appleton with Charlton’s first team also convinced him that management was a realistic ambition. “It kind of got my juices flowing.”
Despite the many football contacts and the coaching climb, Lock says his background in the fire services remains fundamental. “The fire services,” he says, “that is always my anchor.” It shaped his calm under pressure, his willingness to make difficult calls and his focus on team and duty — qualities he believes will serve him well as he helps shape some of England’s best young talents.