I’m assuming most people here have had a dreams of playing in cup final scoring the winner and such
So how far did you get to reaching such dreams
Did you reach academy levels l or high
I thought of this question because I’ve one of dad’s "oh I could played pro if it wasn’t for my shit knees
UK 8th Tier
Came back to London after Uni (played 1st team) to work and went to train with a local semi pro team (8th tier). Did well in the reserves and started training with main team. Got into the squad after a couple of training sessions. Debut off the bench in an FA Cup qualifying round. Debut start was the next qualifying round which we lost 1-0. Got a mild injury that I was out for a few months with.
By the time I came back to the team and the manager had been sacked. Luckily the reserve team manager was promoted who knew me. Managed to get into the team pretty regularly from there. I was working quite an intense job in finance, but they were great with me. I worked late and sometimes I would turn up to midweek matches at half time to potentially used as a second half sub.
Moved to the other end of London for work and socialising. Assumed I would be able to get into another team but most teams of that level were fairly far away and it was difficult to commit to. Went to train with one team for a handful of training sessions and the manager liked me, then he got sacked. New manager came in with his players and said he didn’t need me.
Then I never really got back into it at that level. Focussed on my job at the time which I didn’t enjoy and I’m not even in the industry anymore!
At that level you see so many academy kids that don’t make it. Football was a hobby to me, but they had been sold an expectation they would make it pro and were still trying. Felt sorry for a lot of them. Some incredible talent at that level
I’ve posted elsewhere in this thread, but your story is incredibly similar to mine - really well written: enjoyed reading it.
The part about the academy kids is very true. Being a uni first team player put me way ahead of them in terms of job prospects; they were so desperate to succeed but you could already see how hard being let go from a club hurt them. They still had a shit load of bravado, but you could tell it was to mask disappointment. They were mostly sound though and terrific players.
I jacked in playing really early and don’t regret or miss it at all.
It wasn’t fun enough (for what amounted to not very much pay, once I started a ‘proper’ career). Going to work on a Monday morning having been kicked about a bit soon got boring too!
Thanks mate! Yeah I turned up to work with black eyes, limping, or crutches a good few times! Not fun when it starts hampering your daily life, but I suupose that can happy in Sunday league!
I mentioned elsewhere that my sixth form college was home to the academy team of our local National League team.
As part of the academy, they could do a sports BTEC so they left with some recognised qualifications.
My A-Level PE teacher taught some of the classes. One week they were all messing around, as per usual, and he just lost his rag a bit and asked the ringleaders “boys, you’re 17/18 years old, what are you going to be in 3-4 years time?”
All replied “a footballer sir” full of all the expected confidence and bravado.
He replied, “right. You’re all aware that only 2% of academy players end up playing regularly at the level of their parent club? There’s 20 of you in this class so statistically, none of you will make it at this level. Bear in mind, you’re at the academy of a semi-pro team. Your senior team teammates that you can’t get in the squad ahead of are plumbers, electricians, and PE teachers from 9-5 Monday to Friday. And you all think you’ll be the exception?”
He said he liked to think the switch flicked in a few of their heads, but there was still this desperate belief they could make it. This had been their whole purpose and identity since they were toddlers, the hard hit of reality and having no solid back-up option wasn’t something they were looking forward to.