Every Thursday, I will share my story of trying to achieve my dream to become a professional goalkeeper as a child, to getting rejected time and time again - Hopefully my stories will inspire you(or your goalkeeper child) to achieve your goalkeeping dreams.
PLEASE SHARE this story with any young goalkeeper (or parent) who are struggling!
From the age of 13, I had trials with three or four professional clubs almost every season.
But time after time, I came home with the same message: “You are not good enough.”
Those words hurt more every time I heard them. Parents who watched me play every week told my dad I was good enough. My dad believed in me too. Yet the clubs kept saying no.
It got worse when lads from my school and Sunday team started getting signed by pro academies. I was happy for them, but it hurt. Some of them, in my honest opinion, were no better than me. I’d go home wondering what I was doing wrong!
So, you can imagine, when I got to the end of my school year and everyone was leaving school, I thought my dream was over.
I grew up on a council estate in Liverpool, and probably every friend I had at the time was expected to leave school, get any job and bring home a wage.
Thankfully, my parents were different. They never once pressured me to give up football. They told me to keep training, keep believing, keep going and stay on at school.
But, as you can imagine, again I thought my dream was over because, when I got to the end of my SECOND year in sixth form and I was just three months away from my 18th birthday, I made the decision that I could no longer expect my parents to keep supporting me. I needed to find a job.
However, then everything changed WITHIN THREE WEEKS!!!
With three months of school remaining, a mate called Roy Muscat got me a trial, and I signed for St Helens Town Reserves. I’d played three games when I was told I’d be playing for the first team because the first-team keeper, Joe Paladino, had gone on trial with Wigan Athletic.
My reserve-team manager, John Davies, told me he believed I was good enough to go professional and that he had invited an Everton scout to watch me.
I said thanks to John, but privately, I didn’t believe him. I’d heard promises like this before.
At 17 years of age, I played for the first team with and against ex-professional players in a strong semi-professional league, only to get man of the match.
And it got better. Afterwards, John told me the scout had been impressed.
Then he said the words that changed my life. Everton wanted me to train with their first team on Monday morning.
Suddenly, I went from sitting in a classroom to training alongside international legends such as Neville Southall, Peter Beardsley, Kevin Ratcliffe and Martin Keown, to name but a few.
After just a few days, Everton invited me to play in the Groningen Tournament in Holland, where I played against the likes of Napoli FC, PSV and the Russian and Turkish national teams, impressing enough I got offered a contract.
I spent two amazing seasons at Everton before asking for a transfer because I wanted to play first-team football.
At the time, there were no agents, so you had to do everything yourself. So, I wrote letters asking for trials, but this time, I had the legendary Everton manager Howard Kendall and the GOAT Welsh international Neville Southall state in the letter that I was one of the best young keepers in England.
This letter got me offers to sign for clubs without a trial, but I decided to take a chance and go on trial with Plymouth Argyle because the player-manager at the time was the most successful goalkeeper in English history, Peter Shilton.
I thought, if I could impress Shilton, this could help my career take off.
I spent six weeks there, competing against several other goalkeepers to win a contract, and I spent two life-changing years playing for Argyle.
I went on to play professionally for over 10 years, playing and training alongside legends such as Peter Shilton, Neville Southall, Joe Corrigan, Peter Bonetti and the GOAT, Gordon Banks.
A MESSAGE FOR EVERY YOUNG READING THIS
It was not until my career came to an end through injury in 1998 that it dawned on me: all those years as a teenager, with coaches telling me I was not good enough — they were ALL WRONG!
Because I was good enough. I trained and was coached by some of the best goalkeepers in history, who rated me, plus I was signed professionally by multiple clubs.
So, the moral of this story is for any young goalkeeper, and their parents trying to help the goalkeeping child: please do not give up on your dreams, even if you are getting rejected.
I am going to quote Winston Churchill:
NEVER, EVER, EVER GIVE UP!
Because these coaches are most probably wrong!
This is why I started Just4Keepers in 1998, because I did not want young keepers and parents to go through what my dad and I had to go through.
And I am proud to say that Just4Keepers has helped more goalkeepers achieve their dreams than any other goalkeeper organisation in history. Our proven results speak for themselves.
SO PLEASE, PLEASE, NEVER GIVE UP!!!
Please remember:JUST THREE WEEKS!!!
That’s all it took to go from thinking I’d need to find a job to training with Everton’s first team, and now being involved in goalkeeping for over 40 years!!!
Keep working. Keep learning. Keep believing.
Your opportunity may arrive when you feel closest to giving up.