Has anyone on here played professionally?

I played for Stockport County once at about 12 against Notts Countyt...that count? They never bloody picked me again I can reassure all.
 
Runs in my family a bit and I had a grandad and a couple of uncles who were pros in the 30-40s and 50-70s respectively. By all accounts, the old man could’ve made it, but he got a bad injury. At my generation it pretty much stopped dead. Had a cousin who did some non-league and a second cousin who was a pretty decent keeper in the system at a, then premier league, side. He got cut though, as he fell short of their minimum height requirement by an inch.
 
Ric said:
@billybluehat doesn't post much now, but used to play for Chadderton. He scored a free kick against FC United back in the day and ripped off his shirt to reveal a City shirt underneath (after about 45 seconds on the video below). Good lad.
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I know Billy well, the centre half for Chaddy at that time I work with he played for City and was released by City by Kevin Keegan.
 
richardtheref said:
Had one season at Coventry when I was 17 before being released.
However, I did ref at semi pro level - Vanarama. Probably biggest crowd was an FA Vase game Whitley Bay V Coalville about 2 years before these 2 met in the final. Crowd was about 5k as neither Newcastle or Sunderland playing that weekend. I can honestly say that after about 5 minutes you really do not hear the crowd.
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Are you telling us, r, that they 'weren't really there'?
 
bear in the big blue house said:
Think a lot of capable players took that route. More than ever now lifestyle is a big factor in making it, that's not a criticism. Trials at Ipswich and Weds you must have been decent.
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That's exactly it it's all about lifestyle now being dedicated, Years ago you'd turn up on a Sunday morning possibly still drunk playing a game at 11am after coming home at 3am from a night club, Don't think it's the way anymore the football club beside me all the lads dont really drink but definitely not a night before a game.
Ipswich scouts were constantly in Ireland 15-20 years ago theyd be there at twice a month. Sheffield Wednesday asked me and the other midfielder I played alongside to go on trials after our football club been invited over to a summer tournament in Sheffield which is how we got spotted there. They gave the club free tickets to Sheffield Wednesday v Leeds that weekend which was a nice touch.
Unfortunately never made it after that lost confidence and boozed that was it.
As you said lifestyle is such a huge factor now.
 
A rag I used to work with played in a trial game for City. Was the only one of the 22 starters that played full 90 mins. Never heard from City again!
 
I doubt many will have played professionally that are on Bluemoon, indeed I doubt many will have played professionally if you asked the same question on every football forum in the country. People underestimate how difficult it is to make it professionally. I seem to recall that from all the boys playing school boy football in the country at the moment, less than 0.01% will make it professionally, and that is for all 92 clubs, not just the Premiership clubs.

I played at a good level at junior football and was fortunate to be "scouted" at the late age of 12 for a then first division club. Over half of my youth team mates made it professionally, two even playing for City later in their careers, another scored in the old European Cup, etc. so overall not a bad youth team. But that team was an exception and it is even more difficult to make it professionally now than what is was in my day. The days of good non league players making it professionally are almost zero in todays game. They are too far behind technically, lifestyle wise and fitness levels that they will never catch up to those playing at academy standards from a very early age.

All the players I have known to make it professionally were very talented, supported by "feet on the ground dedicated families" and they lived a healthy lifestyle with early nights, no boozing, dedicated, determined, etc which led to incredible levels of fitness. All have been drilled from a very early age to carry out match day instructions, positional sense, etc to go with their undoubted ability. They have also had luck on their side with playing well when it mattered and being free of any serious injuries when they were younger. In summary, what all my ramblings above are trying to say is that it is unbelievably difficult to make it as a professional, hence why I will be surprised if many come on here who have played professionally.

Incidentally, I never played professionally as I wasn't fit enough or dedicated enough, although I did get paid for playing semi pro in later years. I was also paid for playing as early as 12 years old, despite this being illegal, as it was an attempt to gain your loyalty to the club from a young age. This was in the form of weekly "expenses". Every Thursday after training you'd sign an "expenses sheet" saying your parents had lost wages taking you to training sessions, petrol, new boots, shin pads, etc etc etc. The brown "pay packet" of cash was always very well received by all the parents of the youth teams players! And finally, I've deliberately not disclosed players names or clubs, as this wouldn't be fair or wise on a public forum.
 
Ric said:
A friend of mine who played in the same junior side as me is probably the best natural talent I’ve ever shared a pitch with. It was obvious from a very young age that he was streets ahead of everyone. He was the best player in our league, and then for Stockport schoolboys, then his county, and then England u-15s. A long story short, despite his prodigious talent he didn’t make it as a pro and just ended up playing non-league for a while. Always makes me think just how fucking good even the very shittest players in the league must be though, relatively speaking. We scoff at some players, but football is an industry where you don’t simply fluke your way to the top. 99.9% of those in academies don’t make it, so anyone who goes on to play either professionally or even semi-professionally must be fucking brilliant.
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Or Martyn Margetson
 
Pablo123 said:
Lad was at city from 11 - 16 years old , he said it was quite clicky , Lee Croft being the best of the bunch that came out of there . Got released and went to Rochdale had one training session and said it wasn't for him , wish I'd had half is talent . Talks about now with a hint of regret .
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As Stevie Clark would say when Lee Croft's name appeared on the teamsheet, "He'll never be a professional footballer. Not while I've got a hole in my arse". Steve is never wrong.
 
AliBobbyJ said:
Exactly what Nick Hornby describes in Fever Pitch, talking about a lad called Gus Caesar who was brilliant for Arsenal at every level rising up through school, youth teams, to the reserves, but then failed utterly in the first team - only the top 1% of the top 1% that make it all the way.
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Gus Caesar who played over 40 times for Arsenal, over 150 matches as a professional and was capped at under 21 level for England? Yep, failed utterly.
 
OffertonBlue said:
I doubt many will have played professionally that are on Bluemoon, indeed I doubt many will have played professionally if you asked the same question on every football forum in the country. People underestimate how difficult it is to make it professionally. I seem to recall that from all the boys playing school boy football in the country at the moment, less than 0.01% will make it professionally, and that is for all 92 clubs, not just the Premiership clubs.

I played at a good level at junior football and was fortunate to be "scouted" at the late age of 12 for a then first division club. Over half of my youth team mates made it professionally, two even playing for City later in their careers, another scored in the old European Cup, etc. so overall not a bad youth team. But that team was an exception and it is even more difficult to make it professionally now than what is was in my day. The days of good non league players making it professionally are almost zero in todays game. They are too far behind technically, lifestyle wise and fitness levels that they will never catch up to those playing at academy standards from a very early age.

All the players I have known to make it professionally were very talented, supported by "feet on the ground dedicated families" and they lived a healthy lifestyle with early nights, no boozing, dedicated, determined, etc which led to incredible levels of fitness. All have been drilled from a very early age to carry out match day instructions, positional sense, etc to go with their undoubted ability. They have also had luck on their side with playing well when it mattered and being free of any serious injuries when they were younger. In summary, what all my ramblings above are trying to say is that it is unbelievably difficult to make it as a professional, hence why I will be surprised if many come on here who have played professionally.

Incidentally, I never played professionally as I wasn't fit enough or dedicated enough, although I did get paid for playing semi pro in later years. I was also paid for playing as early as 12 years old, despite this being illegal, as it was an attempt to gain your loyalty to the club from a young age. This was in the form of weekly "expenses". Every Thursday after training you'd sign an "expenses sheet" saying your parents had lost wages taking you to training sessions, petrol, new boots, shin pads, etc etc etc. The brown "pay packet" of cash was always very well received by all the parents of the youth teams players! And finally, I've deliberately not disclosed players names or clubs, as this wouldn't be fair or wise on a public forum.
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So that's a no then :-)
 
OffertonBlue said:
Yep. You made me lol.
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I know four. I was at Primary School with one who played fourth division, his dad played top flight and have drank in pubs with a further two. Nobody famous. With a user base as high as Bluemoon, I’d bet a couple have had careers somewhere.
 
No, never got near. A mate who used to play with at school was approached by Liverpool and signed for their academy (must have been around 9 or 10 at the time). He was about 100 levels above all of us, and he was so dedicated to it. The highest level he reached was playing for Stalybridge Celtic I think. Just shows how much talent the ones at the top level really are. Back when we were kids, he was Ronaldo/Messi level compared to everyone else
 
Played for Chadderton Colts a lot of years ago but never really had the pace or the bottle. Played at places like Ardwick and Gorton against 'boys clubs' and they took it very seriously, like a war!
As I was getting towards age when should have been moving to mens teams I was moved aside (usually subbed off for)for a youngster called Carl Halford who was Bernards son. He made the grade with lower league teams like Bury and Stockport. Met him at party a few years later when he was by then at Bury and they had drawn Liverpool at Anfield in the League Cup (Souness, McDermott, Case etc) and he was confident, saying how he fancied there chances. Well, I suppose you have to have belief!
 
Who was the poster who’s son was currently playing for City’s youth teams? Used to show a few videos of him playing, looked like he had potential.
 
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