After attending two UK Football Trials events, 15-year-old centre back Spike Steggall was scouted by four professional clubs; Birmingham City, Portsmouth, Peterborough and Charlton Athletic and one semi-pro team; Woking.

When talking to Spike about his footballing background, here’s what he told us: “I play for two very high quality grassroots teams, the first is Lambeth Tigers who are based in South London, and the second is Onside Academy that are in East London.”

We asked spike to tell us about his experiences with the clubs that scouted him. He explained: “With Peterborough, I played two matches for them. In the first match we played Brentford and lost 3-2, but it was a great performance and I knew some of the other players trialling. In total I think there were around 4 other players on trial and the rest were academy players. ”

“After the first match, I was invited back to play again, along with one other trialist. This time we played Leyton Orient and won 3-0. I felt that I put in a good performance and didn’t really make any mistakes, but unfortunately it didn't go any further.” He added.

Spike continued: “I was also scouted by Charlton Athletic but unfortunately they informed me they have a backlog of trialist’s at the moment but they are going to try and get me in sooner rather than later. In the meantime, my grassroots Lambeth under 18’s team have asked me to play for them against Charlton so the scouts are going to watch me in that match.”

“Portsmouth also scouted me from your event, they were very quick to contact me. They told me that I was the kind of player they liked and that they would like to offer me a trial. However, due to my age and the distance between the club and where I live, they cannot offer me a trial at the moment. They have asked for my next few fixtures though and are going to come and watch me play for my local side.”

“I believe that attending a UK Football Trial event is completely worth it. It’s a great experience and how the training is organised allows a scout to see all aspects of your game.”

We would like to wish Spike the best of luck with his football and hope that he can continue to impress and grow as a player. We are sure all of his hard work will pay off.