14-year-old goalkeeper Joseph Robertson impressed at one of our West London events and was subsequently scouted by League One side MK Dons.

We caught up with Joseph’s dad Gary to get a better understanding of his footballing background, why he chose to attend our event and how his trial with MK Dons went.

First of all Gary, congratulations on Joseph’s brilliant trial with UK Football Trials and being scouted by MK Dons! He is obviously a talented player, could you please tell us a little bit about his football history?

“Joe has played for his local club, Pitstone and Ivinghoe since the age of 4, he is now in the under 15s. He also plays for his school, Cottesloe School and was man of the match in the first round of the ESFA Boys Under 15 Playstation.”

Wow that’s brilliant, Joseph has clearly been performing very well for both his grassroots and school team. So what was the reason you decided to bring him along to one of our trials? 

“Well, last season whilst playing for his under 14s grassroots side, coaches and parents said that Joe should be in an academy as he stood out in matches week in week out.”

“Because of this, we did some research online and, with a recommendation your company stood out as an excellent choice to get players scouted.”

Since being scouted at our event, could you please talk us through the process that followed please?

“The day after the UK Football Trial event at QPR’s training ground I was emailed by MK Dons to invite Joe for a trial match against Fulham for the next day.

“Obviously Joe accepted and was put in the age group above under 15s.”

That’s fantastic Gary! Has Joe received any feedback or has any decisions been made?

“Unfortunately we have not had any feedback or emails since Joe played in the match.”

As someone who went from playing grassroots football to trialling for a pro club, does Joe have advice for others who are in a similar position, where they believe they have the talent but lack the opportunity?

“Joe would advise anyone with potential talent to go to a UK Football Trials event to get to the next level as the coaching and scouting set up is second to none. Hopefully many more young players can achieve their goal!”

Once again, everyone at UK Football Trials would like to firstly congratulate Joseph on his great success at our trial and going on to play for MK Dons. We would also like to wish him the best of luck in the future.