14-year-old Matthew attended our Birmingham event all the way from Australia and caught the eye of a scout from Stoke City.

 

We caught up with his father Malcolm to get a better understanding of why he chose to attend our event and what has happened since being scouted.

 

First of all Malcolm, congratulations to Matthew on his brilliant trial with UK Football Trials and being scouted by Stoke! He is obviously a talented player, why did you choose to bring him to the UK for football?

 

“In Australia there are no real pathways to success in football. The coaching at semi-pro levels is below average and won’t help Matthew to get as far as he wants to.”

 

“Our first experience with UK Football Trials was when we attended their camp in Melbourne, Australia during January 2019 whilst Matthew was 13 years old.”

 

“The reason we chose to do so was to get him extra training whilst the season in Australia was closed, I was also intrigued to see how different the coaching levels were.”

 

“Although he was only 13, the coaches opted to put Matthew in the 15 to 17 age group. To be honest, Matthew was a little out of his depth in that group; he coped okay, but didn’t stand out at all. His report card also was not anything special.”

 

“The highlight of the day for us was when Head Coach Mickey Adams shouted from the side-lines ‘that’s what its all about’ after the ball was kicked over Matthew’s head whilst defending. An extremely fast 17-year-old player had about 3 metres on Matthew and but he managed to catch up, tackle him and come away with the ball. I, as a father, was really proud.”

 

“Whilst in Australia we also spoke to Chris regarding football schools in the UK; the amount of hours Matthew would be training and playing each week with fantastic coaches compared to here in Australia.”

 

“Because of this, we chose to visit the schools recommended to us by Chris and also have Matthew attend a UK Football Trials event.”

 

“This time Matthew played in his age group, and this is where the trip (which had been fantastic already) become unreal.”

 

“Matthew performed really well and after the training and game time, three scouts from Watford, Walsall and Stoke were interested in Matthew attending a trial with their club.” 

 

“Because of our limited time in the UK and having to get back to Australia, we only at this time fit one of the clubs in to train with so we chose Stoke City.”

 

 

Wow that’s amazing! So, after being scouted from our event, what happened?

 

“We travelled to Stoke City training ground on Saturday and we were met by the Head Coach and he took care of Matthew and had a chat with him, made him feel at home.”

“Matthew trained solid but lacked the fitness that the other academy players had due to the operation he had recently. When we were leaving, the coach told us to get Matthew fit and invited him to an eight week trial when we come back to the UK.”

 

“We did not see that coming, we were absolutely gob-smacked and over the moon.”

 

“Matthew now is in full training, once/twice a day to get back to full fitness, we are looking to go back in January.”

 

“I would like to say Stoke City were outstanding, the place, the people, the coaches/scouts were amazing, and we would all like to thank them for this amazing journey, so far.”

 

 

That is amazing to hear Malcolm! What advice would you and Matthew like give to other players who think they have the talent but need an opportunity to get scouted?

 

“Simply, football is all about opinions, stay TRUE to yourself and your heart, keep working and working. It’s not about having the talent of Ronaldo or Messi; just simply work harder than any other player.”

 

Everyone at UK Football Trials would like to firstly congratulate Matthew on a great trial with us, and being scouted by Stoke City! We would also like to wish him the best of luck going forward with his eight-week trial in January.