Will Fowler was scouted from our Essex trial back in 2020 by Woking, who he subsequently signed for, after an impressive performance.

We caught up with Will to speak about his football history, why he chose to attend our event and how his trial with Woking went.

First asking him about previous clubs played for, Will told us: "I played for Swindon's Academy U9s-U12s and made it into the JPL representative the team for U13s season. At U14s I had a brief trial at Chelsea that was unsuccessful."

He continued: "I then went on to play for West Brom Gloucester (which was a shadow academy) for U14s- U15s and at the start of the u15s season I was scouted for Cheltenham academy." 

"I had a long trial with Cheltenham that lasted from November till May but that was again unsuccessful." 

"During the U16s season I was training with a number of non league clubs when I got scouted by Chippenham academy. I played for them all the way through u16s and was offered a scholarship there." 

However, Will's time with Chippenham was cut short after he was scouted from our one day trial event by Woking. He explained that this wasn't his first successful trial with us though, having previously been scouted by both Fleetwood and MK Dons.

We were curious why Will chose to attend our events, he explained: "I was told by a number of clubs that I wasn't big enough and that was the reason for me being released by Swindon when I was younger." 

"Again that was the feedback Chelsea gave me when I was unsuccessful there and Cheltenham also thought I was too small to get a scholar with them. Because of this I decided to come to a trial to see if I had better luck at your events."

Moving onto his trial with Woking, Will told us: "I went to a trial day with a load of other players my age that had also been scouted by the club, we started with technical drill touch passing, etc. and then went into small sided games in a tournament style."

"I really enjoyed my experience on and off the pitch as they also organised a presentation before and after the trail talking to us about the club and the next steps." 

"I thought I played very well on the day and fortunately they did to offering to sign me after just one session with them. I received an email saying I was successful and they wanted to sign me straight away for next season, they set up a meeting with my family and organised for me to watch one of there academy games which I really enjoyed and I thought it was a very professional thing to do."

As a player who had faced set backs in his football journey, we asked Will if he had any advice for players like himself. He said: "My advice would be to play with confidence and not be nervous."

"I always tell myself I have everything to gain and nothing to lose, try to be as vocal and professional as possible as these are great ways to get yourself noticed by scouts that don’t have anything to do with how you play."

"My last piece of advice would be do not be disheartened if you don’t get scouted. All of the scouts are looking for different players and all have different opinions on what makes a good footballer."