I woke up from the confines of my single bed in The Haven B&B where I’d been living for almost 7 weeks. I finished packing my suitcase and tried to print out my plane boarding pass with landlord deaf Danny who was making sure I wouldn’t miss my train. The boarding pass wouldn’t print out from my defective 1/2 year old Sony computer, so off I went past the few minutes work down  to the now very familiar co-op supermarket and on the train platform. The train calling at London Kings Cross arrived as expected and the next six hours were spent working on business and watching my downloaded game of Man United vs Wolves. As I arrived, I scurried off into the busy, lively London streets to a place with internet and a printer, printed off my boarding pass. One thing you immediately notice from being in a fishing town to London is how much faster everyone walks. I felt better already. The small town environment makes you do too much thinking and pondering, and I didn’t want to think as much as I had been in Montrose about my future and all. So I got my boarding pass printed and off I went, onto the tube to Victoria Station and onto the Gatwick express for my flight to Amsterdam.

I had only got a few hours of sleep from the night before, so I fell dead asleep for the majority of the flight. As I got my luggage, I immediately bought some stroopwaffles (the best treat ever) and got a ticket to Delft. I arrived, hugged my old friend  Zeeger and here I was in Holland! Cool! I got to Zeeger’s flat, met his friends and after a short tour of his house and his room, I put on a shirt, suit jacket and shitty black shoes and we were now out the door off to Zeeger’s fraternity. He had told me about his fraternity before and it just sounded crazy what they did there from the amount of drinking to wrestling, I just had to see this. I didn’t really know what I could expect to see when we began walking up the steps into an old Dutch building, after all it was Monday night. But bam! It’s like I walked into a movie set. Over a hundred people drinking, happy, talking and all in formal attire. A few people looked completely fucked like they’ve been on a 4 night benders. I got introduced to all of Zeeg’s friendly friends, to the leaders and immediately, someone got me the strongest drink possible, leaded me to the toilet next to the dedicated vomit sink and was egged on by all his friends to chug this shot-filled drink. Obviously, I didn’t want to drink, but life is full of experiences and you have to take them as they come. I chugged half of the glass and gave the other half to Zeeger. Then I  got a full tour around the building. I’d been to alot of clubs and pubs before, but this was just something different. There were alot of funny rules you had to follow which would have consequences if you were found of breaking them. It was a great atmosphere and everyone wanted to have a conversation with me. Everyone could speak decent English aswell. I left the DSC fraternity having a pretty good first impression of Dutch student life. Over the few days that I was there, I realized how much students drink there, it’s pretty crazy and it’s no wonder a few of Zeeg’s friends were developing beer guts already. Obviously, if I were playing pro football, I couldn’t live this lifestyle, not that I would really want to. It’s fun, but over time I can see that  I would feel like shit because I wouldn’t be achieving my goals and desires. My ideal student life would be having a night out once or twice a week and having the rest of my nights watching movies or chilling.

It was a relief to get home to Budapest, hug my parents again and have a home cooked meal. As you can see, I didn’t do much in terms of football this week. To be honest, over the last month or so, my motivation to train became less and less. I needed a mental break. Being in Montrose was a little stressful and frustrating that it affected my desire to train. If I didn’t take a break and get to witness the stuff I did in Holland for example, I would of just got worse. So I’m glad I took a few days off this week. I did do some training on Tuesday however when I went over to Zeeger’s university gym. It was actually more of a entire sports complex complete with 3 football fields, tennis courts, hockey courts, etc. I went to use the indoor gym which was pretty nice and modern and did some running and stuff.

Anyway, this post was kinda longer than usual and I wrote everything in a bit more detail than I usually do. It’s about 9pm now and usually I don’t do these until about 1 or 2 in the morning when I’m about to go to bed. Doing this earlier gives me more time to reflect and plan.

I have to set some new short-term goals for myself so I keep fit, keep improving and not lose my focus of my longer short-term of goal of getting into the ‘right’ first football club and long term goals.
1. Maintain high fitness.
2. Keep improving on left foot and one on ones. 
3. Build upper torso muscle and strength by working out at the gym, possibly with a personal trainer. 

Next Week

So this week was really a much needed mental recovery week for me  so my hourly target was put on hold. But I’m focused on putting in 20 hours next week, so let’s do it. On Friday I’m supposed to be going to Austria for four or five days for Christmas holiday with the parents, so I’ll probably go there. Will start contacting clubs and people aswell. 40 I will contact. Also, at around the start of everyday (or at the end) I will set a schedule of what things I’ll do and when so I don’t spend too much time stressing on it during the day.

“What a year!” This is what I thought to myself when I watched the sky light up at midnight with the flashes of people’s own fireworks from the balcony friends house in Budapest.  2011 has been the biggest year of  my life. I graduated high school, I’m now an adult, and there’s a new beginning to my life. I’m living it up in the real world, and although I now understand why people say that school was a place of haven for them, I feel like my life and my destiny is totally in my own control. And yes, times can get stressful and difficult. I don’t know what I’ll be doing next week, next month, and no clue where or what the hell I’ll be doing next new year! But I feel like I am living my life just how I want it to be and there is hardly anything I would change. I can see that the people in my circle of life realize my ambitions and dreams for my life, and they respect me for that. I feel as I am not only helping myself, but  slowly I am starting to inspire others and have a positive effect on their lives. At the same time, I feel really grateful for my family who are all healthy and well, I love my friends, I am so appreciative of the opportunities I have been given in my life like living in a different culture and being born and raised in such a supportive environment. And people can say that I am so lucky to have this, but I think it’s only because I’ve chosen to embrace each opportunity I was given. There were times this year where I could of just ignored my family, given up on football, let someone else make my choices for me, and spend all my time playing video games, watching movies and ignoring the chances to get ahead. But I’m 18, it’s 2012 now, I’ve experienced so much that people twice my age could only sit and dream of and I have my whole life ahead of me. All I see right now is a life filled with happiness, laughter and pride. But I knock on wood for all that I’ve written here..my life is great, I fear things can change for the worst at any moment and that’s why my actions have to be careful at times that I don’t destroy the good things in my life. But whatever, I’m young, I’m wild and I’m free (Snoop Dogg/Wiz Khalifa) and it’s time to live life fearless and enjoy these 365 days. 2012 will be an even bigger year in my life.

2011 was supposed to be the year I would make it into a pro football club, and although I haven’t technically made it yet, there have been contracts talked about and performances have been good enough to say that I’m at the standard professional football requires. Once I sign that contract and play first team football professionally somewhere, I don’t think there is anything in the world that could make me more proud of myself. From nothing to something just sums up my footballing story. In 2012, the dream I chased will become true reality. I hope that inspires you all to go for your own dreams, I only wish anyone reading this success and happiness.

And it’s only upwards and onwards here. My game is now getting pacier, I am making passes quicker, thinking quicker, doing things in one touch and two touch and learning/applying from the subtle moves of some of the best teams in England and the world. That stems from experiencing Scotland and from Moses’ training which taught me to do things quickly.

So I’m more confident, always learning and always striving for more than my teammates.

No news right now on any new trials, opportunities or anything. Have to finish UCAS applications and start on some new apps for other uni’s so I can just get them sorted now and not keep worrying about them a few months down the line. I think my chances of getting into Erasmus Rotterdam are good as they asked me to send in certified copies of my diploma and passport however, my motivation for going to uni is not as high as it was a few months ago. Things always change though so gotta do them regardless of how I feel right now.

Next Week

I Was travelling for more than two days this week and unfortunately new years got the better of me today.. not the best first day to the year, but I know exactly when I should celebrate and when I shouldn’t, 2011 was a great year and you have to celebrate your successes. Therefore I’m exempt of finishing the hours I set. 9.5/20 I completed this week. Next week will be a full 20 hours. Will enter the third week of going to the gym and I will perhaps try go three or four times since I have a full week in Budapest now. I actually really like going to the gym, with friends it’s sort of relaxing and fun. Haven’t seen much in terms of muscle development yet, but over the coming weeks and the next 10 – 20 sessions I think we will see noticeable improvement, although have to read a bit more about working out because I still really don’t know what I’m doing.

Time to reflect on the 6 or 7 weeks I’ve been in Montrose. There have been some negatives on being here, so many to list. Not enough training, lack of communication in the club,  cost of being here (I hate to say it, but it’s cost at least $1500-2000). So there were parts that really sucked and made me frustrated as hell, but at the same time with all the negatives, you have to account in the positives and the things I’ve learnt like:
1. How much I appreciate my family - I’ve never been away from at least one family member for more than a week so  to not have any family while staying here in Montrose has really made me think about how much they mean to me and have someone to talk when times are hard (I never thought I’d ever be  saying that lol, I always feel like I can do everything on my own, and I can, but having my closest family with me just makes it easier)
2. Increase in confidence - In the last week I’ve felt more comfortable with having the ball at my feet in games and training, and I think it’s a result of getting used to the pace and the style of play.
3. Established I can at least play decently at youth level at a Scottish 3rd div club - and I can easily see myself as being the best player in the team after a few more weeks/months.
4. Got feedback and Confirmed  that I’m a good player - and now he will have more confidence in me and respect.
5. How much it would cost to live in the UK - Would depend if I was sharing, but for a decent flat and utilities (100 pounds p/wk) + food (40 p/wk) + transport (0 – 60 p/wk depending on location) + (50 p/wk other expenses) = 800 pounds +/- 50 or $1150 – 1300 aussie dollars. Making above that, and worst case scenario, would be working full-time at Tesco or somewhere like that.

It was a quiet week. There were NO Montrose trainings because the pitch was frozen. There was one Merpro training on Wednesday however and there was a game today. It was the fourth round of the Scottish FA Youth Cup. I started on the bench and came on as a right back on around the 55th minute. Did alright, and didn’t have many chances going forward, had to defend most of the time. One thing about the Scottish game is playing the offside line and chasing the high balls that come over the top. Not used to that, so my defending and marking wasn’t the best, but still did alright. Would of been more effective as a winger and I’m beginning to think I’m better as a winger.. I still don’t know yet. To develop faster this is why I need to train more and play every weekend with a proper team.

Anyway, I feel a sense of relief that this trial is over and I’m going back to Budapest for Christmas. It’s about one month now until my parents finish up here.. and there’s still no certainty to what I’m going to do. Looks like I could sign for Montrose if I wanted, but not my preferred option. We’ll see how things turn out, the future is always uncertain and everything could change tomorrow!

I’ll be in Holland for a few days with my AISB friend next week, and have a little bit of chilling time there,  get me some new pairs of kicks and eat stroopwaffles all day (mmmmmmmm yum). More importantly, I’ll probably keep up my training with some guy called Mickey Samargik from the soccer future company. Apparently he holds his training’s 200m north from Amsterdam Arena where Ajax play.  I tried calling him earlier, and the guy can’t even speak English properly. So we’ll see what happens with that.

Next Week
Missed three hours this week! So 18 hours of development next week. Got a few games downloaded that I’ll watch on the train to London (in my first class seat!) and just enjoy!! See-ya

Alright so back to my frustration! The last three weeks, they've been 3 or 4 trainings at most I've been involved in, Chris lacks communication of what is going on and doesn't answer what the next step is and keeps saying he will ring the club. Come on Chris! Spending lots of money and time here. Apart of me says I want to be back in Budapest with my parents and friends, but at the same time, I am hoping Chris is not so daft and is trying to arrange positive things for me in the UK. + there's Paul who is trying to arrange something for me, annndd I got an email this weekend from Kire (Jahan connected me earlier) who owns SoccerFuture.net who says can get me in a Dutch or Belgium club if I go to Amsterdam for 7 days and pay 700 euro! (food, accommodation included). I apparently just have to give them three days notice. Thing I'm wary about is that they didn't bother to reply to my previous messages and it took them months to reply to my last message.

Next Week

Next Week

People keep asking me "Nick, why haven't you left Budapest yet?" or "What's happening with football?". It's frustrating when I tell them that is just takes a long time.. I don't think their convinced with that answer. I want to prove to them and others who talk about me, that I'm good enough already.. to say that "I told you so". I had a conversation this week with a friend while he was driving me to the tram stop to go home from training. It's his view that you should do well in school, study, go to university and get a good paying job. Ever since I read the book 'Rich Dad Poor Dad' by Robert Kiysoaki 3 or 4 years ago, I've been mapping my life so I don't go to university or ever work for somebody else (football is an exception, it's not the same thing). Besides football (I have two passions, football and business) This is why I have constantly been creating and working on online businesses the last 5 years or so, since I was 13. I do have big dreams, big ambitions, and although I haven't achieved anything yet, I have the belief in a formula for success which follows in the footsteps of other successful millionaires, athletes, etc. Dream + Believe + Work Hard + Never Give Up = Success. But my friend says to me, what if you don't make it, what if you don't become what you dreamed, then what are you going to do? I didn't have a Plan B for him, I only know now what I want to do now and how to get there. He told me I'm crazy and that so many people fail. I told him, watch where I'll be in 5 years time. My goal by then:  Net worth of $20 million dollars and playing in the Champions League. 

This was sent to me via email this week by a guy called Kevin. I was using LinkedIn this week and sent him an email, after some back and forth and telling him my desires and frustration with my agent, this is what he said:

" Unfortunately there are a lot of agents  who are working only to earn a lot. They are not able to
understand the player and the team manager.

The best example is Edin Dzeko.

With 19 he played for Sarajevo. His agent offered him to an austrian club for very little money. They were laughing at him. Because he is a striker and nobody knows him. Than he joined the club Teplice and he got the best foreign player in this league. Now he is one of the best strikers in Europe. Do you know what I mean? He worked hard and he achieved his goal.

You have to work with an agent with whom you have confidence. He has to know what are your skills where you want to play the next year and where you want to play in 5 years. At the beginning everyone has to forget the money. You must play 90 min. The italian teams have a special network. They buy young players for a Serie A club and then they lend him to a club in the Serie B or Serie C. When he returns he could be a famous player. " 

Everyone has a dream, but only very few really go for them. The fear of failure holds us back for pursuing them. People give up because there told their not good enough, or that success is an illusion, or only people that are lucky become successful. This is all BULLSHIT. If you trust in the forumla, you will make it and I'll prove it to you. 

So this week I trained with Moses primarily, 5 x 2 hour sessions. I went to Buda and Hegyvidek on the side. I felt the same fucking injury coming back in my upper hammy. Moses with his wisdom said for that to fully recover, you should only do jogging and light training for two months. But obviously I can't just sit out right now, so either I wait until I get seriously injured or wait until next summer for that. What will be good for it is icing regulary, putting muscle cream on it before and after training and not overtraining. 

LinkedIn is sort of like a social network for employees and business people, so naturally it's a good place to find people involved in the football area. I randomly contacted a few people on the network and told them who I am. Actually, three people responded to me. One was this Croatian guy who called, and said he could arrange something for me in Slovakia, although I haven't heard back from him since the week before last. Then there was this Austrian guy called Kevin, who used to be a professional player but got injured (just like Khaled from Invision) and now helps players and is starting a sports brand. Finally, a guy called Fernando responded and he passed on my information to the head coach of Kansas in the MLS and Alfonso Mondelo in New York in charge of finding players for MLS. 

I wonder what will be the outcome, and if anything will actually happen out of making these contacts. What I am proving though is that if you have talent, you can make your own luck. My CV is the least impressive thing on this earth, but just a website, a video and Cold-emailing is what I have done for the last year or two, and it's led to Chris being my agent, aswell as Mikko (contacts in Finland/Slovakia), Khaled (contacts in Scandanavia), Jan (Australian u/20 national coach), and these other guys this week. I'll say this now and I'll say it again, I gotta make it professionally. How can I fail if I keep improving, keep working hard, and keep making new connections. I just can't (fingers crossed I don't get seriously injured). 

In fact next week I'm making a promise to myself that I'll contact 5 more people on LinkedIn because this tactic might work. 

Oh, and I haven't heard back from Chris about Scotland……… gotta remain patient : /

Next Week
Continue to train and do the mental training. 19:20 done this week, 40 minutes more than required. Moses' personal training sessions with me is always really great, even if I have to pay him $25 a session now. I always feel fitter and a better player. Main problem we were concentrating on this week was me beating a defender one on one and finishing. Next week I think it's more of the same. 

15 hours next week. 

Recovered from that illness on Monday this week, although I still have a cough now triggered from the smoking in the stadium when I saw Hadjuk Split vs Dinamo Zagreb yesterday! It's a big rivalry, the atmosphere was great and the flares and crackers made it crazy! Something you would never see in any other part of the world. Video says it all. The match itself ended 1-1. It was alright, a split player got sent off in the first half an hour, but then split scored! Dinamo equalised later on. When I compare myself to those players that were on the pitch, I thought that I'm not far off (not being cocky), in fact I think I'm just as good as a few of them technically and maybe even smarter! If these teams are the best in Croatia, then I have to be good enough to be a pro. The night before the match, I talked to Josip Simunic because he was staying in our nice hotel, I think they were staying in the luxury suites as well! (footballers lifestyles..). Josip played for Deakin, my old club in Canberra. And actually, another old player from Deakin was playing for Split in the match, Steven Lustica. I told him about my situation, that I am 18, out of school, and trying to find a professional club. I told him that I used to play for Deakin, and asked who my coach was. He knew exactly who my coach was! He said to me that it's very difficult to make it.. and that's all he kept saying really. But he seemed like a nice guy and I got a photo! 

Chris told me this week that he was arranging a trial with a Scottish third division team called Montrose. I basically told him no, I don't want to go live in some place in the middle of nowhere. I did a Google search and looked at maps.. and yeah it's basically a small fishing town. But I've thought about it a bit now.. I guess it depends on where the training ground is, but It's an hours drive away from Aberdeen and Dundee. I guess when I think about that.. it wouldn't be too bad. Hmm.. but Scottish footballers are fucking hard cunts, arne't they? I guess I know for sure I would be faster than alot of them, and probably better technically. Anyway, back to that later. 

Jahan gave me the facebook of this guy called John Petter, apparently he's the one who can get me into a club in Holland. But he seems never to answer his facebook messages, so I'm guessing he's a lazy dick with something else going on in his life. 

Anyway, with football right now it's about waiting for a desirable city, with an international community, and international student housing for cool social life and great lifestyle. But I guess I can't really wait any longer either.. choices, choices, choices.. 

Training

So after a long car ride, I'm back in Budapest. I'm starting training with Moses again tomorrow morning. It's midnight now, so It's off to bed. 

Missed 3:40 because my priorities were on being with the fam. So roll that on to next week. Approx 3 hrs everyday next week.

Also started the mental training set by athletesaudio.. I've done a few sessions so far, I think all the exercises there are really going to be great help on the pitch. 

And Amsterdam.. well I'm certainly not going on Monday, Jahan takes his time on stuff like this.. I don't know if I'll end up going or not.  As for Chris, no trials, but he said:

Have advised Nick that Sydney FC will look at him, but that is obviously not our preferred option at this stage.

Waiting on answers from Scotland, Cyprus, Belgium, Portugal, Croatia and England.

Little bit of a hold up as clubs are clamouring to sign professionals before transfer windows close.

Should have news soon.

I've noticed lately that my game analysis/intelligence has been taken to another level. I feel as though I know what I'm doing on the pitch now, why I'm doing it and how I'm doing it. Yeah, I'm a smarter player and that stupid football brain back in 2010 is long gone. My technical skills are great, my play intelligence is at a good level. I have to get into a club now, I feeI am ready and even more now then I did at Vasas 2 months ago. I could do with some slight improvement on my stanima in  maybe and mental training.

Mental training is probably the most underrated/underused practice in football. You never hear any coach taking their players through visualisation, or breathing excercises to win games. I remember seeing seeing a study on the internet somewhere when athletes had 25%, 50%, 75%, and 100% of their training schedule used as mental training. I think it was the 75% mental training that performed the best. So it's huge, and it's what seperates the best players from the good players according to Michael Jordan. I think I'm going to buy this audio set from athletesaudio, as I've listened to a few free exercises already and they sound pretty good. After listening to these and improving even more on my game, It will really be a case of "How can I not make it as a professional footballer now?" 

Next Week

I've also taken a look at my training schedule. Based on Chris' emails, it looks like I should be in a club by October, the original plan that I would be in a club by July/August I guess backfired on me, but I guess all plans do at one point or another. 
So I don't get injured and I keep some focus and intensity in each training, I'll reduce the number of hours from 20 to 15. Always warming up, cooling down, resting enough,  etc. I guess the lost 5 hours will be replaced by mental practice routines. But I've calculated roughly 1200 hours of focused training has been completed since April. Now I don't think it's time to grow so much, but to prepare for the next thing ahead.. hopefully that will be Amsterdam if Jahan ever comes back to me.

I probably won't get this 15 hour plan started next week, because I'm sick. When I have the opportunity to go for a run or bike or swim I will go do it, but right now I'm not feeling well. Completed 12 hours this week, basically all game analysis. See ya! 

8-2.. what a shocker.There were some really nice goals in the match though. Ashley Young's two goals, both very skillful. I have to try do that more myself, a quick touch inside of the defender and get the shot away outside the box. 

So.. Amsterdam! It looks like it's actually going to be organised. Jahan told me that he would come with me and we may go next week Monday (not tomorrow). Although I'm 80% sure this will happen, because something always doesn't go as planned. 

Chris hasn't arranged anything, still waiting on him. 

My email for an college scholarship was sent out to hundreds of coaches again. And they all told me, Nick if you have an agent or play professionally, the rules state you can't play at college level in America.

But what I did do was work hard in the games we had in training this week, well most of them anyway. I see the results, and like I said last week it shows my character and determination, and of course I play better. I think this attitude of fighting virgriously when the balls near me and occasionally going back to help a further distance is a good attitude to have. Makes me twice as effective on the pitch. If I keep it up, I'll improve quicker and my coaches will notice it in me.

Chris finally got me somewhat good news. He arranged a "look-in" with Sydney FC, not formally a trial on the 19th and 20th of September. He also said he's calling around in Cyprus. I talked to Jahan about getting me a trial with the 3rd division  team in Amsterdam he was going for, he said he was going to speak with the coach or a scout or something there so I'm just waiting on the outcome of that. Other than that, if all else fails, I guess I would be going back to Australia in September, so maybe it's time to really push the a-league clubs to give me a trial. I also have to plan for a U.S. scholarship in 2012 if say I got injured tomorrow and I'm out for a 8 months. 

Another week (but the week went fast!. Another reflection. 

Next Week
I did 21/26 hours I was suppose to. But to be fair I was working alot on making a business so I can support myself,  summer camp took up the entire day, and I got injured. Lame excuses, but I think enough to justify that I won't punish myself with a penalty. So 25 hours of beautiful football next week. 3 1/2 hours a day, lets get it!

Consistency. To be considered one of the best players you need to play well in the majority of games in a season. My Dad voiced this out to me at home while watching  Bundesliga game on TV. My Dad says it looks like I give up too easily, and I don't fight for the ball. I'm suprised when I hear that, because I don't consider myself to be a player like that, nor do I want to be seen that way. This is why young players have trouble getting first team games on a regular basis. I can't remember which post I said it in but it was a while ago when I said that I should conserve my energy, but I think this just makes me lazy. Players like John Terry, Frank Lampard, Cristiano Ronaldo, Messi, Gerrard, Rooney, are players that don't have their name and "lazy, and undetermined" in the same sentence. So my new gameplan is to commit to doing my best to fight and shove players when the ball is 15-20m away from me, and on occasion if I have gas in the tank and nothings happening, that I go beyond that distance and go for the ball. This way I'll get more of the ball, the coach will see I am a player who wants to win, see more of me in his perpherial vision and it shows my character. So that's what I wanted to say about that part of my game.

Still nothing happening with Chris, I guess it's just annoying waiting but I get to spend last days with my friends here in Budapest before every single person is out of the country, went to the sziget festival, saw Kid Cudi, amazing, it was great. 

Other than that I don''t think I'm going to write much more.. FABREGAS to Barcelona, that's huge! Where's he going to fit in, what's going to happen to Arsenal? 

This Week's Training
16.5/20 hours, on Wednesday I did something stupid and on Thursday I was sick the whole day. So I'm going to punish myself with 6 hours of extra work next week. I'm taking part in summer camp here, that's about 20 hours so I'll take 6 hours of game analysis, etc. 

It's been a quiet first week of August. I honestly don't have much to say but I'll just go into detail about things. I keep training everyday, today I trained with Moses again so I get some good training while I'm just waiting for the agent to come back to me with something. I've also been training with Hegyvidek but sometimes the training you do can be damaging. There was a fitness session on  Thursday and one of things we did was go up 10 concrete steps, repeat 5 times, rest and then do 10 sets of them. I'm still feeling the soreness from that today. 

So like the picture suggests, I'm just patiently waiting like I have been these last few weeks and I guess there will be more waiting to do with the agent. But good things will come. 

I did 20 hours of training this week, I'll continue 20 hours next week aswell. Let's see what the new week brings. 

P.S. I ordered some stuff off prodirect, haven't got new boots since December. My Superfly's studs broke and my Adizero's sole is about to tear away. I got a brand new pair of Tiempo Legend IV's, Nike Bag, Fifa Approved Nike Ball and some socks. Hopefully this will be the last order of football gear I ever buy as when I turn professional, the club will buy it for me! 

I jumped over a big hurdle this week when I finally decided to sign a contract with Chris the agent. It probably should of been done earlier, but at least it's done now. Contracts have been signed and airmailed back to Chris and the advance will be paid to him when he confirms he receives them. It's his aim to get be somewhere where I can financially support myself like for example a lower league in Europe. 

I met Jahan again on Friday, he's moving to Holland now and he told me he didn't contact me because he had a "dispute" with Sandor. It seems Sandor is not all the impressive, over-delivering guy he appears on the outside. At least according to him. It looks like he is moving to Holland to study and play for a newly promoted 2nd division club which if he does, will be a miracle. I don't like to put people down, but he's been playing football for just two years. Connections again…and this is why good players get overlooked. 

Sandor actually messaged me earlier in the week to say that Ujpest were at a training camp and I can go for training tomorrow, but he didn't come back to me with a time or place.. this is why you shouldn't put all your trust into someone. 

Randomily, I spoke to a company called Invision Football Agency. A guy emailed me to ask if I need some help, so I said yes. He came back to me with a long email, read this.. 

After an exchange of emails didn't want to really get money, he just wants to help players succeed. His name is Khaled, and he was a player himself but had to retire early in his career due to a serious injury. He got this injury just before a call up to play for his country in World cup qualifiers and a contract with PSG.. sad to hear, but I guess that's the reality of football. Originally Khaled thought I was just living in Australia, but then I told him I'm living in Budapest and I have a EU passport, this is what he said: 

Nick,

I did not know you had an UK passport. This changes many things. You chances have increased by 500%. Because you have a UK passport, you can pretty much play with any league in Europe without restrictions. You are also in Hungary at the moment?. I don’t see that becoming a professional is a problem for you. I was under the impression you lived in Australia.

Yea, it is quite simple for you now. You can pretty much play with any club in Europe without any restrictions. I still recommend going with a smaller team and trying to get a professional contract. You should also look into the Netherlands. These are the countries I recommend you look

1.       Netherlands 2^nd division

2.       Swedish 2^nd division

3.       Belgium 2^nd division

4.       Portugal 2^nd or 3^rd division

He recommends getting a professional contract early, because it adds on my CV and increases my credibility. I could be on the team website and on many other sites, getting more exposure. Now that I have the agent, getting into these teams might be a whole lot easier. 

I talked breifly to a good player from Vasas who I know, when I met him whilst celebrating my birthday at a club on Friday. He told me that he spoke to the coach and asked why I didn't get in. The coach said he would of given me a contract, but since I didn't speak Hungarian, he didn't. This is why Hungarian football is not that great, in other countries they wouldn't put primary importance on whether or not you could speak the language, but rather the skill and potential the player has! 

So I've been training on my by myself this week. I went to a session with Hegyvidek the other day and it feels good to play when you have no worries about losing the ball and just having fun. Before I'd be too focused on trying to impress the coach. Just with the short session, I can feel that my intelligence has improved and I'm overall better than a few months ago. I've been running almost everyday about 3 – 5 km. Sometimes I'll sprint 400m and then jog 400m, and keep going like that. I've been constantly doing alot of pushups/situps all this month and I think I'm seeing the differences now visually on my body. So I feel good, no niggles or injuries, so hopefully Chris can make something happen now. I did 11.5 hours of football work this week, and I did 10 the week before. I'm not doing enough, compared to the time I have on my hands. So next week I will commit to 20 hours. 

I was rejected by Vasas. That's alright, it's ok. It's just part of life these failures, and you learn something new everytime. I can't speak Hungarian and I didn't show I was better than the bulk of their players. 

It annoyed me that I had to train just on my own this week. What I'm getting more annoyed about is that Jahan or Sandor didn't let me know what was going on with Vasas and trials until I asked! So it dawned on me, should I let these guys be in control of my destiny? I have to realize the fact that there more concerned about themselves, than just another player trying to make it. I mean I'm just a person they're doing a favour for on the side. They have their own dreams and ambitions they're working towards, so even though they are genuinely really nice people, understandibly I'm going to be low on their thinking priority lists. 

I've always been a guy who sets out, takes action and plans his next steps. I don't like waiting. So as those thoughts about where I'm heading crossed my mind (as they have all week), I began emailing various a-league clubs. Some respond, some don't. But it looks like I could possibly trial for 2-3 clubs and get a contract in the A-league NYL (national youth league). If I played for a club like Sydney FC, it wouuld be perfect. Close to family and old friends. The a-league would probably be a step down compared to Europe on the CV, but to be honest I don't really care. It would be great returning to Australia for the short-term to live. I could train everyday, get a part time job, while running my own business on the side, and visit my friends down in Canberra on weekends. I could share a flat with some students. I could imagine myself working hard, staying long after trainings, improve and return to Europe when I feel ready. Easier said then done though. 

There's also Chris the agent. He could manage all the football side of things and it would be great. Obviously, I don't have all the connections but Chris does. Like I said in a earlier post, connections are invaluable. Then I wouldn't have to do all the contacting and following up. 

I gotta give credit to my family through all this. I am extremely fortunate to have a family who trusts in me to do what I want to do and follow my dreams. If I didn't, everything would be a lot more difficult. I'm thankful it's not. My Mum begs me to be a flight attendant if football doesn't work out, so I can travel the world. I just want to be a pro already so she stops thinking these crazy ideas for my future! 

So I guess I have three options here.

1. Keep going with 20 yr old Jahans connections and help. 

2. Go with Chris the agent = connections everywhere = – expensive

3. Let my teenage self manage and secure a contract in the a-league. 

But while this is all going on, I have a trial with Ujpest FC starting Monday/Tuesday. And it's nearly August where squads are getting wrapped up. I guess it's gonna be another uncertain week. 

Next Week

10 hours of training this week. Ujpest next week.. hopefully. 

UPDATE: It's about 2am Monday night/Tuesday morning or whatever you wanna call it. Parent's suggested I should call Chris and talk to him about my future. I first told him about what's been going on here and how it's not the best idea to self-manage inexperienced. Chris is a nice Aussie bloke. After a 30 minute talk with him, he said we could possibly try Europe until the end of August or so. If there's nothing there, he told me he could arrange a trial with Sydney FC in the NYL for a few weeks.  He didn't say any specific countries or places I could go, he doesn't really know until he talks to my coaches and gets feedback from trials. Speaking of trials, he doesn't think trialing at random clubs is a good idea. He would want me to go to a club with a coach that is focused on development and not winning. But he's definently not aiming for me to be playing at a high level. It seems like he would want me at a level like the German 4th divison for example. Hmm.. not so ideal but since I haven't played for any professional clubs or play for the national team, that's reality. What I don't like is that Chris is not that ambitious. I mean he was talking about by the age I reach 23, 24, 25 that I be playing first team football for a 30 – 40,000 euro salary. That is definently not my ambition. I want to play in the premier league. I want to play in the champions league. But I guess I gotta got established first and it's a 2 year contract anyway. I'm in the developmental stage. I also learnt his fee is also just an advance, so once I get a contract he get's the 10%. And for some reason I thought that other people couldn't organise things if you had an agent. But not true, Jahan, or Janos, or whoever could organise things for me and he gets the fee. Suppose to be training with Ujpest tomorrow.. but haven't heard anything from Jahan or Sandor..