Weekly Review 25th – 31st July 2011 “Signed Contract with Agent”

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.

Randomly, 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 briefly 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.

2013 Update: Two years later, my contract with agent Chris Tanner is expiring soon. Signing a contract with him was probably the worst football decision I’ve ever made.