A Boy's Journey To Football Stardom

I am going to rip off MrJK’s idea with this story but only going to do it following one player. I know some have tried to start and had a lack of interest but I’m hoping I can generate enough interest to keep this going alongside my Kinky Comeback story. I will be doing some updates in first person and some in third person, providing updates monthly on his career or any major happenings.

I will be running the game using the English leagues (Premier League to Blue Square N/S), Scottish Leagues (SPL to Division 3), Italian Serie A and B and the top 2 leagues in Spain. I will be assigning my player with a current ability (CA) of 85 and a potential ability (PA) of -10, mainly because I want training and the Club’s he plays for to have a major impact on his career and for it not to be guaranteed that he becomes a world beater, but of course the potential is there.

Now onto the player’s information, his name will be Anthony Calibri. He is English and from Manchester but with Italian grandparents so could play for either internationally. At the start of the story he will be 16 but will turn 17 on the 6th November 2012. Anthony will be 5 ft 11 and weigh around 10 ½ stone, but I would expect him to gain weight and maybe even height (if possible) as he gets older. On another personal note, he will have Manchester City assigned a favourite Club and Manchester United as a hated Club, for obvious reasons.

Finally, and most importantly, Anthony’s football skills. Anthony will be a central midfielder mainly but with the ability to move to the left hand side of midfield or play an attacking midfield role. He will be left footed but with decent ability to use his right foot. I will be assigning him 6 top attributes and the rest will be randomly generated. His main attributes will be passing, first touch, composure, creativity, pace and stamina.

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I think that is all the information needed for you to get to know Anthony Calibri, I’m sure you will learn much more about him as the story unfolds, so lets get to it and let his journey into the world of professional football begin.

Most people are so happy when they leave school at 16, they know where they want to go, what they want to do and how to achieve it, but me, I’m stuck. I only have one dream, to play football. School was amazing to me though, I did well in all my exams and everyone says I have so much potential to go and do anything I wanted, especially in sports related subjects but I only see myself on a football pitch on a Saturday afternoon.

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My vision for myself isn’t just a random dream, I have worked hard at my football skills for years, playing for schools, teams or just in the park, its all I’ve wanted to do for so long. I’ve managed to play for Manchester Boy’s all the way up until I left school, commanding midfield’s and creating chance after chance, so I know my dream is something I can achieve, I just need that break.

I’ve been scouted plenty of times and had trials for a couple of Club’s but they have never worked out but my dad has supported me and told me never to give up. So here I am, waiting for an interview with an agent who says he has seen me play and I still have a chance. I hope so.

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I want this so badly and will do anything to get there, to play for Stockport, for Bury, for Oldham, and the main aim, for Manchester City. And then there is that really big dream, to pull on an England shirt in a World Cup, Russia 2020 is surely not out of my reach if I get my head down and work hard.

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So there is my dream, to play professional football, to wear the number 10 shirt at the Etihad Stadium and to represent England in a World Cup.

After a long day, I have an agent! He asked me loads of questions, wanted to know my plans and if I was willing to travel and he agreed to sign me. This hopefully is the start of my career, it is definitely the biggest step I’ve taken yet and I will not be giving up.

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Mr Lawrence Cornwell said he will be sending my profile out to a number of Club’s and other contacts he has in the game and hopefully the call will come for me to go on trial or be signed by a Club. Surely someone will take a chance, I’m 16 and have a bright future ahead of me, I just need to find a team and a manager willing to take a chance.

He said my first chance could come low down in the leagues and potentially not in the North West area, so would I be willing to travel or move. My dad wasn’t too keen, he thinks I am too young to move on my own but after a quick chat we agreed that if it was for my career he’d help me out and I could go. He has been so supportive through-out my childhood and I can’t wait to see him in the stands for my first game, wherever it will be. For now, I can do nothing but sit and wait, my phone is definitely not leaving my side.

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A couple of weeks and had passed and all I’d had was a couple of calls from my agent saying he’d not heard much but he would persevere for me. My mind-set had changed a little, maybe I wasn’t good enough and I best enrol at college pretty quickly so I could sort my future out.

To be honest, deep down I was gutted, actually devastated. I had always thought this would be my chance the phone would be ringing constantly with offers and I’d have to choose, I never considered that I’d have to just take the first thing that came my way, if anything did actually come my way. As always my dad was there to support me, telling me it will happen, I’ve got a gift and it’s clear to see but surely even he was losing faith.

And then the phone rang, it was Mr Cornwell, he sounded ecstatic, his voice was a bit more high pitched and I knew this was surely good news. He began with a few simple words, “pack your bags”, that was all I needed to hear, it meant there was an offer. He continued, “I have received a few offers for you and its upto you which one you want to accept, I have MK Dons, Doncaster and Leyton Orient all after you right now!” I was delighted, my dad could see from my face it was good news. I said I’d call back later with my decision and let him know.

This was it, time for me to make my first step, I was jumping around the house, my dad couldn’t understand a word I said but this was it, my opportunity. Now to decide which Club I wanted to go to.