Turning My Back On the Premier League by Lee Price

Author:Lee Price [Lee Price]
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 9781905825950
Publisher: Blink Publishing
Published: 2014-01-15T00:00:00+00:00

It’s a far cry from the multi-million pound swoops made in the big leagues – but it is more entertaining than watching a suited bloke stood in a non-descript car park for hours on end.

I am sympathetic, though, when the Daggers website announces the departure of 23-year-old winger Anthony Edgar by ‘mutual consent’. Born in Newham, East London, Edgar was a product of the West Ham youth academy, like his cousin Jermain Defoe. But, while his internationally capped relative completed a £6m move to Major League Soccer outfit Toronto during January – after reportedly being sweet-talked into the £90,000-a-week deal by hip-hop mega-star Drake – Edgar is tossed onto the football scrapheap.

Having joined the Daggers on non-contract terms in November, Edgar was already in something of a last-chance saloon – making seven league appearances without being paid, in a bid to resurrect his career, which had stalled during a seven-month period without a club – going a full year since making a professional appearance.

When he joined the club, Edgar had spoken of a desire to make his family proud, and I couldn’t fault his commitment whenever he played. On hearing of his release, I wondered what would happen to Edgar – how he would pick himself up from his latest disappointment, whether another knock-back would make him re-evaluate his prospects of making it professionally in football and, if so, what alternatives he’d pursue. For me, having never been a footballer – or even coming close to being one – I can’t empathise with Edgar directly, but I can imagine the crushing disappointment he must have felt when told he hadn’t made the grade, again.

It’s the reality of life at this level – he’d spent the best part of two months working for free, desperately hoping to prove his worth, like a work experience student anxiously angling for a permanent role, only to be rejected.

His Twitter page, perhaps unsurprisingly, is littered with the winger sharing philosophical and motivational posts from across the social network, many centring on hard-work and the strengthening nature of struggles. It seems a positive way to take soul-destroying news.

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