ALL CHANGE...

I'm finally back but on a new platform and website. Head on over and enjoy the journey ahead...

www.talentedthinker.com

LIFE OF A FOOTBALLER...

For you football fans out there, no matter how much you think you know, you will never understand what fully goes on in a Footballers life. 

6 months ago I was entering the new season with a fresh mind and even more desire to be successful following our disappointing end to a what could of been a first year to remember at Oxford United. However, all that can change quickly. At the end of August this season I was taking a penalty against West Brom away in the League Cup and now I am playing for my home town Maidenhead United. Football never ceases to surprise me. 

Last season I played every single game for Oxford and this year has been a complete contrast. Things didn't work out as I planned and with that I went on a 3 month loan to Barnet. I enjoyed it at The Hive but again I had no consistency of consecutive games, I started to get frustrated. I have so much to give and yet no way of offering it. The good thing that did come out to my move to the Bees was that I was preferred more as a Center Midfielder rather than Right Back. In all honesty I haven't enjoyed playing Right Back since I left Crawley. Midfield is where I'm happiest and thankfully Barnet felt that too. 

So my loan was due to end on 31st January and Martin Allen had made it clear he wanted me to stay. My contract at Oxford ended by mutual consent on the 1st of February and as far as I was aware I was going to help Barnet try and win the Conference Title. I did want to stay at Oxford but things weren't meant to be, that's football and my next chapter was starting but where it would be was yet to be decided. 

About a week before all this happened aside from football I had joined up with a Network Marketing company called Organo Gold who specialise in a healthier coffee. Up until now I hadn't seen any light at the end of the tunnel when I thought about life after football but Organo Gold has since changed all that. davidhunt.myorganogold.com 

So back to football and I was waiting for Barnet to offer me a contract, as they had promised, but after a week of training with them without any injury insurance and no negotiations taking place I decided enough was enough and started to look elsewhere. If a deal had been offered at anytime during that week I would be a Barnet player right now.  However I do genuinely believe everything happens for a reason and so I decided to leave. 

It's very easy to fall out of love with football. It can really affect you in such a way that you get very depressed and upset. It was hard to take that this season was the complete opposite to the one before. Football can be so fickle yet it's part and parcel of the job and not only that, the rest of the social world can witness it too. I have friends or parents at my little ones school asking why I'm not in the Barnet squad, what happened at Oxford?  In a way it's embarrassing and in another way extremely upsetting. I sometimes want to tell everyone to go away and mind their own business but you can't. Or how about I go to their work, take them out of their seat and put someone else in it and let them watch this person do their job instead of them and at the same time let the world of Twitter and other social media apps tell the world what is happening. It's a cruel industry that has definitely made my skin tougher but at the same time I'm only human and feel the pain. 

After leaving Barnet I took a week off from football. I needed to refresh my mind and spend a bit of quality time with the family, You can't beat that feeling. I then received a phone call from a good friend Nicky Forster who is manager at Staines Town. He knew about my situation and asked if I wanted to come and train to keep fit, so I accepted. I have a lot of respect for Nicky from our time together at Brentford and it felt nice to be wanted by a team again. Up until now I hadn't received much interest at all. My agent was putting the feelers out there and likewise I did too but the answer we'd get back would be, we have all our criteria or we don't have anymore budget. I would have trained for any of these clubs for free!! But like I said everything happens for a reason. 

Whilst I had some spare time I decided to give my other business venture Organo Gold a bit of time to see what it was all about and surprisingly I fell in love with it. About five months ago I started my Level 2 coaching badge because I knew I had to get myself into gear regarding financial income if football ends.  I also recently started a Personal Training course with half of the Oxford team in another desperate attempt to get the ball rolling for the big jump. But after the first week of the course I knew it wasn't for me and decided to ask for a refund as I'd made a mistake. I took my level 2 coaching Assessment last week and up until a month ago I thought that would be the avenue I would go down.  However I started to get a gut feeling that I should pursue the Coffee business. 

I knew Network Marketing worked if you had a good product, the right timing and a strong work ethic and all these boxes were ticked. My close friend and ex teammate at Brentford, Richard Lee, approached me with it and after declining his last few business opportunities I knew this was for me. For the last 6 years we've been meeting at various coffee shops to try and come up with business ideas and every time I tell him I need to get something sorted for the future but I don't know what and finally it's slap bang in front of me without even realising. 

I was soon going to have a big decision to make. I trained with Staines but knew I wasn't going to play for them. Nicky was great, he let me know that there was a deal for me if I wanted it but didn't push it at all because of the respect we had for each other and I know he believes I should still be in the football league. I felt bad purely for him that I wasn't going to sign for them but you have to make these decisions in life. I trained with him on the Tuesday night and then the day after I got hold of the Maidenhead managers number, Drax, and asked if it was possible to train with The Magpies to keep my fitness up whilst I searched for a club. I live in Maidenhead which is why I messaged him. He was very helpful and welcomed me to come train with them on the Thursday night. 

I turned up to train and I could tell the manager didn't know much about me which was fine. I trained well and by the time the session was done Drax had me in the corner offering me a contract. I didn't expect this at all but at the same time felt a sense of happiness there. He asked me to at least take a registration form home with me and I gave him my word I'd call him in the morning to give an answer. 

Friday morning arrived and I hadn't yet had a chance to talk to my family about my predicament. There actually wasn't a lot to discuss. Why turn down this offer when it meant playing football in Center Midfield and actually enjoying it again, plus the stadium is a 15 min walk from my front door and it would mean I have all this spare time in the day to build my coffee business. My mind was made up so I went to call the manager and as I picked up my phone Dean Saunders  of Crawley was calling me. Now any normal person right now would be over the moon but for some reason I got a real negative feeling about it. It's always the way, nobody's interested and then they all come at once. 

Dean let me know his thoughts and told me I'd be starting that weekend against Swindon away and that he had 9 players out injured. I said to him I was open to the offer and I'd wait for a deal to be put across to me. In the meantime I called Drax at Maidenhead and explained the situation and he totally understood and wished me all the best. But something didn't feel right, the thought of full time at Crawley who were bottom of the league wasn't one that made me want to jump for joy. You have to understand I left Crawley after winning back to back promotions and finishing mid table in League 1. I helped make a lot of history there and didn't want to ruin that by getting relegated with them. 

Mr Saunders sent an offer through and it made my mind up for me straight away. I wasn't prepared to sign a rolling contract where I had to prove myself there again. What happens when his 9 injured players come back? Remember I can only play for one more club this season as per the FA rules. I couldn't take the risk of playing the next two games and then be a squad player at best for a month. I'd been through two thirds of this season all ready not really feeling wanted and I wasn't going to end it that way. Granted it's a risk because where does this put me for next season? I had chance to sign for League 1 club and I decide to sign for a Conference South one instead but that's the choice I made. I love football too much and I can't risk not playing for the rest of this season. When it comes to fitness I'll back myself the whole way but I can't trust other managers to think the same.

It felt good calling Drax back up to say when can I sign and I think he was slightly shocked I wasn't calling to wish him all the best but I'm happy. I'm gonna give it my all and take a risk but with the way football has treated me this season I'm willing to do that for my own happiness. I'm going to give my all for Maidenhead and at the same time dive into another opportunity outside of football that has for the first time shown me there is light at the end of the tunnel. 

I've been blessed during my career so far to have won 4 promotions but with all that I have never reaped the financial rewards others in leagues above have. I want to be successful in everything I do but at the same time truly believe with this business Opportunity I have a chance to change my life forever. I've been put through some of the toughest training programs ever and taken my body to its physical limits on more than one occasion so I know what hard work means. I'm willing to put my everything into succeeding - both on and off the pitch. 

Who knows where I will be playing this time next season, I know that I'm nowhere near even thinking about retirement yet as that winning flame is far from blown out and my fitness levels are still way up there. Where ever it will be it will happen for a reason and that reason is for me to succeed. 

If anyone is interested in more info on my #beanteam then please feel free to email me thecoffeebeanteam@gmail.com 

Hunty

www.healthycoffeestop.com

DAY AFTER...

NO PAIN NO GAIN...

RECOVERY...

Nice little pool recovery session with the boys today. 

R.I.C.E...

Playing a Championship side away from home in the FA Cup is hard enough, but to play it in the conditions we did last night was something I haven't experienced since I played at Chesham Moor with my close mates after school and even then I don't think the pitch was that bad. 

Unfortunately for us what could of been a rewarding win ended up being a 2-2 draw, which I'm sure many that were there would agree we had the better chances. Anyone paying close attention may have noticed myself and Dave Kitson at the final whistle walking straight to the dugout getting ready to prepare ourselves for extra time, only to realise the game was over! The fact that we've had so many games cancelled has had an affect on me knowing the difference between extra time and a replay. 

After the match in the dressing room a lot of the lads had bloody knees from the sand that they obviously covered the pitch with to help the drainage. When I looked down at my legs they had all the signs that I'd played in a typical FA Cup tie...

I arrived home around 12.30am and couldn't get to sleep until around 1.30am, which is kind of the norm for most footballers after an evening game with all the adrenaline still pumping. 

I woke up around 8.30 (that's a lie in) and then it's the dreaded climb out of bed to see what parts of my body are sore. With the pitch being like quick sand it was always inevitable that my calfs were going to be screaming. The stairs are my nemesis but are good for judging whether the rest of my day is going to be pain free or not. 

Breakfast was my normal NutriBullet smoothie. This machine is a godsend for me. Today's ingredients were...

Kale

Spinach

Lime

Ginger

Beetroot

Apple

Hemp powder

Mejool date

Porridge oats

Maple syrup

Almond nuts

Blueberries

Water

Sounds disgusting but tastes surprisingly pleasant and it's a great way to get all the goodness in my body after a strenuous game. After that I've spent most the day with my youngest daughter, sister and niece which at some point involved a coffee shop trip. If I was to just stay in bed all day or laze around the house I'd end up very stiff. My body needs loosening up so walks or a little exercise are vital. 

I have to admit, since I've been home at around 4pm I've hit a brick wall and struggled to move off the the sofa but that's the norm for me. 

As for now, I've got my feet up with the Man City game on ready for the weekend game ahead. 

FA CUP...

When they say anything can happen in the FA Cup they weren't wrong. To have three games called off and only be at the Third Round stage is definitely surprising. 

Tonight's game against Charlton Athletic at The Valley is finally on dispite many rumours that the pitch is flirting with the referee once again to make him get his loafers dirty and execute the good old ball bounce test one more time. It's been very frustrating but also I blessing in disguise to have a bit of a break, especially with the busy festive period jam packed with games. 

The trouble with evening games is you have a lot of time on your hands, which if was a normal day off could be used productively but in this case is pretty boring. 

So what do us footballers get up to?

A few years ago I played against Man Utd in the 5th Round at Old Trafford and I never really paid much attention to anything other than the match. I was too worried about making sure I didn't make a fool of myself on National tv and the fact it was Man Utd. But as I'm sat here now I wonder whether Rooney, Carrick or Chicharito were preparing with the same tense anticipation...I doubt it. 

Today has consisted of having a few extra minutes in bed (which I savor), a bit of FIFA 14 ultimate team on the Xbox, have a read of a few articles that The Boy Kitson recommended, and lastly but most importantly prepare food for breaky/snacks and even a meal for after the game. My colitis can't always handle the usual Dominos Pzzas for the coach journey home (even though they smell mouth watering). So I've prepared a Chicken and rice dish that is sat in fridge of the coach. 

Once all this is done it's then time to pick one of the Rugrats up from Preschool, feed her and then get ready to go and meet the team bus at a designated meet point which is usually a Holiday Inn not too far from a motorway junction. 

But I was wondering do people like Rooney prepare the same way? It would be great to have an insight into his life to see how he spends the long hours before a big Tuesday night match. What's his fighting fuel? Does he have the same every time? Does he play computer consoles or do the school run? If I was a football fan I'd love to know how they went about a match day. This is the reason why I'm writing now. I'm not a big name player and have only played a handful of games in the Championship at best, but the good thing about the FA Cup is that these two different lifestyles get opportunities to meet. That's why we love the FA Cup! 

Here's hoping for another good one. 

Fingers crossed, Hunty...