Keeping The Dream Alive

Young players seeking lifeline through showcase trial

- David McCarthy

More than 100 young Scottish footballers face being left in limbo this summer after Covid forced clubs to cut their cloth and release talented kids they couldn’t afford to keep.

Each of them is a young man with hopes and dreams. More than a stat.

Michael Cunningham is one of them. At 20, the striker will stop being a Dundee player at the end of the week. After that, who knows?

But the former Celtic youth product won’t stop believing and on Sunday will be one of 30 kids lacing up the boots at Raith’s Stark’s Park aiming to impress a watching audience of scouts, coaches, and managers who have been invited to a showcase trial, with a view to spotting and signing players who might have otherwise slipped off the radar.

The event has been set up by former Partick Thistle and Motherwell player Bradley Halsman, who fell out of the game at a young age before launching the hugely successful 121 coaching company, using pros to guide hundreds of kids across the country.

From that venture, Halsman and business partner Andy Robin founded the InMotion agency, concentrating on helping players like Cunningham find their feet in the game.

“We are not looking for anybody to sign anything with us because some of them will have agents,” Halsman said. “This match is purely to help the boys out because nobody else is really doing it.