Source: TheGuardian
MK Dons’ George Williams: how university saved my football career
The defender thought his dream was over when he was released by MK Dons as an 18-year-old, but it gave him the chance to experience student life instead before he came full circle and ended up back at his boyhood clubGeorge Williams can recall the scene with perfect clarity. It is 2011, the MK Dons defender is 18 years old and he is wandering, floating, from the club’s stadium, struggling to suppress the lump in his throat. It is an out-of-body experience. He makes it to the car, phones his dad and wells up. The dream is over.Except, as Williams now appreciates, it was only just beginning. Footballers are united in the devastation and loss that follows a release at that age; being denied a first professional contract after all of the effort and sacrifice. But what Williams did next sets him apart. Related: Next Generation 2017: 60 of the best young talents in world football If I could go back and get a professional contract at 18, I wouldn’t. University was the best four years of my life Related: Despite what football clubs say, the support for rejected boys is not there | David Conn Continue reading......read full article
