Miguel Marado - 28 year-old champion

[Miguel Marado]

I remember going to the trial, just next to my home, thinking how stupid it was for a 16 year-old to try out for football first division team Braga, from Portugal. I was just too damn old to start. "Whatever", I thought to my self, "at least it's the best use I'll ever give these boots".

I played fairly well. I'm always a little hard on myself, and just walked off the pitch, not talking, as a dumb midfilder (like myself) talked his head off, enumerating little football tales that no one would be interested in.

Then, one of the Braga guys stopped talking to the (rather prolific) strikers and ran towards us. I thought he was after the boring guy, so I walked on. To my surprise he told the guy to shut up and shouted for me...

The next week I was training with people I used to read about, dispite the fact I was only going to be 17 next month. Less than 1000 a week was not too shabby...

But I didn't succeed at first. I concentrated too hard on training and didn't think much of the coach, as he played me too often at such a young age.

I lasted a season, but didn't play much. Marítimo was next, and just the first of many second league clubs. I wasn't the classy number 10 I wanted to be, and still thought I shouldn't have that amount of pressure on me, so I wasn't too hard on myself when I transfered to third division side Canelas Gaia.

There I was KING! We got promoted my first season, with me as the team captain and assisting for goal almost every match. Next year, the second league was a bit much and my colleagues wanted more experience for that last pass... I just thougth about how much fun I would be having if I was at the third division again. I wanted to transfer there, but no one seemed interested...

I ended up at Alverca, another division 2 side... Then I went to Naval. No success. Then Louletano. They actually improved my salary and I wasn't living too badly at all, so I enjoyed my game that much more.

Then... We got promoted. Most people must think "What is this guy complaining about? He's at the top!". I knew this promotion would end with a mid-season transfer, as it did. I tried to negotiate a good salary, but nothing. Then I tried to keep earning as much as I did, but nobody would take me on. I lowered my wages and expectations as I tranfered to Naval again. As least I was back in the second league, where I might play, and play well.

In no time I was the best in my team. The mates probably still remembered me and knew I'd gotten promoted last season, so they passed me the ball. I was happy!

Another season comes along and I start to think that, at 23, my opportunity for stardom had passed me by, as well as of being champion, since my best league positions hab been third place promotions. That's when it all changes and Emmen, from the Dutch first division sign me on, on a big transfer. Then Auxerre came along and brought the first chance to win a league, and a major one none the less. No luck, though!

Osasuna, the next season, needed a experienced midfielder to reach for the number one spot at Spanish La Liga, right next to my home country, Portugal. But still, those third places that had earned my first promotions on the third and second portuguese leagues lingered as my best achievements in the final listing.

Hartlepool came along and gave me a big salary. Convinced that it would be better to reach for a nice retirement fund, I went for it and ended the season mid-table, as predicted.

But the Premiership was such a temptation. I knew that I was stepping up my game and could be the captain my team needed, so I believed in myself for the first time in a long time, since I had stepped upon a sandy pitch in a Braga try out match...

We went for it. I gained the trust of my mates and we struggled all season to keep the first place safe and sound.

There it was, the last game of the season... We hadn't seen the tabloids or looked at the table for a long time; math was not our subject, football was! But we just had to know if we, at least, had the chance to be champions if we won.

Guess what: math became our second subject, since it dictated we were champions already, and played a good game just to celebrate our superiority!

I'm 28, going on 29. Hartlepool win the Premiership! Who would have guessed?

What's next? I'm just about to find out...

Miguel Marado

[Miguel Marado]

In my last (and very recent) post I didn't mention my playing style or abilities, but this season that came into play big time.

I remained with Hartlepool, becaused I set my mind on being on the same club for a while, maybe until the end of my career. The beginning of the season was fine, but soon that was shattered. The champions would lose and tie as many as they maneged to win, falling behind the first spots. We were 11th and were 10 points behind the leader...

Throughout my career, I found that it is ingrate to be a "last pass" man, since often the colleagues won't score, no matter how good the pass. I found that to be particularly frustrating when everything seemed to be falling apart.

I decided, then and there, to take my game a step further, by risking shots at goal frequently. I rarely shot at goal before. I would pass even at 8 yards, if I had the chance.

At first, bad performances on the pitch piled up, being followed by a short time healing a injury. After that, they started pouring in!

Besides assisting very often, I managed to score and the team started to climb the table. Middlesborough leaded, closely followed by ManU. We were third.

Then we played ManU home. A win!

We kept winning, and I kept scoring decisive goals, when those pesky final passes woudn't cut it.

Soon we played Middlesborough and also won. They fell apart when away from the first place, glancing at us 8 points above in the end, dispite a loss near the end of the season.

For me, it was beautiful: I scored 23 goals in 32 matches (I had scored only 39 in the remaining 13 - with more than 300 games played - seasons in my career...) and assisted 49 times. Besides that, I got a respectable figure of 6 Man of the Match nominations. Those pleased the girlfriend!

Well, this is way too much for one day... Sorry for the long dissertations!

UPDATE: Spoke too soon! I was, in 2015, for the first time in this career, at almost 30, named the World Player of the Year! Then, I lost my will to finish at Hartlepool and tranfered to AC Milan for 18Mil... Awesome!

Miguel Marado