Georges journey; a story of resilience and heart.

My name is Andreas and I am a football agent. This is my first time composing a post like this. It actually started as a caption for my social media, but as I began writing, I realized this is such a great story and I think people would enjoy to read it. So, I started writing...

It is a story of how I met my first client George, and our journey together so far. I hope that this story inspires not only footballers and aspiring football agents but also people in general. It highlights how qualities such as resilience, patience, hard work, discipline and perseverance, as well how surrounding yourself with the right people, can provide you with the best opportunity to make the most out of any situation.

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George and I met about 6 years ago while we were both on trial at Melbourne Victory. George was 16 and had flown down from Canberra for the opportunity to show Victory what he was capable of. I was quite a few years older than him at 24, and returning from Europe where I had been playing for the past six years. The commonality in our Greek heritage meant that we connected quite quickly, and in a relatively short time there, I began to take him under my wing. As a player, even at that age, you could see his quality - even though he was so young he did an admirable job in training against the likes of Archie Thompson, Kosta Barbarouses, Gui Finkler etc. His best qualities were his technique, passing ability between the lines, and confidence on the ball, which one could see quite clearly. These qualities are quite rare to find in tall and athletic central defenders, and even more so when they are left-footed.

After a few weeks we both, unfortunately, walked away without deals and lost touch. We then bumped into each other by chance a few years later but as opponents this time. It was in a pre-season friendly match, George was playing against my team (Heidelberg United) for the visiting Sydney Olympic. We were the NPL champions but were actually overcome by them in that game. It was an impressive performance by Olympic and especially by George, whom I didn’t even recognize until well after the game when he approached me and had to re-introduce himself. The tall, slender 16-year-old that I had met briefly at Victory had been replaced by a giant of a man. We sat down after the game for a coffee, caught up, exchanged Instagram accounts, and kept in touch from that point on.

"Playing in the Bundesliga is an incredible achievement for any player in their career and one that very few Australian footballers can claim"

It was not long after that encounter that George ended up signing for Schalke in the German top tier. What a move, and what a club! Within 9 months of signing for their reserve team, George was promoted to the first team and effectively went from a part-time player in the NPL to starting his first game in the Bundesliga, marking Mario Gomez and keeping a clean sheet. Playing in the Bundesliga is an incredible achievement for any player in their career and one that very few Australian footballers can claim. It is funny that in Australia he was overlooked, not only at Victory but also at Sydney FC, but in Germany, he was considered good enough to play at the highest level. The feedback I had gotten from Schalke at the time was that he was an immense talent but tactically needed some work as he seemed not to have a great foundation & understanding of positioning coming from Australia.

It is worth noting that Schalke is not running a charity, they are a very serious football club that doesn’t just hand out first-team appearances; you don’t play at that club unless you are a bloody good player. A few months later George had decided to move to Belgium with the promise of more first-team opportunities and game time, so he signed for SV Zulte Waregem in the Belgian top tier. Not long after arriving George contacted me to ask me for some help because things were not really working out due to ongoing issues with the club. Around that time, I was actually starting to enter the player management space and after a few conversations, George agreed to allow me to manage his career and I signed my first client. We were both excited about this journey, and what a journey it would be.

It started by speaking with his club at the time in Belgium, they made it quite clear that George would have limited opportunities there that season, so they gave me the green light to arrange for him to go on loan to a club in Australia, so he can try to get some much-needed game time. It was mid-season around Christmas time, and George was mentally burnt out.

At this point he had been away from his family and partner Amanda for months, he also felt unappreciated by the club and his efforts to break back into the squad seemed futile. This was where I really noticed the responsibility that being an agent carries; George was worryingly in quite a dark place mentally, and he was very close to giving up his dream of being a professional footballer. George's father Chris called me one day very concerned about Georges’ mental health, so we spoke with the club and managed to arrange for George to go home a little early for Christmas. George was buzzing to be back with his family and his partner. Spending Christmas with them was very important for him, especially at that time. There was also a very special moment that occurred during those days which I will touch on a little bit later on in the story.

"We quickly arranged for him to go there and almost immediately after seeing him they wanted to proceed with the loan deal, boom! George’s career was back on track"

The trip home to Australia actually tied in well with our plans to find him a club in the A-League to go on loan to. This is because a lot of the clubs that we spoke with were understandably quite worried about his lack of first-team game time in Europe and wanted to see him first before making a decision. It was around that time that Western United had some unfortunate injuries and player departures overseas, so a position opened up on the left side of the defence. We quickly arranged for him to go there and almost immediately after seeing him they wanted to proceed with the loan deal, boom! George’s career was back on track and with the Tokyo 2020 Olympics coming up he was perfectly placed to earn a place back in the Australian U23 Olympic team. Perfect.

We finalized the contract with Western United and the paperwork from the club side in Belgium was all but completed. The only thing that really remained for the loan to be finalized was the routine medical examination that was arranged for the following morning and this is where the journey and story of resilience really begins.

There were some irregularities with his heart scans, at the time I was not aware that George had any issue with his heart. This issue was something that he was aware of, but never even thought to mention as it had never come up as an issue in the past. He had been medically cleared by his club in Belgium six months prior and by Schalke the year before that. It was just an inconvenience throughout his whole life that required he gets checked annually - so he never thought of it as an issue or a risk factor. He was also training and playing regularly leading up to that test and was in the best condition of his career physically, so we assumed that he would eventually be cleared once he saw an actual cardiologist. Western United then arranged for him to see a specialist, and in that meeting, George was hit with some devastating news.

"The cardiologist recommended that he undertakes a surgical procedure immediately and may never be able to play football again"

His heart had apparently started showing concerning signs that would have possibly developed within the last six months. The cardiologist recommended that he undertakes a surgical procedure immediately and may never be able to play football again. As you can imagine this was an utterly devastating moment for George, running through his mind, of course, was that the opportunity to sign for Western United was gone, his opportunity to play in the Olympics gone, but also, the consequences go beyond football, how else would his life potentially change? Would he be able to live an active healthy life moving forward? How will his livelihood be affected? What will he do for work if he can’t play football?

A lot was running through Georges mind during this time. I was uniquely positioned as one of the very few people who truly understood what he was going through. During my first year as a professional footballer at 18 years old playing for Portsmouth, I also had heart surgery (twice actually). I had the procedure, and fortunately, it was successful so I continued playing at a professional and semi-professional level for the next 11 years until I decided to retire early from the game. Now, here I am in my first year working as a football agent and my first client was going to have heart surgery as well. Life can be funny sometimes. Enough about me, back to George's story.

After taking a couple of days to come to terms with the devastating news, we had a chat and we decided to shift our mindset from focusing on the problem to now focusing on the solution. We arranged for George to see four separate leading cardiologists, particularly with experience working with athletes across Melbourne, Sydney & Canberra. They all confirmed that George did indeed require a surgical procedure but there were several different options that were offered - all with different pros & cons. There was one option that stood out in particular, a minimally invasive procedure with Dr Paul Jansz in Sydney that would allow George to return to full training within a very short period of time. It was now up to George and his family to decide on how to proceed.

"we made the decision to shift our mindset from focusing on the problem to now focusing on the solution"

Around the time that George was deciding which option to proceed with, he called me sounding very excited to give me some other big news. His long-term partner Amanda had come back from the doctor that afternoon and found out she was pregnant and expecting in September (note the special moment I mentioned earlier during Christmas wink, wink). He actually called me before he even called his parents, as he was unsure how to break it to them but felt that he needed to tell someone. It was fantastic news for me to hear, they make a great couple and having a baby together is a blessing. The family would find out sooner or later regardless, but I think our chat gave George the little bit of extra confidence to tell his family later that day.

It is worth mentioning also that during this period, George's club in Belgium allowed him to remain in Australia to seek medical opinions and he was placed on medical leave but was still technically a contracted player with 1.5 years left on his deal. So George, knowing that he will have a family to support in the future, made the big decision to move forward with the procedure that we had identified as the best course of action with Dr Jansz, so that he could recover quickly and safely return to work (football) in the shortest amount of time.

I would also like to mention that Western United was very helpful and understanding during the entire period, many of the staff and even the CEO were all touching base with George and myself regularly to see how he was going. Not only that, the club actually reimbursed George for the costs he incurred during the trial period. This gesture and humanity are things that unfortunately you don’t see very often in football, and the club should be praised.

The procedure was a success and George made a quick recovery. His club in Belgium was understandably requesting for him to return to pre-season training but with the pandemic wreaking havoc in Europe at the time, we decided to keep him in Australia for the reasons mentioned above. Canberra was much safer at the time with little to no COVID-19 cases at all, so we started speaking with the club about terminating his contract to allow him to stay in Australia and find a club in the A-League. After quite a lengthy negotiation process, the club in Belgium reluctantly agreed to terms and we parted ways. George was now free to start looking for a club in Australia. I have to say a big thank you to Stijn Boeykens & Sebastien Stassin from the footballers’ union of Belgium for their outstanding support during this period.

"At a follow-up consultation, the surgeon told George that up to now he had been operating at three-quarters of his physical potential & with the shackles now off George was very keen to get back into training to see how far he could push himself"

This is where the long and lonely road for George to recover his fitness began. At a follow-up consultation, the surgeon told George that up to now he had been operating at three-quarters of his physical potential & with the shackles now off George was very keen to get back into training to see how far he could push himself. With a new lease on life, George and I sought experts to guide his recovery process and fitness program. At times, George was having personal training sessions 4-5x per week with ex A-League player/fitness guru Pedj Bojic and training alone another 4-5 times per week.

The idea was to physically prepare him so that he can complete the long and arduous Australian pre-season injury-free after a lengthy period of time away from team training. This went on for months and months, while at the same time, I was in the background together with my partners banging down the doors of clubs to get George an opportunity - somewhere that he can prove himself and show what he is capable of.

On the 25th of September George and Amanda welcomed baby Marcus into the world. Less than four weeks later, the opportunity that we had all been working so hard for eventually came when Adelaide understandably invited George for a trial so they could see where he was at after a long time away from football, over ten months at this point.

Coincidentally, a few hours after we got the call from Adelaide, the Wanderers also asked to see him. The trial there would start a week before he had to be in Adelaide so luckily, he had time to also go there for a week prior. It is worth mentioning that after an understandably shaky start, George did quite well there towards the end of the week and the club requested he stays for another week. We did, however, already give our word to Adelaide that we would be there for that week, so his time at the Wanderers came to an end and we thanked them for the opportunity.

After approximately ten days at Adelaide, the club made an offer for a two-year contract. George was over the moon, after everything he went through - all that hard work, all that sacrifice, all that stress, and all of his worries about how will he support his family - came to an end, and those feelings were replaced by ambition. I must also commend the club for a very open and professionally conducted negotiation process and for treating George extremely well during the trial period.

What a story it has been so far and how incredible would it be if George returns to the Olyroos squad and achieves selection for the Olympic team next year. He still has the chance to become an Olympian given that the Tokyo Olympics have been pushed back to 2021 because of the pandemic.

George has since signed the contract and is currently in the process of relocating Amanda and baby Marcus to Adelaide. He has also started studying a Bachelor's degree in Psychology which he will complete online over the next three years. One day soon he will definitely be able to add more value to the people that he will work with, especially after all of the experiences and challenges that he has faced and overcome.

I wish you all the success in the world mate, enjoy and good luck for the season!

Special mention and big thank you to Peter Paleologos & Evan Kostopoulos for their hard work & Craig Moore for his support throughout. 

Follow my journey on Instagram and Linkedin @AndreasGovas

Follow Georges journey on Instagram here @GeorgeTimotheou