Joel Ward

Joel Ward

Football is a career with the potential for huge wealth and opportunity - but also an industry littered with shattered dreams and unfulfilledpotential.

Like all professions it is important to get the deal which is best for you, one which can provide security going forward.

But there is a real danger that concentrating on the off-field issues can ultimately mean a players fails to progress as he should do.

It is a danger for all youngsters coming through the system and trying to establish themselves as senior professionals across the country.

But one player who avoided that trap is Portsmouth youngster Joel Ward - who last season was voted the club's player of the season in his first full campaign at first team level.

Now highly regarded as a talent for the future, things were not quite so certain for the 21-year-old when he was fighting to establish himself at his home-town club where he has been since the age of nine.

And Ward remembers some sound advice he received as he negotiated his first
professional contract, words which have allowed him to become the key player he is today.

The versatile defender said: "When it came to the contract time, the best advice I had came from Fraser Reid, who is a sports lawyer at Couchmans."

"He made clear what to expect from the game, what to expect from being in this industry and made sure there would be no surprises going forward for me to discover."

"That helped me because I knew the process properly when it came to the discussions, and allowed me to take the good, clear advice that I needed."

"Ultimately I wanted to leave all the fine points to one side and concentrate purely on my football, and on improving my game."

"It's a difficult situation, but as a young player I'm not sure whether you actually need to have an agent. I much prefer to concentrate on working hard, establishing yourself as a player in the first team squad initially. Anything else can follow on from that."

"There is enough to worry about trying to prove yourself to the manager than have to worry about an agent and other outside issues."

When it comes to those surprises, Ward has perhaps experienced more than your average young player coming through the ranks as a result of the turmoil which engulfed Fratton Park over the past few years.

Relegation from the Premier League followed administration, and meant Ward played 46 times in his first season as a senior player, though the fragility of the squad at Pompey meant he was played in eight different positions in all.

He added: "The games came so thick and fast for us, and to have played in so many different positions was a great learning curve and great experience for me."

"Obviously I am still learning the game, but at Pompey I have already worked with seven different managers and I have been able to pick up different bits of advice from all of them."

"Like all players I want to play at the highest level possible, but I know that the only way I will achieve that is to be as dedicated and committed as I can be to give myself the best chance possible."

"But right now I am just enjoying everything about being a professional players."

"I have been at Portsmouth since I was nine, this is the club I grew up supporting, and to win four player of the year awards in my first season - well, you can't get much better than that."