AIDEN O’BRIEN’S PROFILE on social media says it all.
‘Athlete – Free Agent.’
It’s a situation he has never found himself in since turning professional with Millwall almost 15 years ago.
He at least had the knowledge that this moment was coming after Paul Hurst, his manager at Shrewsbury Town last season, came to him in early April.
“It was truthful and to the point, exactly what you need,” O’Brien says. “The budget was getting cut, there was going to be a full revamp and I wasn’t part of it. No hard feelings. We shook hands and that was it.”
O’Brien earned the last of his five senior Republic of Ireland caps in 2019.
There was one goal against Poland a year previously.
Now he’s 30 and spending a second week on one of the Professional Footballers’ Association (PFA) camps for out-of-contract players.
The programme will cover pre-season for those who need it and O’Brien finds himself at a stage where it’s invaluable.
“I would be lying if I said that it wasn’t daunting,” he says.
“Everyone puts a brave face on in football and as much as you say you don’t worry, it’s always there. I feel as if I have years and years of football left in me.
“But football is a business game, it moves fast and I understand that. All you can do is be the person you are and focus on being kind to those around you. I want to be the smiley one to brighten up the room but of course it’s hard.”
O’Brien knows all about hard.
He grew up on The Harvist Estate in north London, a mix of high and low rise council flats where knife crime and gang culture was a fact of life.
His grandparents were from Dublin and Carrick-on-Suir.
Arsenal’s Emirates Stadium is visible from the small concrete pitch in the middle of the estate – but they are very different worlds.
“I’ve always had respect for money because there were times when I had none,” O’Brien says.
He emerged as a teenager through Millwall’s academy in 2009 and left 11 years later. There were a couple of seasons in League One and four in the Championship.
“It is your job and it is important to think of it that way because you earn a lot of money in this game compared to the average person, everyone knows that,” O’Brien says.
“So you have to respect it. It’s not about being all glam, you have to be smart and you need the right people guiding you to make the right decisions for your family.”
For O’Brien, that meant buying a property and ensuring he had a home to call his own. There have been successful investments and savings that provide comfort. “I’m not in a vulnerable position. I’ve been given a bit more freedom because of that. My value for the money I’ve earned is sky high so once I earned it I didn’t want to let it go. I’m hopefully in a position now to give my family peace of mind but I also want to make them proud.”
His two-and-a-half-year-old son Mariano is at the stage where he is taking an interest in football and likes to kick the ball with his father for fun.
“I want to get back playing like I was at Millwall so I can get a club. So the years I have left in me to play he can see me. I want to get a club because I don’t want to disappoint my son.”
Leaving Millwall was a struggle.
“I wouldn’t say my career has been a car crash since then but it’s not what I expected,” O’Brien says.
Two years at Sunderland was followed by a trickle to the likes of Portsmouth, Shrewbury and loan spells at Gillingham and Sutton United.
In the couple of years prior to the move to England’s north east O’Brien became an Ireland international and also scored on his debut against Poland. He’s said it before and said it again but he believes both of grandparents were watching down on that moment.
This week he finds himself among 25 to 30 other fellow professionals. Former Dundalk midfielder Greg Sloggett was in his group at the start of July but the midfielder has since found a move to Hartlepool United in the National League, the fifth tier of English football below League Two.
As well as double sessions and analysis sessions there is also the necessary support for players’ mental health. The PFA Ireland had run similar camps for its members over the last number of years but this is on a different scale given the numbers involved.
Every spot has been filled on the camp over the course of 10 weeks.
If someone gets a club there will be another waiting to take their place.
“It’s scary, but you just have to be patient and hope that the right opportunity will fall for you. You have to be a good person and character in the dressing room.
“I want to help bring on young players but I also know I can get back to the player I was at Millwall. I’ve got all my old clips back from the club to watch to look at how I was performing, what I was doing well and I feel it’s helped me. At least I know I’ll be ready when the chance comes.”
Like all good strikers.
