Matt Holland has hailed Create Your Legacy after spending a day telling youngsters to have ‘no regrets’ in their careers whether in football or something else.
The former Ipswich Town and Charlton Athletic star, who was capped by the Republic of Ireland on 49 occasions, was a guest speaker at last week’s Southern event held at Reading’s Madejski Stadium.
“It’s a fantastic event, when I was a young player coming through the ranks at West Ham something like this wasn’t around.”
“It’s very important because there are players here that will go on to have a career, but there’s a lot who will fall by the wayside.”
“There’s so many exhibitors here that can help players whether they stay in football or not and have a positive impact on their futures.”
“My dream was to be a professional footballer and I was fortunate enough to live that dream but you do have to think about what you’re going to do after football whether you’re 18 or 35 years-old.”
Known as a whole-hearted box to box midfielder in the same mould as his hero Bryan Robson, Holland went on to tell the 500 plus youngsters in attendance, that the key to success in any walk of life revolves around commitment.
“Have the right attitude and be the best you can possibly be every single day in training or whatever else you do.”
“Have no regrets – be on time to work and put 100 per cent into everything you do. There’s no point later in life thinking back about something you could’ve done better that might have made a difference.”
Matt Holland with Charlton Athletic Apprentices
