From the FA Vase to the Bernabeu…
DEEMED too small to succeed by English clubs, an aspiring goalkeeper took matters into his own hands by writing to every club in Spain, then driving to 10 of them a day begging for a chance.
Tonight, Conor O’Keefe will experience the bright lights of the Bernabeu as Spanish thirdtier club Fuenlabrada attempt to reach the Copa del Rey last 16 for the first time by overturning a 2-0 deficit against Real Madrid.
While he will not actually get on the field – at the moment he is registered with Fuenlabrada’s B team – it will be a far cry from playing in the FA Vase with Loughborough University.
“You always see it in football where you get told one thing by agents and then get let down,” says O’Keefe, 22. “I thought I had to do the agents’ job if they weren’t doing anything for me.”
O’Keefe came through Macclesfield’s youth-training scheme as a 16-year-old, taking three A Levels alongside earning a professional contract.
But he soon found himself third choice before being sent on loan to lower-league sides. He then accepted an offer at Loughborough, studying international business and playing as first choice in the Midlands League, the ninth tier of English football.
But, thirsty for a return to the pro game and getting nowhere on British shores, O’Keefe decided it was time for a change. And switching his studies for a year to Getafe University, in the suburbs of Madrid, his Spanish dream was born.
His ‘homework’ included making a spreadsheet of every club within an hour’s drive of Madrid. Researching names of scouts, managers and presidents, he sent emails with his YouTube highlights from Loughborough.
He then took a tip from an entrepreneur and sent handwritten letters in Spanish, putting them in golden envelopes. But with pre-season looming and still no feedback,
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he hired a car with his dad and Spanish-speaking girlfriend and the intrepid trio drove to 10 clubs each day, requesting face-to-face meetings.
At Real Madrid, he says: “I couldn’t get through the gates.” And at Atletico, he had to leave his letter with security.
Success, however, came with Rayo Vallecano, Madrid’s third biggest club, where he spotted the goalkeeping coach and was soon regaling his story.
“He was impressed and said I could play with the B team who are in the Fourth Division,” said O’Keefe.
He spent five weeks there before the club signed a firstteam keeper and he fell down the pecking order. Yet O’Keefe did not have to wait long before Fuenlabrada, a club near Madrid, came calling. He hopes to land a bigger contract when the transfer window reopens.
“You see so many foreign lads in the UK,” says O’Keefe, who will watch the Galacticos from the stands tonight. “I thought, ‘If you’re going there, I’m coming here’. It’s all about being brave, chasing it and finding the opportunities.
“I’m 6ft but I’ve always been considered small for a goalkeeper and managers see it as a disadvantage. They’ve rated me highly in other attributes.
“But I always liked playing in goal. My brother was a striker so it made sense popping balls at me in the garden for hours.
“I had always been a fan of Spanish football and I knew that height and size were not the first things on the tick list there. One of my heroes as a kid was Iker Casillas – he is 5ft 11in and look how successful he has been.”
The only Englishman currently playing at a high level in Spain is Charlie L’Anson, with secondtier Granada. “I’d love to join the list,” said O’Keefe.
“It will be a great experience watching at the Bernabeu and something I never visualised at a windy Loughborough playing in the FA Vase last year. Now it’s Real Madrid in the Copa del Rey.”