Duffy toughs it out after surviving early rejection
Sheffield United player overcame heartbreak of snub by Liverpool, he tells Molly Mcelwee
Hundreds of boys are dropped from Premier League academies every year. For some, lower-league opportunities might arise and they are able to pick themselves up; for others, the disappointment moves them away from pursuing a playing career at all.
Mark Duffy’s story could have been the latter, as he briefly decided to give up football. That is why his career trajectory back towards the top of the Championship with Sheffield United seemed a long shot even to him – and is far from a linear story.
“You never really think you’re going to get back at Championship level or whatever level,” says Duffy, of the crippling disappointment he felt when he was dropped by hometown club Liverpool’s academy after almost a decade of commitment.
“I’ll be honest, when Liverpool released me, I was heartbroken, I was there from the age of seven to 16, it was a huge part of my life. You’re still only a young kid, that rejection is devastating. It’s also humiliating to go to tell your friends at that age. I didn’t want that feeling again and I said I didn’t want to get back involved. And it’s only as time goes by that you start to enjoy it again.”
Duffy admits he struggled to find a “hunger and desire” to play for some time and, after a brief spell with Wrexham’s academy, even had a stint as a scaffolder.
“I only did it for six weeks, that was too hard. I’d be up at five in the morning, working until five at night, and then I’d be training at half-six with [non-league side] Prescot Cables until eight or nine o’clock. It was just too much for me, so I decided to go back to college to pursue coaching.”
He then worked as an apprentice sports development officer for the local council in his late teens, coaching at schools across a range of sports. “I was still playing part-time for nonleague teams, but [coaching] was something I really enjoyed as well.
“But when you get the opportunity to go back into football, it’s hard to turn that down, though the experience made me appreciate it even more, because I knew how hard I’d had to work to get there.”
Those coaching years did stay with the 33-year-old and influenced his decision to fit in studying for his coaching qualifications in the evenings this season. “I’m going to be doing the Uefa B [licence] in the coming months, so it’s definitely something I have an interest in after playing football.
“Coming up from the nonleague route, I can give [future players] advice and tell them if you are at a good club you’ve got to make sure you stay there because once it’s taken away from you it’s really difficult to get back in. You’ve got to work really hard at non-league level, it’s just about keeping that passion.”
And work he did. Duffy spent five years in non-league, before moving to League Two Morecambe in 2009. He has risen steadily, playing at Championship level for Scunthorpe United, Doncaster Rovers and Birmingham City, before going back down to League One on loan stints.
Signed by Sheffield United in 2016, he realises his rise to the Championship was not guaranteed nor common, and says few of his Liverpool contemporaries ever made it after being released.
“Many of my friends who I was there with, we all got released at a similar age. I think it was only two of us that got back into the game, and I think I’m the only one now playing. It’s a tough industry.”
Despite the hardship, he says spending his early 20s toiling away in semi-professional set-ups has given him an edge.
“There’s definitely value in moving up the system because it toughens you up, everything’s not given to you on a silver plate,” he explains. “I personally believe you have a little more hunger and desire. If you can play on bad pitches and do well in the bad facilities once you do start making that step up, it’s a lot easier.”
Sheffield United led the Championship after 12 games and are on a four-match winning streak, and visit eighth-placed Derby County today. The hope is that they will avoid the loss of momentum that took them from top of the table this time last season, to missing out on a play-off position, finishing 10th. Duffy says the squad are stronger than ever, this season.
“Things couldn’t be going better, but it’s early days and we know what we’ve got to keep our standards high,” he says. “I think last year when we had a few injuries, we lacked a little of the backup and this year we’ve got an unbelievably strong squad on the bench that could all easily go into the starting XI. So, I think it stands us in good stead.”
Duffy’s improbable rise could come full circle next season – at a Premier League-level side, playing against the boyhood club that almost pushed him to give up before his career had begun.