I met Pamela a few years ago when she was teaching at The Edge, and I was the soccer coach; two distinctly different personalities that just seemed to gel. When I retired at the beginning of the summer, Pamela got in touch and asked if I would be interested in writing about my life’s adventures for her blog. After the shock wore off, I thought, Why not! I hope you enjoy the read and have a giggle!

Growing up as a teenager just outside London during the seventies definitely helped shape what I wanted to do with my life, which was not to succumb to the norm. I was a bright kid, quite quick with thoughts and ideas, but atrocious at studying; I just didn’t have the concentration levels required (I am sure that these days I would have been given a label!). I excelled at sports, but by the age of 16, I was told by my teachers that continued study at university was probably not a good idea.

At the end of my final year at school, I went trekking around Europe on a Eurorail ticket with five friends, and this is what really decided my future. Despite the misgivings of my teachers, I had been offered a place at university to study economics, but travel really opened up my eyes. What an adventure, different places, interesting people. I wanted more!

Much to my parents’ disappointment, I turned down university and told them that I would find a job in London until I was 21, and then I would backpack around the world. Lofty ambitions for a teenager with just a few pounds in his pocket, but I had a target, plenty of determination and a desire to be different. I found a job with a private bank, the Queen’s bankers no less, where I had to be clean-shaven for work every morning, wear a three-piece suit, with the jacket to be taken off at work and replaced with a black frock coat. Very Victorian, and very much against my adventurous and somewhat rebellious principles, but it was a great place to learn the basics of the industry.

My adventures started when I flew to L.A. as a very young-looking 21-year-old and spent a few weeks there, then a month in Hawaii, until I arrived in Sydney, Australia, in late November with very few dollars in my pocket. I arrived on a Saturday, spent the Sunday scouring the classifieds in the paper for a job I could start ASAP. I had a few interviews on Monday, and —wham—I landed one. I started on Tuesday morning in a department store as a—drum roll — Santa Claus. The youngest Santa you have ever met, two pillows strapped to my waist, a hot outfit with an itchy beard, and all in a store with no air conditioning in the height of summer. Surely it could only get better?

Wrong! I had just sat down in Santa’s Chair when a very excited 3 or 4-year-old came running up, yelling, “Santa!” She jumped on my lap and, as she smiled for the camera, she promptly wet herself in excitement. Not a good start, but this was followed by my second client being a 2-month-old baby being handed to me; I had no idea how to hold it properly, which may have contributed to why it then threw up all over me. I was two for two; I needed to find another job quickly!

The next couple of months were spent in Sydney, working as a waiter, dishwasher, warehouseman, and landscaper, often holding two jobs at a time before heading off to hitchhike up to Cairns in northern Queensland, some 2,500 km away.  I eventually spent another six months in Australia, a mix of working and relaxing, before flying to Africa, visiting Zimbabwe and Kenya, getting shot at twice and then hotfooting it to the Greek Islands to spend a month before arriving back in London, penniless once again, but many lessons learned during my enrolment at the University of Life. I grew up quickly on that trip!

A restless soul, I spent the next few years struggling to fit back into office life, first at the U.K. Treasury and then back at the Queen’s bank, but all the while learning about the financial world. I bought my first apartment, found some Australian girls to be my badly needed renters to help pay the double-figure percentage mortgage, before I finally caved, sold everything and headed back to Australia for six months with one of my renters, in search of more adventure and the much-needed answer of ‘what is the meaning of life?’(Douglas Adams fans may yell “42” here.)

Apart from an enjoyable spell as a tennis coach on the Gold Coast, it was an uneventful time, culminating in my return to London six months later, aged 26, absolutely broke, with no job and few prospects. However, determination and stubbornness can be good traits, so through a temp agency, I landed a job at a small boutique Investment Management Company, initially for a period of a week, but this was Thatcher’s Britain. With the privatization of many industries, there were plenty of opportunities for those prepared to work hard in the investment industry.

Renting a room in a house in one of London’s less salubrious suburbs meant that I was happy to be working 12-hour days; full-time employment and a rise up the structure soon followed. The booming Market and the unique markets in which we dealt meant I soon became a highly sought-after back-office specialist in emerging markets and new issues. Fate, luck at being in the right place at the right time, and the willingness to work hard opened up management opportunities, and I was soon climbing the corporate rungs of junior management.

It was during this time that I met my wife, Shirley. This may sound silly, but it was an instant attraction. I knew that within a week of meeting her, she was the one for me. We moved in together within weeks, bought a house within six months, and were married within the year. She is the Ying to my Yang, we complement each other so well, and thirty-seven years later, we are still enjoying each other’s company!

As we moved into our early thirties, we had two sons, and I started working for a large Swiss bank in their Asset Management division. We had moved outside of London by now, so a ninety-minute commute each way, combined with long days in the office, saw the beginning of my disgruntlement with corporate life. Conversely, my career was really taking off, I had moved into senior management, been made a director of the Bank’s nominee company, and the money was very good, but something wasn’t quite right.

I was commuting to Zurich on a project, leaving home on a Sunday night, returning Friday evening, and missing my family. To make matters worse, the bank had invested in a company that had attracted the attention of some animal rights activists, and as a director of the nominee company, I became the subject of their ire. All our posts had to be redirected via the local police station as we were under the threat of parcel bombs and other vile threats. The only light side of this time was that our cat kept setting off the newly installed burglar alarm!

It was a stressful time, so one evening when I was in Zurich, I received a call from Royal Trust (part of RBC) asking if I would be interested in joining their London office. It didn’t take much persuasion, especially as the plan was for a two-year stint in Canada once I had settled in. To celebrate this, we decided to go on holiday to visit this wonderful land, and it was here that everything changed!

We enjoyed Vancouver and driving through the mountains for the first time was magical, so when we arrived in Calgary, we just fell in love with the place and thought, “What a great city!”  We then flew to Toronto, and I visited the bank’s office, but I just couldn’t see myself living in Toronto. Sorry Torontonians – I felt it was a city that didn’t have a character and not somewhere I would want to live.

Needless to say, it was Toronto that I was going to be posted to within a few years, but there was a huge silver lining. Having started looking into the immigration process, we qualified for enough points to move as landed immigrants without having a job. Call it a midlife crisis, call it what you want, but we were a year short of forty and in need of change. A Friday night with a bottle of red wine, a pad of paper, and two columns listing pros and cons decided our fate.

We gave up everything, sold our house, and moved in June 2001 to Calgary with two children aged 10 and 7. It would be an adventure: we had a positive attitude, a willingness to work hard, and an openness to try something different. We moved into a house pretty quickly, managed to get the kids enrolled in school for September, and we were ready to go. A dog and a cat soon followed to help settle the boys, and we were up and running.

The kids joined the local soccer team, and I volunteered to help coach. Having an English accent certainly gave me some kudos, but I had also coached my eldest son’s team in England and held my UEFA (European) coaching license. It was also a great way to integrate into the local community and get to know people.

Someone recommended my name to a local club, Blizzard, which was looking to hire its first paid Technical Director. A couple of meetings later, I was asked to run a technical session, watched by the entire technical committee of the club. Although it was a little strange, I must have done okay, as I was offered the position. My hobby had now become my job, and life in Canada was really taking off. And most importantly, I could spend quality family time, which was so important to me after years of commuting.

I spent nearly seventeen happy years at Blizzard Soccer Club, first as their Technical Director and then, utilizing my business background, as their General Manager, helping to transition the club from an operational board to a governance-based one. Along the way, I helped the club move to a computerized system, expand its age range, introduce European travel opportunities for teams to work alongside the Canadian and US trips, and helped create a club culture as opposed to an individual team culture. I also led a team of colleagues over a two-year period, enabling the club to obtain its National Licence; we were among the first in Calgary.

Leading one of the biggest clubs in Calgary meant that I was also involved in discussions and meetings about the sport at city, provincial, and sometimes national level. Something I enjoyed, but didn’t always agree with colleagues; we always had lively debates, and some friendships still continue to this day, and I have many friends in the sport across the world.

Some brief highlights that stand out include being asked by CBC radio to be an ‘expert’ on their panel discussions across a few World Cups (I even received fan mail!!); attending a pre-season training camp with Real Madrid at UCLA when they were managed by the famous manager Jose Mourinho, and spending a week with Ajax of Amsterdam learning about their youth soccer philosophy.

It was during a holiday in Vietnam in 2018 that I realized I had run my course. I was mentally exhausted, and it was time to step back and let somebody new take the club forward with new ideas. However, after a three-month break, I was energized again and itching to do something. Karma has always been good to me, and I happened to have a coffee buddy who was the CEO of Edge School. He mentioned that they were looking for a new Director of Soccer; would I be interested?

I spent six very happy years at Edge, initially with just a handful of players, but now with a very vibrant program attracting players from not only Calgary, but B.C. and even a student from Spain. Coaching during COVID was a challenge, but some very special memories were created; two trips to Leicester, England, with the soccer students and some wonderful friendships created with staff and players/alumni. Helping those students realize their dreams of playing at university level creates a very special feeling.

Across all walks of life, whether on the soccer field or in business, I have always loved coaching and mentoring others. Helping people achieve their potential is one of the most rewarding things you can do. I am still in touch with people who worked for me in my very first management role in the 80’s; in fact, from every company I have ever worked for. Friendships have been forged, and receiving a call asking for advice gives me the greatest of joy. I enjoy helping others in any way I can, and I have received immense pleasure from watching former colleagues reach their full potential. However, seeing my former players succeed at the university level, or even better, standing by a field and watching them play, is about as good as it gets. That brings a rosy glow!

Retirement will take some getting used to. I will have to learn to slow down, but spending time travelling with my wife and slowly going through a “Honey-Do’ list seems pretty good right now. Life has many twists and turns; it is always a one-way street. You can’t go back and change direction, so never regret any decision, make the most of your opportunities, and live life with a smile as you look forward to the future.