Jake's Road Report is Gemini Sports founder Jake Schuster’s weekly update from professional football's frontlines. He travels globally, meeting club executives to share candid insights on AI's role in football. These raw, actionable thoughts are delivered weekly, with meeting details kept confidential and specific intel omitted.

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As a youngster, football was Ian Wright's life. He lived for it, spent all his waking hours playing it. He knew he was going to be a professional.

As a teenager, he went on trials and gave them his everything. Southend turned him down. He tried harder. Brighton turned him down. Then Charlton. Then Millwall. Eventually he became disheartened. He was in his twenties now. If he hadn't made it by now, he never would.

So he began working at a refinery in Woolwich. Dirty work, but regular money. He had a wife and child to support now. He had to get real about his responsibilities.

But he still loved football, so he played amateur on weekends with Dulwich Hamlet. One weekend a coach from Crystal Palace spotted him and wrote asking him to come for a trial. Ian had already accepted his football career was over. There was no point starting all that again.

At his job, his direct boss was Garry Twydell, who'd been a professional footballer himself for a couple of years. Garry took a different view: “This is your chance, Ian. If you don't try, you'll never know and you'll always regret it.”

Ian said the trial was two weeks—he couldn't take that long off work. He couldn't risk losing the job. Garry said, “Take a week off, say you've got family problems. Then another week of sick leave. I'll back you up. You won't lose the job.” Eventually he persuaded Ian to take the time off.

Ian expected the trial to go like every other trial. But at least he had his job to go back to, so he could relax. He stopped trying so hard. He just enjoyed himself playing football. It was like a holiday.

And an amazing thing happened. With no pressure on him, just playing for the love of it, he was absolutely brilliant. Crystal Palace signed Ian Wright. Long after he thought all chances had gone, he signed professional.

In his first season, he scored 24 goals. In five years at Crystal Palace he scored 117 goals. He was voted their 'Player of the Century'. Then Arsenal bought him for a club-record £2.5 million. 

He scored 24 goals in his first season. He was their top scorer for the next six years.

In 1997, he became Arsenal's highest-ever goal scorer. During his time there he won the Premier League, the FA Cup twice, the League Cup, and the European Cup Winners' Cup. In 2005 he was voted into the English Football Hall of Fame.

All because he gave up and stopped trying so hard. He stopped working at it and just flat out started enjoying it. 

Maybe there’s a lesson in there for all of us.