Former Liverpool Academy member’s shot at big time
More than a decade after playing with Liverpool’s Academy team, Brendan Cholakian hasn’t given up hope of fulfilling his football dream.
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Brendan Cholakian can often spot former teammates and opponents when he turns on the TV to watch the English Premier League, or even the A-League.
If he thought the likes of Dimi Petratos and Terry Antonis were decent players as teammates aged 10, it was even more obvious at 15 in Liverpool’s Academy side that opponents like Ross Barkley and Jesse Lingard were destined for stardom.
More than a decade later, Cholakian now wears a suit rather than a football strip most of the time, and works as a client engagement consultant.
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But still he harbours a hope that a professional opportunity could come his way — especially with the thrill of an FFA Cup run providing a sprinkle of stardust for him and his Manly United teammates.
An away tie at Brisbane Strikers on Wednesday offers the tantalising prospect of a place in the quarter-finals of the FFA Cup, and a chance for Cholakian to showcase the playmaking skills that once earned the Sydney-born youngster a move across the world to Liverpool.
“It wasn’t easy, packing up and moving thousands of kilometres away at 15, but I wouldn’t change any of it,” he said. “It helped me develop the physical side of my game in that English environment, and I was lucky that my parents have supported my football dream since pretty much I could walk.
“I was always quite confident in abilities so I didn’t feel any great pressure to succeed. When you play with and against players of that standard of course you question if you’re good enough, but I never felt out of place.
“At worst it was an amazing learning experience, knowing I played against some of the best players. There were some with who you could just tell. Plenty of players impress at that level, but those like Lingard and Barkley had something else.
“Ravel Morrison at Manchester United was unbelievable, but (the fact he has never settled at any club since) just shows how much of it comes down to attitude and work ethic as much as ability.
“Conor Coady, who’s captain of Wolves now, was my captain at Liverpool but I’m not sure I’d have said then he was one of the players who’d make it at Premier League level.
“But he did have superb leadership qualities, and Liverpool were able to strengthen the areas of the game he was weakest in.”
Cholakian spent time with Stoke City and the North of England Schoolboys squad after leaving Liverpool, before coming back to Australia and settling eventually at Manly where for seven years he has been a standout performer.
He’s trained with and trialled at several A-League clubs, and scored four times against them too, including a goal against champions Sydney FC in a friendly last week.
Though Cholakian is adamant the FFA Cup spotlight is on Manly’s team, rather than its individuals, he still hasn’t quite given up on another chance of making it as a full-time footballer.
“You’re always hopeful that someone will take the gamble,” he said. “It’s hard with the different seasons in the NPL and the A-League, spots are often quite scarce.
“But there’s always that hope.”