“Should I have done that?” – 28 year old Ryan McLaughlin released by EFL club Morecambe explains life whilst living as a free agent.
He has given an insight to BBC Sport on what it had been like for him so far this season, whilst currently without a club to his name.
Since being let go by the Shrimps in September 2022, he has trained with Irish professional boxer Michael Conlan whilst looking for some sort of work during the winter World Cup and even went viral on social media, bizarrely with thanks thanks to Victoria Beckham, so quite the random one.
It was on Deadline Day that he found himself playing for no one in 11 years of his career, starting out with a promising future at Liverpool as a 16 year old.
The Northern Ireland defender left Anfield in 2016 and has then had spells with the likes of Oldham Athletic, Blackpool, Rochdale and Morecambe.
He played at such levels as the Championship and League One, but McLaughlin admits he has found adapting to the footballing rather “difficult” as any player would especially if they aren’t used to it.
“I thought I would be able to do a few months, like a summer break, but after a few weeks you are itching to get going again,” he said.
“September to January is a good four to five months of your career, and it is a short career, so sometimes you ask yourself, ‘should I have done that?’
“But, I look at myself. I’m 28, I still have a good five or six years in me.
“I still have ambitions, I want to try different things, I want to play abroad, I want to win things in different leagues and I want to get in the Northern Ireland squad.”
Waking up on Christmas morning and seeing that Santa has been is one thingđ
But how about checking your phone and seeing Victoria Beckham has followed you on TikTok.
Take it away, @RyanMcL2 đ#bbcfootball
â BBC SPORT NI (@BBCSPORTNI) December 25, 2022
McLaughlin, earned himself a total of the five Northern Ireland caps, with the last one coming in 2018, adding that he’s trying to keep the routine of club football in order to remain fit during his time as a free agent especially if a club wants him.
He say’s he’s been doing this with his mates’ teams back in Belfast and has tried to follow the routine of two sessions a day in his bid to stay sharp.
“Losing the routine is a big thing and I have tried to keep that by getting up early in the morning and going training.
“Sometimes training by yourself can be difficult. I haven’t known anything different than being at a club.
“I try and keep it as normal as possible. I have the same days off as I would have in football, and I keep that routine so when I go into it again in January then it won’t be a big change.
“You have to see the bigger picture and the light at the end of the tunnel, and my goal is to play in January.
“That’s what is on my mind with every run I go on, it’s that bit of extra motivation.”
McLaughlin reveals clubs from across England, Scotland, Ireland and the United States have offered him a contract, but he “has to weigh everything up”.
He adds “it’s probably the maddest time to be a free agent” thanks to the winter World Cup, and he will decide on his future over the festive period.
“I’m not ruling anything out. I’m looking at everything,” he added.
“The football is the main thing and that is the stuff that attracts you to places. There are a number of things that have to be right.
“It has to make sense financially and it has to the be the right length of contract – you have to be secure too, at the end of the day.”
If you know McLaughlin well, you’ll know how big a fan he is of boxing, he shares about what it’s like to have become friends with elite boxer Michael Conlan, receiving an invite to his training camp for just over a week before his bout earlier in December with Karim Guerfi.
He said Conlan “is probably the fittest person I have ever seen” and could do long distance running at the Olympics.
“I was telling him that with Liverpool’s first team we didn’t do anywhere near as hard as this.
“It was an eye opener but see by the end, I felt so much fitter.
“I loved it, even though it was hard and it brought you to places mentally that you’ve never been before.”
There was also the time he went viral a month earlier in November after he posted a tweet that he was the only user that Victoria Beckham followed on TikTok.
He jokes it was “no coincidence” as he was called ‘Becks’ whilst playing for former club Rochdale, after a “wind-up” with a fellow teammate about whether he looked like David Beckham.
“They saw my crossing and was realised it definitely wasn’t David Beckham. No one calls me it now, I’m raging,” he said with a massive grin on his face.
“I was lying in bed one night, having a scroll and got a notification. It was a blue tick and I was like, ‘that’s not Victoria Beckham, surely?’
“I went on it and it was. She must have been scrolling through and thought ‘that’s my husband, David. I’ll follow him’.
“I posted it on Twitter and she unfollowed me about a day later. I was gutted.”
Twitter users reacted as the 28 year old released by an EFL club explains life as a free agent with a phrase âshould I have done that?â…
@scta1989: Hope you manage to find the right club and get back into your national team @RyanMcL2. All the best for the future
@francis_mezza@ Youâll be snapped up in no time.
@DavidMcdaid7: Hahaha unreal.
@Tom22Watts: Go on the boy @RyanMcL2
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