Unscripted: Bryan’s pro career detours in desert

Saturday, Oct. 7, 2006 | 7:56 a.m.

Favorite players

Xabi Alonso (Liverpool)

Steven Gerrard (Liverpool)

Francesc Fabregas (Arsenal)

"I can really appreciate watching Alonso spray a 50-yard ball with either foot and bring the ball down with control. These are the players I watch and try to emulate."

Predicted finish

1. Chelsea - "Obviously, they have an open checkbook and have done it twice already. They're off to a good start. They're definitely the team to beat."

2. Manchester United - "They have a bit in their teeth. They're really chasing, pushing hard. They have a great squad."

3. Arsenal - "They're picking it up. You can never write them off. They had a 49-match unbeaten streak, so you can never say no to them."

UNLV redshirt freshman David Bryan is learning the nuances of Division I soccer in the desert, but he is a veteran of the youth system in his native England.

He has played on the developmental teams of four clubs, including Arsenal and Tottenham, and he acknowledged that the system can be cruel.

"It's a harsh business," Bryan said. "You're not looked at like a person; you're a commodity. You have to look after yourself."

A close friend who played on England's national youth sides for seven years and was tapped by Charlton at an early age is now toiling on a semi professional team. "An amateur side," Bryan said. "There are definitely a lot of players who don't make it and have nothing to back it up."

Bryan, 20, knows he's fortunate to have attracted interest from UNLV when Southend United opted against signing him to a professional contract two years ago. He is interested in majoring in film studies and has written a 30-page script. Bryan might be the next Guy Ritchie, but only after he has exhausted his options as a footballer.

When Bryan was released from Southend, Shrimpers manager Steve Tilson told him it wasn't that he isn't good enough. "We're just saying now isn't the right time for us," Tilson told Bryan.

"The option is probably still open for me," Bryan said after a morning practice at UNLV this week. "Ultimately, I want to play professionally. It's just about keeping your options open. I'm doing my best and trying to do well for UNLV, trying to improve every day."

At 11, Bryan realized a dream when he was signed by Arsenal FC. Highbury, Arsenal's former stadium, was only 15 minutes from his home, and he, all of his friends and family supported the Gunners.

He scored in his debut game against Wimbledon.

"A fantastic experience for me," Bryan said. "They were about shape, how we moved the ball and moving off the ball. We played in tight, fine grids, and tried to keep the ball. We'd pass teams off the park."

Two years later, he moved to Tottenham and played for manager Mickey Hazard, a well-known former Hotspur player. They regularly won by 5-0 and 6-0 scores and had an unusually large squad of 22 or 23 players.

"Pure football," he said of the Tottenham system. "Ultimate football. They like to entertain the fans. You had a lot of freedom to express yourself. We were allowed to do tricks, flicks and take quick free kicks."

In 2000, at 14, he was obtained by Watford, where Bryan played with Ashley Young (now on the Watford first team) and Chris Eagles (currently on loan from Manchester United to Dutch side NEC Nigmegen).

"We had the strongest midfield in the south of the country," he said. "We had a lot of hard workers and won a lot of our games by grinding out results."

A year later, Tottenham Under-16 coach Paul Parker, who played right back for England at the 1990 World Cup and starred for Man U, brought Bryan back to White Hart Lane.

"That worked out well for me," he said. "They gave me a good chance. I owe them a lot, really."

Bryan went to Southend at 16, when his schooling ended. Then the education began. At that age, clubs encourage their prospects to continue with university studies, mostly sports science classes on Thursdays.

But school isn't enforced, and players usually find that the day-to-day grind of practicing and tending to the first-team clubhouse requirements leaves scant spare time.

Bryan rose at 7 a.m., rode a 45-minute train from Essex to Watford's Vicarage Road grounds, cleaned and polished first-team manager Rob Newman's boots, helped with the laundry and set up equipment for the main team's practice sessions. In the course of a day, Bryan participated in his own youth team's practices. He'd return home around 6 p.m.

His father, Jon, is in real estate. His mother, Danna, runs a little Italian restaurant in London's West End and owns a clothing shop. Younger brother, Jonathan, and younger sister, Taylor, are his biggest fans.

"I saw my mates more than my family," Bryan said. "But I enjoyed everything. I didn't mind all the tasks. I had a smile on my face every day."

Seeing Eagles, Young and Rod Dyachenko - a Rebel last season who is playing for D.C. United in Major League Soccer - progress keeps the dream alive for Bryan.

"If you're good enough, you'll get a chance," he said. "There's light at the end of the tunnel."

He isn't so sure about that 30-page script. He likes maybe one or two scenes of the revenge tale.

"One guy takes revenge on another guy," Bryan said. "It's pretty much a man's pic ... chicks won't like it."

If he works out the story's kinks, would he consider Vinnie Jones, a former English footballer turned tough-guy actor, for a role?

"Maybe, if I can get him," said Bryan, laughing. "We'll see."