“You don’t say no to Liverpool.”
My name is Tom Brewitt, I was born and raised in Liverpool, England and I came out of the womb absolutely football mad. I was obsessed with Liverpool Football Club and from the moment I could walk, I knew that I wanted to play for their first team. Early in my childhood, I played for my local club called “Marshalls,” which was a very successful youth club in the area. We frequently had scouts at our games, and I was invited to trial with Liverpool’s under nine and under 10 team in back-to-back years. The coaching staff judge players over a six-week trial, I didn’t make it, and it was devastating. The second trial at 10 was cut slightly short so I was invited back at the beginning of the U11 year.
As the summer went by, I worked and worked in my garden to be ready for the trial, but I was struggling with confidence. Two years earlier, I would have been excited about this opportunity, but after getting rejected by Liverpool twice, I did not want to go back for a third try. I told my Dad, “I’ll go to Everton, they’ll give me a spot. They like me. I’ll go there.” I remember my Dad sternly replying, “Listen, you don’t say no to Liverpool.” I am forever grateful that he didn’t let me go to Everton because after the under 11 trial, I signed with Liverpool. Third time lucky.
“It was what I expected myself to be doing.”
Once I became a part of Liverpool’s academy, I didn’t look back for a long time. I progressed through the age groups quickly, and I captained every team that I played for. We won a number of trophies, traveled the world and played some unbelievably talented clubs like Real Madrid, Barcelona, Inter Milan across the world in Indonesia, Qatar, Spain, Italy, etc. I loved every minute of it and was very lucky to play on such great teams, but I didn’t appreciate it as much at the time because it was what I expected myself to be doing. There was never a doubt in my mind that I’d be playing football for Liverpool throughout my teenage years, and I was never truly living in the moment because I was always working towards what was next: “How do I get my next contract? How do I prepare for next year?” And as I got older, “How do I get to the first team?”
When I turned 15 years old, I entered national trials for England’s under 16 team. I had some top-drawer competition alongside me, such as Joe Gomez, Dale Fry, Cameron Borthwick-Jackson, and others. I made the team, playing 12 times for my country and captaining twice.
One fact of my international team experience that still stings today is getting injured at really untimely moments. Both games in which I was named captain for my country (once in under 16, and once in under 17), I was injured within the first half hour. I pulled my oblique in a friendly against Chile, and I hyperextended my knee in a warm up match against Portugal for the European Qualifiers. This one stung a bit extra because the injury kept me off the European Qualifiers roster, and that group went on to win the European Championship tournament without me. At the time, I felt like I was cursed by the captain’s armband with my country.
For those who don’t know, the education system is different in the U.K. compared to the U.S. In the U.K., you enter high school at 11 years old and once you turn 16, you either go into further education (and then onto university) or into college for a specific trade. However, as a footballer at a major club in England, you have the opportunity to play football full-time at 16 years old. Your club will make a decision on whether or not to give you a scholarship that puts you on a full-time training program, which removes you from education completely. Liverpool offered me a scholarship and I began to train every day with the under 18 team when I turned 16. I also decided to continue to attend school one morning each week to keep my education up.
“I worked harder than I ever have.”
My time with the under 18 team went by quickly and I signed my first professional contract just a few weeks after my 18th birthday. I spent time with the under 19 team (for the youth champions league) and reserve team with my sights on a first team position. I worked harder than I ever had to show that I was ready. After a few months of working flat out, I had made it up to first team training:
Training with Liverpool’s first team was not only the highlight of my career, but of my life to that point! Just the fact that I was around such legends of the game, like Steven Gerrard, Luis Suarez, Glen Johnson, Daniel Sturridge, and so many others, was a dream come true. Being coached by Brendan Rodgers was an honor as well. I had a strong relationship with him, and I learned a lot from his top-level attention to detail. I also had a great relationship with Kolo Toure, as he had similar height and stature as me as a defender. I tried to learn as much as I could from him.
The first team training sessions made for the best football environment I had ever experienced. The enthusiasm for the game was combined with such great intensity. I’ll never forget when I experienced, firsthand, just how intense it was. In one of my first training sessions, we were doing a rondo drill and Lucas Leiva smashed me in the back. Smashed me hard. He told me, “I’m going to keep doing it.” I thought, “Okay, no problem.” Battling with him like this built me up as a man and brought my work ethic to a higher standard. At this tier of football, I couldn’t lower my standard ever. The quality of the players who were there, if I dropped my level for a day, they’d kill me. It was a privilege to be there.
“How far away do you live?”
It was about six months after I had started training with the first team. I split time training with them and the under 23 team, but I was spending the majority of my days with the first team. I was playing well, and felt like I was really close to making the first team’s 18-man roster. One day, I was alone in the reserve team locker room after training and the first team Assistant Manager, Colin Pascoe walked in. He looked at me and asked, “How far away do you live?” I replied, “About 10 minutes.” He followed up, “How fast can you get there?” I asked him why, and he told me I needed to go get my passport. I asked him why for a second time, and he said, “You’re coming to Arsenal with us.” I was in the squad for the match the following night. I had never driven so fast in my life.
Being involved in a Premier League game against Arsenal, it was another moment that I cherish now, but at the time didn’t appreciate as much as I could have. In my head at the time, I felt like this was the path I was supposed to be on. Looking back, I wish I had soaked it in a little bit more because it would be the only time that I made the squad for a first team match with Liverpool.
I was feeling great about where I stood at the end of that season. I had gained a lot of exposure to the first team, captained the under 23 team, and played several games in the Youth Champions League. The whole year was a really high moment for me, and I was confident that the best was yet to come. October came around, and the first team made a manager change, replacing Brendan Rodgers with Jürgen Klopp Although I was sad to see Brendan go, I was excited because I thought Jurgen would love my attitude and would eventually give me an opportunity if I kept doing what I was doing. However, I soon found out that I was not in Jürgen’s plans after all. I simply didn’t fit the bill for him, in terms of height, stature, physicality, which was what Jurgen based his game off of. In a group full of center backs like Joe Gomez, Virgil Van Dijk, and Mamadou Sakho, I was the odd one out.
“This was the first time that I felt there was nothing I could do.”
The closest I ever got to first team football under Jürgen was midway through the 2016 season. There was an injury crisis with the first team about two weeks before a League Cup game against Exeter, and I knew I had a chance to play in that match if I was able to stay healthy. I played in a friendly with the reserves team a week before that match, and I wasn’t able to come away from it unscathed. I went up for a header in the first half and banged my head against a teammate’s back. Despite my greatest mental efforts to convince myself that I was okay, I truly didn’t know where I was when I went into the locker room at halftime and my eye was swelling. I had a concussion, and it kept me off the roster for the first team match a week later. They ended up being so short on defenders in that game that they had a left back playing right side center back, which made me think there was surely going to be a spot for me, had I been available. That realization hurt.
At the back of that injury crisis, the first team brought Tiago Ilori back from his loan, and signed Steven Caulker. Shortly after, the several injured players were healthy again and that made for seven first team center backs, so two of them weren’t needed. Ilori and Kaulker were sent down to the reserves team, meaning I got very little game time from January until the end of the season. I had to perform in trials, perform under pressure, and work tirelessly to stand out above others before, but this was the first time that I felt there was nothing I could do, I couldn’t push these players out of my way. It was out of my control.
“All I wanted to do was play for Liverpool and it was coming to an end.”
Entering the next season, the circumstances made me feel much more hopeful about a pathway to the first team. Tiago Ilori was away during the Olympics and Steven Caulker had gone back from his on loan to his parent club, and I thought, “Great. It’s time to impress.” I needed to show Jürgen what I could do, and there wasn’t anybody in my way anymore. I was named captain for several matches with the under 23 and reserves team, and I felt like I was back on track. Then, at the end of August of that year, Mamadou Sakho, one of the best center backs in the league the year before, got sent down to the reserves team. Tiago Ilori came back from the Olympics, and was sent down as well. I was 20 years old, had just gone through six months of struggle, was flying in preseason, and all of a sudden, I had two top class players in front of me on the reserves team. This was when I came to the gutting realization that there wasn’t a spot for me at Liverpool.
In the middle of that final season, there was one moment that I still look back on with a lot of regret. I trained aggressively with the reserve team one day, and I was running extra sprints after the session. Michael Beale, a mentor of mine at Liverpool and still to this day, asked me what was wrong and I explained to him that I was frustrated because it was unclear to me who was making decisions on which players were being pulled up to the first team. He said, “Decisions are being made by the first team staff. Why don’t you go knock on Jurgen’s door and speak to him directly? At 20 years old, I didn’t have the guts to do that due to my lack of exposure to that first team environment under the new manager, but he was right. I should’ve gone and asked Jürgen, “Why not me?” And he probably would have told me that I wasn’t six-foot-three and I wasn’t for him, but, I would’ve had the closure of him saying that to my face.
I played my last match at Anfield (Liverpool’s home stadium) later that year with the under 23s. We played Manchester United and I was fortunate to be in the lineup for that game, because I knew it was likely going to be my last time playing at Anfield. The end of the match was a very emotional moment for me. I was four years old, all I wanted to do was play for Liverpool and it had come to an end.
Life after Liverpool was a difficult period for me. I trialed at a couple of clubs in England to gain exposure, and even spent some time with a big La Liga club called Málaga in Spain. At the end of the season I signed at Middlesbrough, becoming captain for the under 23 team and gaining valuable experience with their first team under a great manager in Garry Monk. I actually met my current teammate Mitchell Curry there as well.
‘’Winning at Wembley made the struggles worth it’’
When I turned 21 years old, I started pursuing some opportunities to play in the United States. I never expected to be going so far away from home, but at no point was I going to stop pursuing football. The first experience I had going on trial in the U.S. was a frustrating one. Nowhere seemed the right fit and I guess I just didn’t feel comfortable moving that far away from home at that stage in my life.
After four week in the U.S, I was set to head home to England to explore further opportunities there. The day I landed I got a call from my agent telling me that Walsall FC, a league one club, wanted to look at me. I didn’t hesitate and despite the jet lag I went straight down to play in a game for them that night against Aston Villa. I stayed there for a couple of weeks including beating Ajax in another preseason friendly and was confident about my chances of a contract there. Despite performing well, Walsall couldn’t make me an offer of a contract because of their financial situation.
At this point I decided to sign with AFC Fylde, as I was desperate to play senior football. It was a tough first year in the lower leagues and a real eye opener to different sides of football in England. The struggles were all worth it though as the season finished with a cup final at Wembley in front of 40,000 fans. We were underdogs going into the game but won the game 1-0. A very special moment for me and my family, especially as it fell on my granddad’s 89th birthday, and he was at the game. Seeing my family and friends in the crowd after the game definitely made all the struggles worth it.
“Do you fancy Seattle?”
Following the successful season with Fylde, I was signed by a great manager, Jim Bentley, at Morecambe (League 2) and spent that season there. I racked up 27 appearances for them before COVID cut the season short. I managed to chalk up just under 50 senior games across my first two seasons and was believing that my next step was coming.
When lower league clubs were attempting to come back from COVID towards the end of that summer and the start of the fall, they were taking whoever they could on trial. They were struggling to find ways to put a team together and pay players and it wasn’t a good situation, as it was for many around the world. I was not sure what to do and decided to hold out for a really good opportunity.
A few weeks later, my former under 13 coach at Liverpool, Gary Lewis, who was with the Seattle Sounders’ Academy Director at the time, (current New York Red Bulls II manager) heard that I was looking for an opportunity and called me. He asked, “Do you fancy Seattle?” He told me I’d have a chance to play on their second team and there could be a route to their first team, and I was in. I was ready to go and ready to be away from home.
I was contacted about the Sounders in September of 2020, but it took until April for me to get to the U.S. I was trying to sort out my American passport, and it was delayed at the US Embassy in London. Other than dealing with that, my second trip to the U.S. was a breath of fresh air. I was named captain of the Tacoma Defiance almost immediately, and we had the best season in club history. We had 10 wins, 39 points, and I led the team in minutes played. We set a really high standard there, and it was exactly the fresh start that I needed.
“We owe it to ourselves to do something special for the club this year.”
A few months later, I got my U.S. passport and became a U.S. citizen, which was a very proud moment for me. My Mom is American, and I acquired citizenship at birth through her. But we still had to go through a process to prove my citizenship, which took about a year.
I’ve had a long journey in football with some difficult times, but I never once considered not playing. I’ve sacrificed too much in my life to give up when it gets hard, and I truly believe I’ve reached the end of the storm. Whenever there’s an opportunity for me to keep progressing my career, I’m going to take it, and that’s what I did when I signed with Hartford Athletic in February 2022. I love the fans here, we have a great group of players, and we owe it to ourselves to do something special for the club this year.
