Leon McSweeney has been playing in the lower divisions of English football for the past decade.
The Corkman has spent time at the likes of Hucknall Town, Scarborough and Leyton Orient during that time.
But this summer was quite frenetic and stressful as he was left scrambling to find a club. It is all detailed in his insightful blog and last night he shared his experiences on Off The Ball.
He evenutally signed a four month contract with Carlisle United in September. The deal takes him through to January when he could find himself unemployed again.
"I'll be coming up to it again in January when my contract runs out," the versatile 29-year-old admitted. "The close season that just went was something that I've never experienced because you're always quite confident of getting a club. But this close season with the financial restrictions throughout England, it hit people quite hard and left many out of contract."
He had been at Leyton Orient in League One but soon found himself on the scrapheap despite a successful season.
McSweeney celebrates a goal during second spell at Cork City in 2007 ©INPHO/Neil Danton
"We finished seventh for a team like Leyton Orient and as we've seen they've kicked on again. It was a fantastic upturn in their fortunes and a great way to finish the season. But it was a case of budget cuts. They wanted to keep me and there was an offer on the table. But I would have to take a 50 per cent cut which I thought was a bit of an insult. I backed myself and there was no animosity there."
But over the next month, a number of potential deals were stopped in their tracks, which saw McSweeney even attempt to contact Orient to see if their previous offer was still on the table. To make matters worse he also lost his agent who had brokered the bones of a deal with Southend, while McSweeney was on honeymoon.
But Southend, who had shown plenty of interest, signed another player to play in his position but did not even contact him to let him know that they had moved on.
"I've been in the game for a long time and I still don't know how the whole agency thing works to be honest," McSweeney admits.
"You're led to believe that they go out and hawk players to every potential suitor. But it looks like some of them deal with just five or six managers. And if those five or six managers are not looking for the particular position you're playing in, where do you go from there?"
He has been fortunate to get another agent and thankfully one of his new representative's calls proved fruitful as Carlisle said yes. McSweeney hopes he can shine during this four-month contract - a length of time that is a "risk".
But he has earned a degree as a fallback option, just in case all goes wrong.
