When he was a teenager, Joel Bonner went through the tough experience of being released by his beloved Liverpool.
Bonner's career with the club did not end there, however, as with the help of Liverpool's support network and the Premier League Academy system, he is now employed at the club as an Under-15s and Under-16s analyst and individual coach.
"Being released is not a great experience to go through and you do feel down and you do feel upset," he says in the video above. "But the club don't just toss you aside.
"There's lots of support there and there's a strategy in place for each player when they do get released."
Bonner's progress from that point has been so impressive that he was recognised with the 2020/21 Premier League Academy Alumni Award in June this year.
Boyhood dream
Bonner joined Liverpool as a 12-year-old and was living his boyhood dream, playing on the pitch at Anfield and going on tours to face the likes of Real Madrid and Paris Saint-Germain.
But as well as honing his abilities on the pitch, Liverpool's Academy made sure he developed off it, encouraging him to keep up with his education and enhancing transferrable skills such as discipline and time keeping.
That support did not end when he got released as Liverpool kept in touch while he studied sport and exercise psychology at Loughborough University.
And that contact led to an opportunity of returning in a different role last year; it was something that Bonner could not turn down.
'I've come full circle'
"It's like I've come full circle," he says. "It's been a great experience, seeing the other side of what goes on and what goes into the overall academy experience for players. It's really good to be working with players of that age and with the experiences that I've had up to now.
"That support that you get just to show that you're not on your own in terms of your next steps that you're going to take, is really important.
"There is definitely an emphasis on developing the person with the Academy system and making sure you've got that back-up plan."
Also in this series
Part 1: 'We have a generation of exceptional talent'
Part 2: PL Academies provide positive experience, say parents
Part 4: Onoabhagbe: League showed me options after my release
Part 5: Under-16 Residential giving hope to released players
Part 6: Williams: There are prospects for released youngsters
