I’m staying on at school despite signing football deal

Harry McLean is 16 and has just signed a professional football contract with Motherwell.

It’s a dream come true for Harry who impressed the coaches at the Premiership club’s youth academy while studying for his National 5 exams earlier this year.

He sat seven exams while juggling his gruelling training schedule and hopes to do well when the results come out on Tuesday.

However, unlike most of the other young players who have broken through to be given pro contracts with the Steelman, Harry plans to continue to stay on at school while he plays next year.

He says he is well aware that his two-year contract does not guarantee a long career in the game.

“Obviously I want to be a professional footballer until I’m 35-40,” Harry says.

“But if that doesn’t work out, or if I get injured, or I don’t do as well as I’d imagined, I feel like having an education is important.”

Having experienced the tussle of training and studying already over the last year he knows it won’t be easy, but says it’s all about getting the “balance” right.

The teen is one of eight new youth signings to be awarded a professional contract with the club for the new season but is the only one of his peers opting to stay on at school.

Harry says: “I plan to take five Highers this year. I’ll need to do a lot of studying and catching up at home which is going to be difficult but I feel like I can do it.”

His favourite subjects are maths and science, so his back-up plan for life after football is to follow in the footsteps of his dad and older brother and pursue a career in engineering. But for now his focus is firmly on football.

“When I got told I was going to be signed full-time it was just brilliant because my whole life has been just wanting to be a footballer and it being at my home club Motherwell just made it 10 times better,” he said.

With his new role comes a more public profile. When BBC Scotland News spoke to Harry at Motherwell’s training ground in Dalzeil Park he was greeted by two young fans who stopped the 16-year-old striker to get his autograph.

Harry’s been involved with the club from a young age.

He’s been a ball boy at Fir Park and a season ticket holder for more than a decade.

But now his hopes of playing with the first team are another closer to becoming a reality.

He now trains full-time with the under-18s at Motherwell and is hoping to impress the coaching staff with his goal scoring capabilities and maybe even one day get a call-up for Scotland.

“A few of the boys, maybe one or two of them, if you’re doing really well with the under-18s we can maybe get a slot on the bench or in the squad for match days which is brilliant,” he said.

Harry’s new footballing season is already under way but his preparations for life back in the classroom resume next week.