By fair measure, the boy from May Pen, Clarendon, has done well for himself as a professional footballer.

But Omar Daley believes he could have done more for his career had fate and good fortunate favoured him more.

Still, the former Jamaican midfielder — who was also deployed as a right wide player —has nothing to be ashamed of as he was able to ply his trade in England’s lower divisions with Bradford City where he made over 112 appearances over a four-year spread.

He also had loans spells at Reading and Preston North End.

Another high point of his professional career, which has seen him criss-crossing the Atlantic, included a two-year stint with Scottish Premier League outfit Motherwell FC.

Daley, 39, had taken his talent to the US leagues as well, having donned the colours of Charleston Battery, Minnesota United and Oklahoma City Energy.

Now retired, the Glenmuir High graduate looks back at his career with a hint of disappointment for not having the opportunity to grace the glossier stages of European club football.

Daley, like many starry-eyed players looking for the big break, dreamt that his talent and commitment would have propelled him to the English Premier League, if nowhere else.

But he did come close to climbing the proverbial football ladder in Europe, the game’s most lucrative jurisdiction.

“I would say my lowest point in my career was when I was on top of my game at Bradford City when at least six Championship teams were ready to take a chance on me, and I got injured on a night when some teams [scouts] came to see me and who were ready to sign at the next transfer window, and that was the most depressing time of my life.

“I was out for 10 months and that was tough to cope with knowing that you were going to do it big again and to get injured. I remember the day as it was a cold winter night and went into a challenge and I came out on the bitter end where I tore my ACL [anterior cruciate ligament],” Daley shared with the Jamaica Observer from his home in Las Vegas, USA.

He recalled how he came close to sealing a deal with legendary English club Everton FC after a trial stint, but was left crushed when the restrictive work permit regime rendered the promising move unfeasible.

“My first trial in England was with Everton FC, and I was actually in the same dressing room with Wayne Rooney. I decided to take up the trial when my agent called me and I did the trial and scored in my first game, and I toured with them that pre-season to Australia.

“In a game there [in Australia], I scored with my first touch of the ball, and after the game, he [Coach David Moyes] called me and said he was going to give me a two-year contract, but he was going to put me in the reserve team to work my way up.

“But after getting back to England, I was left disappointed that I didn’t get the dream move that I desired as I could not obtain a work permit because I did not have enough international caps,” Daley lamented.

The former Portmore United standout says he often thought that if he was given the opportunity then, where his career could have gone.

“I could look back and say that could be one of my down moments in my soccer career when I was in the same dressing room with Wayne Rooney as a young boy, and I think if I had the work permit at that time and was working my way up through the reserves, where would I be? Could I have been bigger than Wayne Rooney? But you just never know,” Daley reasoned.

Even as he is left aggrieved at missing the big times, Daley says he was still fortunate to have played at a highly competitive level with varying degrees of satisfying moments.

“After spending four and half years in Bradford City, I came to the end of my contract, and Stuart McCall, who was my coach there, had moved to Motherwell the year before. I was doing really well at Bradford at that point, and Bradford offered me a new three-year contract and I [rejected] that contract and went to Scotland instead to play at Motherwell, and Stuart McCall, who I knew, gave me confidence to play.

“In terms of the transition to Scotland, there wasn’t a big difference except there were more fans at game, because I was coming from League Two in England and this was now the Scottish Premier League. But playing in Scotland was really a good experience for me and playing in the Champions League qualifiers is one of my proudest moments of my professional career,” Daley said.

After his stint in Scotland, Daley decided it was time to move on and ended up on the other side of the Atlantic.

“After spending two years in Scotland, I then started to get a lot of interest from the US leagues, and at that time, I was working with a US-based agent, so it was obvious that I was destined to come to the US.

“I understood that it was a big step back from leaving Scotland, but at that time I was not very happy as they were trying to use my age to limit my minutes on the field and I felt I was short-changed as they were saying that ‘you were getting older, so we are giving you fewer minutes’, and I decided it was time to play in the US and Minnesota United jumped at the chance to sign me on a two-year contract,” he noted.

Daley said the deal with the US club was attractive, and he moved at the opportunity.

“The contract was well put together as I was going to get free housing and a good salary, and I decided it was time to step back and get closer to home [Jamaica] in trying to transition out of Europe because I knew in my head that my time there was about to end,” Daley shared.

With time, he said, coming to the USA no longer seemed the best idea for more reasons than one.

“Playing in the US was different as it was not at a high level like in Scotland as the demand to win games did not come with a lot of pressure like playing for Bradford City and Motherwell, which was not good for me because I was used to pushing myself.

“Basically, you were retiring yourself quicker than you think. Making that decision [moving from Europe to US] may not have been the best decision, because looking back, I think I could have spent two more years in Europe and push a little bit more, but that’s life,” Daley said in retrospect.

But the player, whose fast-paced playing style fitted the English game, said his football journey would not have been the success it was without the foundational work by Portmore United.

“After leaving Value P of St Elizabeth, I went to Portmore United at a young age, where I was more exposed to more professionalism, where you see a different level of training and understanding the importance of nutrition, about strength, about vision and having a dream.

“Those are the things they teach you at Portmore United, and we had a good team that surrounded the players at Portmore, which was good as we went forward. And although we didn’t have the resources to be the big professional club, we had stability and plan as to how we were going to move ahead into the future,” Daley noted.