Jon Fortune earns living in football agency world - Charlton Athletic experiences help with mentoring role

Former Addicks centre-back formed Two Touch Football Agency with pal Paolo Vernazza...after they scrapped it out to sign a young Ademola Lookman

Fortune favours the brave.

And when it came to Jon Fortune’s desire to make it as a professional footballer, that was certainly the case.

The former centre-back played 216 senior matches for Charlton Athletic, including 123 in the Premier League. And Fortune, who is the co-founder of Two Touch Football Agency, admits that he had no fall-back option if he had been one of the youths that failed to make the grade coming through the Addicks’ academy.

“Everyone asks you to have a plan B - but if you are all-in on the process of making it then there is no plan B,” Fortune told South London Sport: Charlton Athletic Edition. “It is just a case of ‘make plan A work’. You can’t get caught up then with thinking what plan B looks like.

“People tell you as a kid that football is a harsh task to achieve but when I signed up as a YTS with 12 to 14 players, every single one of you believes you’re the one that is going to make it.”

Fortune’s extensive experience of the highs and lows helps in his role of head of human performance at the company he set up with Paolo Vernazza. Two Touch Football Agency launched in 2019. They have a number of high-profile clients including Aston Villa and England striker Ollie Watkins, Matty Cash, also on the books of the Midlands outfit, Crystal Palace’s Will Hughes and Brentford’s Ethan Pinnock.

Picture: Keith Gillard

So many players head down the coaching and management path when they hang up their boots.

For Fortune, it failed to provide a good enough fit.