As the dust settles on the John Terry story, another one breaks with Ashley Cole.
The talk is about footballers, but not football and the story is inevitably damaging for all involved and even for some who are not involved.
The world of premiership football (and, lets be honest, the world of top flight sports) has changed. When you are in the public eye-the public gets a piece of you-heck its part and parcel of the new rules of the game. The game of being a celebrity.
Today’s footballers have to be damn good at football to be in the premiership-if they falter , there are younger, hungry, up and coming starlets waiting in the wings to take their place.
Yep, the pressure to succeed is growing.
Footballers have this ‘god like’ status amongst their fans-many of whom are young kids who want to grow up and be just like them. Let’s hope they are good role models then eh?
After all ‘Premiership’ is not just about the game- it’s about behaviour, on and off the pitch-which often seems to be overlooked, dismissed-or laughed off.
Then they have to be a credible ambassador for the club and for whichever brand they are being paid to advertise. One false move, wrong word and crazy night out will be captured and used against them and that’s when they have to face the music-and their family. Football’s not just about the game on the pitch-it’s about who you are and how you live your life.
Look when all is said and done, footballers are human beings. Full blooded men, passionate about the game, and their performance. Oh and they love the money and trappings (including the adoring girls).
So why do so many of our talented footballers struggle to cope-surely with all that money life can’t be that hard, can it?
No, life isn’t hard at all. But coping with it, is.
Our footballers need emotional (but not soft) support, which may involve a kick up the a**e. Unless they understand how to control their stress level and manage the pressure, it’s not just losing their wife or their job that’s at stake. It’s losing the game, the league, the cup –even the world cup.
So Mr. Capello, Mr Ancelotti et al, our lads need some serious one to one coaching of a different kind. The kind that helps a player sort out what’s going on in his head.
It might be a head filled with self doubt, uncertainty, fear and dread. It might be filled with worries at home. When a player falls apart on the pitch or in his personal life-he’s actually been falling apart for a while and there has been no one there to pick it up and deal with it.
Football is a game of psychology and is fuelled by emotion-your skill may be physical but the ignition and power ain’t.
