Ben fosters less serious approach to football ills

3PM ‘IT CAN’T BE DO OR DIE’

LOSE against Burnley this afternoon andWatford could be all but relegated by the end of the weekend.

However, do not try to tell Hornets goalkeeper Ben Foster that this is “make or break” or “do or die”.

Because the former England star has learnt during two decades in the game that there is more to life than football.

More young players coming into the game need to realise that, he feels.

“You have to have a balanced lifestyle,” Foster said.

“You can’t be all-in on football, live and breathe it.You have to have something away from it as well.”

Foster cycles up to 300km a week, a passion he chronicles on his Cycling GK YouTube channel.

And ‘Fozcast – The Ben Foster Podcast’, which delves behind the scenes of Premier League life at the same time as picking the brains of its more interesting participants, has been snapped up by Spotify.

Football-wise, things are less clear for the 39-year-old whose Watford deal ends this summer.

“I’ve never been in this position before because I have always had at least another year at the end of my contract,” Foster explained.

“But it is kind of exciting. I can pick and choose and wait and see. I just want to get through to the end of the season and then reassess.”

Foster has not given up on a top-flight posting but if defeat does mean a drop down the divisions, there are advantages.

“I still feel like I’m fit and agile and my reflexes are still there,” he said.

“I can still do a job.The day I retire will be the one where I finally think, ‘Nah, everybody’s better than me now’. Until that moment dawns on me, I’ll keep going. The Premier League is a brutal league and if you make a mistake you get punished.

“You get a lot more down-toearth lads in the Championship who don’t live for the glitz and the glamour.

“I like going out for a casual pint with my mates sometimes but as a Premier League player

I know that in the pub, on the other side of the room, there is somebody who will try to take a picture of me to put out that I am out for a massive drink.”

The biggest difference Foster has noticed from when he started out is that sometimes young players bring it on themselves.

“Now you see players with some of the cars and some of the watches and things like that,” said the former Manchester United goalkeeper.

“Some of the clothes players wear nowadays, it is brutal.

“Some of the brightest tracksuits you will see in your life.

“Lads wear orange tracksuits out to a restaurant and wonder why people are queueing for photos. I mean, put on a jumper.”