Houllier said: Don’t go to nightclubs — you can buy one when you retire
JAMIE CARRAGHER ON JACK GREALISH
THE look on Gerard Houllier’s face said everything. It was a Monday morning at Melwood and my old manager asked how I had spent Saturday night after Liverpool’s game earlier that day.
‘I went out for a few drinks with my Dad,’ I replied.
As someone who had grown up in the old English football culture, where drinking and playing went hand in hand, I couldn’t see any harm in what I had done.
I was young and only doing what all lads my age did of a weekend, which was going out with their mates in town.
Houllier, however, was incredulous.
‘Your dad?’ he asked, trying to make sense of things. He couldn’t understand it.
Houllier didn’t like our culture but, in this case, he couldn’t work out why a father would be damaging his son’s career, putting unnecessary stress on an athlete’s body.
Houllier told me if I kept living that kind of lifestyle, my career as a Premier League footballer would be over by the time I was 26.
He spoke to me about the squad that he had inherited. Football, he explained, was getting quicker and quicker but some of the players in Liverpool’s team were getting slower because of how they had looked after themselves.
By drinking you would weaken your body and make yourself susceptible to injury; those who were out injured but continued to drink would hinder their recovery time and make themselves more prone to fitness problems when they eventually got back. That was the vicious circle.
‘Don’t go to the nightclubs now,’ Houllier said. ‘Buy a nightclub when you have finished playing.’
I’d made a couple of mistakes back then which led to unflattering headlines, but the penny dropped.
All young lads make mistakes, so Jack Grealish doesn’t need me to join the growing list of people who have been criticising him after his latest episode last weekend.
Before I had that talk with Houllier, I’d never considered the impact that drinking could have on my performance. The attitude back then was ‘so long as you are right on Saturday’, meaning you could have a few drinks in midweek, provided you were ready to go on game day. If someone reported for training with a hangover, they could bury themselves in the group when we went running and hide away, while they got themselves together and sweated the effects of the previous night out of their systems.
You wouldn’t stand a chance of doing that now. Football, as Grealish has discovered to his cost once again, is like Big Brother.
As a player, you are under surveillance everywhere you go. There is no escape. One false move, one poor performance and everyone knows about it.
Training sessions are filmed. GPS systems and OPTA log how much you are running. There have never been more cameras in stadiums than there are now and, when you go out, you are never more than one click of a phone away from being on social media.
Only maximum professionalism allows you to thrive.
I hope Grealish understands that. He is a big talent but, after last Saturday’s episode, he is running out of chances. He can’t find himself tagged as the player with an appetite for the high life. All it will do is put off potential suitors, England managers and, most importantly, it will colour his manager Remi Garde’s view of him. Even worse, he will find that he gets labelled as a bad influence on others, not just himself.
I like Grealish as a player. It felt last season that, along with Christian Benteke, he was instrumental in helping Villa avoid relegation.
He was outstanding in the FA Cup semi-final against Liverpool and, this season, it sticks in my mind how he changed the Capital One Cup tie against Birmingham. The reason there has been such a fuss about what he has done is because people do not want to see his talent go to waste.
He is creative, clever and looks like someone who, one day, could be an essential part of an England team.
There is nothing wrong with the odd night out, nothing at all, but the timing has to be right.
Nowadays training has become almost as important as a match and you will get found out immediately if your standards are dropping.
You have got to hit certain targets in every session.
You have got to have complete focus. I found mine after that conversation with Houllier and I enjoyed the moment, on turning 26, when I walked into Houllier’s office and said to him ‘I’m still here!’ We had a laugh about it but his influence remained. I still treat food and alcohol three years into retirement as I did when I was playing.
Young players like Grealish just need good advice and guidance. I’ve seen Paul Merson has offered to speak to him, but I don’t think there would be anyone better for him to talk with than former Villa midfielder Lee Hendrie.
He was in the same England Under 21 team as me, Frank Lampard, Lee Bowyer, Rio Ferdinand and Emile Heskey and if you asked them all who was the best player in the group, everyone would say without hesitation it was Lee.
He was the first one of us to win a senior cap under Glenn Hoddle. I look at Grealish now and can see Lee in how he plays; the similar build, the ability to ghost past players with the ball. They even have the club in common.
Unfortunately, Lee’s career never turned out as he would have hoped but, happily, his life is back on an even keel. With the right words and guidance, there is no need for Grealish to squander his big chance.