WE MUST CALL OUT TRIVIALISING OF MENTALILLNESS
IRECALLED this week a dispiriting off-therecord conversation I was party to 20 years ago between a well- known football manager and a group of journalists.
Standing in a training-ground car park, we listened as he talked about Stan Collymore, a player who had recently revealed a struggle against depression.
‘With all that money and living that lifestyle,’ said the manager. ‘What has he got to be depressed about?’
To this day it troubles me that nobody challenged him, nobody told him mental illness does not discriminate.
Equally, I am sure that were it to happen today, somebody would have. Times have changed a little.
A shame, then, to listen to Alan Brazil and Ian Holloway on talkSPORT last Monday morning.
Discussing this column’s mention of Mario Balotelli and the lengths staff at Manchester City once went to in a bid to ease his clear unhappiness in England, Brazil and his guest were quickly in to man-in-the-pub mode.
According to Holloway, Balotelli was ‘ mad as a frog’ while Brazil described the young Italian as a ‘ screwball’ who ‘needs a shrink’.
Holloway has a good record in managing players and one would hope his comments weren’t indicative of character.
As for Brazil, I wouldn’t claim to know or greatly care. But what we do know is that his show is talkSPORT’s flagship with listenership on the rise.
So Brazil has influence by way of profile and audience, and the damage caused by such archaic flippancy is clear. And it really is a shame because it comes at a time when football, slowly, is taking steps towards becoming more enlightened.
A friend of mine in the game — once a manager of high standing — has had a few troubles in this area recently but quickly discovered there was no shortage of people or structure in the game to help him.
With the assistance of the League Managers Association, he has been guided to the right professionals and is already feeling better. To his surprise, nobody in the game scoffed or laughed at him. Maybe 30 years ago but not now.
Instead, he has been sent selfhelp books to read and his phone rings regularly. Colleagues of mine in the media have been quietly kind to him as well.
‘It has made me realise that maybe I didn’t have as much sympathy with these things back in my day,’ he told me this week.
‘Football used to sweep stuff like this under the carpet. I now know that it shouldn’t have.’
Collymore’s own battle goes on to this day. A talented broadcaster in his own right, the former Liverpool forward uses his profile to invite other sufferers to contact him on social media if they need help.
So does former Liverpool goalkeeper Chris Kirkland who suffered desperately with mental health issues towards the end of his own career. Indeed, it was on the same talkSPORT station that I first heard Kirkland talk about his problems last season. It was intensely powerful radio. Professional football is a tough, unforgiving environment. Many are not resilient enough to make it and that’s OK. Depression, anxiety and other mental health conditions should never be confused with feeling a little fed-up after losing a cup final or suffering a relegation. Those lines help nobody if they become blurred. But, just as importantly, trivialising footballers’ problems, and those whose job it is to help them, is a cheap trick. We should have called it out in that car park two decades ago and we should call it out now. Ian.Ladyman@dailymail.co.uk