ENGLAND v SLOVAKIA DIER: THE STRAIN OF BEING ERIC IDOL
Millions of kids are looking up to us
ERIC DIER has opened up about the pressures that come with being a role model and the difficulties of dealing with fame and fortune.
The 23- year- old Tottenham and England star knows he is in a privileged position and that he has a job most lads his age – most men of any age – would love.
But, as he explains, there are also drawbacks to a life in the spotlight – with plenty of people waiting for and willing players to put a foot wrong.
Dier said: “We could talk about the issue all day, it’s so complex.
Mistakes
“Nowadays, with social media and mobile phones, it’s constant — it’s 24/7, really.
“As footballers, it’s extremely important because everyone knows we are role models.
“We need to try to carry ourselves in the right way because millions of kids are looking up to you, in a sense. Every footballer takes that very seriously and rightly so.
“But if you were to follow any 21 or 22-year-old boy around for six months, you’d see a lot of bad stuff.
“Everyone has to realise that, at the end of the day, we are just young boys. In football, at 25, you are seen as being in the middle or your career, but, from a life point of view, you are still a young boy and boys are going to make mistakes.
“It’s how people handle that which is the real test of their character.
“People don’t realise how difficult it is for us to handle.
“I read something Jamie Carragher wrote last year about psychologists. He said we were extremely gifted footballers, not extremely gifted humans – and people need to remember that. At the end of the day, we are all the same, we are normal humans with a gift we’ve been given.
Spotlight
“So it’s very difficult to handle all of those situations that happen in football with money and fame, etc.”
Players’ wages and transfer fees have hit astronomical levels and Dier added: “I’m not saying I agree with it, but that’s where the industry is at. It’s not Ousmane Dembele’s fault he’s good at football and someone is willing to pay £140million for him.
“The money is the world we live in, but it’s difficult because it’s almost like there are two worlds.
“You’re inside the football world and you’re inside the world as a whole.
“For someone in the football world, that’s what people are looking at.
“They’re comparing themselves with people within the industry, as you would all probably judge yourselves. A tennis player, a writer, a photographer, they all judge themselves from within their industry.” One man who knows all about being in the spotlight is Wayne Rooney, who retired from international football ahead of this latest round of internationals. But he has just found himself right back in the spotlight again after being charged with drink driving, following his arrest by Cheshire Police, just after 2am