Ian Holloway’s first FFT column

Fourfourtwo’s new columnist needs little introduction. After 24 years in management, ‘ Ollie’ is raring to go for these pages – but first, players’ mental health is on his mind. It’s time for real action, before it’s too late

Isaw a brilliant documentary with former swimmer Rebecca Adlington recently, where she remembered the day her coach recommended psychological help after winning Olympic gold. She was a bit confused and asked, “What for? Am I mental?” But her coach reassured her. “No, no – it’s because you’ll have to win regularly now. People will be looking at you.” In tennis, Andy Murray would have battles with himself all the time – but as he became more successful, his entourage of coaches only got bigger. Gradually, he learned to channel his emotions and improve.

Other sports have come to the conclusion that you need more than physical fitness to be at the top of your game, so they seek help. In football, though, it’s totally discouraged. A weakness. You need someone to help you, son? You’ve got to be strong – deal with it. That mentality needs to go straight in the bin. It’s crazy. If someone says they need some help to get better, that’s a strength, not a weakness. But it’s become an inbred fear for footballers today.

In these strange times, it’s never been more important to think about players’ welfare. It’s a question we’ve got to ask again: is football getting it right? In my experience, I’m not so sure.

Players are human beings who just happen to play football. You’re expected to be mentally tough enough to deal with good times and bad, but no one teaches you how to cope. With social media, everyone’s opinion is out there – you get shouted at, told this and that. Trust me, I had terrible issues as a player, wondering whether I’d be good enough or not. That’s what all footballers have to deal with: no matter what you’ve done or where you go, you get judged every minute of every day.

I had two very high- profile players in different spells at QPR who came to me and said they were struggling. Thankfully, the club allowed them to get some help and have time off. Both came back stronger. You have a duty of care to your players as a manager, and sometimes you can just sense when something isn’t right. You ask them and they say, “I’m fine, gaffer”, but where else can they go if they’re not? I’ve been there – it’s normal to have doubts and worries when you’ve got a young family and might not be playing very well. What’s important is stopping those feelings getting worse.

Let’s not presume that players who are flying can cope with what might follow, either. I had a great chat with Steve Mcmanaman once, who told me that even he’d found things difficult at times – after the greatest goal he ever scored, for Liverpool in the UEFA Cup against Celtic in 1997, he said everybody then expected him to do that every week. Ray Wilkins was also someone I looked up to immensely, before and after I played with him at QPR. He was an absolute hero of mine who made me believe in myself, and dealt with pressure his whole life: from when he was 18, to becoming Chelsea captain. In the end, he struggled with alcohol; someone like him who you considered to be ‘ mentally tough’. We can’t assume anything. I’ve seen so many people just go off the rails when they’re done with the game, having lost who they thought they were. When you retire, a lot of people lose everything: relationships, adulation, their identity, their means of income. I fear that it’s another pandemic coming. I’ve been told by someone at Sporting Chance that issues are really prevalent at the moment – mums and dads ringing up worried about their boys, who don’t want to tell clubs that they’re struggling. Now, we’ve got to find new ways of doing things. I don’t want the game to just let players deal with problems by themselves. I’ve seen so many marriage break- ups, for example, and they’re traumatic – yet those guys are still expected to perform as normal. How could they? This help needs to be preventative, though, not reactive.

Personally, I feel the PFA could do a lot more – I want to see specialists in every club, who can help players and staff; independent experts they can go to without fear of losing their jobs. In football, there’s lots of training on fitness and tactics, but what about training to deal with emotions? There needs to be a stronger message within the game: it’s OK not to feel OK – but you can’t just deal with it on your own.

“IF SOMEONE SAYS THEY NEED HELP TO GET BETTER, THAT’S A STRENGTH, NOT A WEAKNESS. BUT IT’S BECOME An INBRED FEAR FOR FOOTBALLERS”