Daily Mirror (Northern Ireland)
Play ball and let us start now
PAUL MCVEIGH’S post football journey since retiring in 2010 has taken him on a road less travelled.
The former Northern Ireland forward may have faced the likes of Ryan Giggs, Alan Shearer and Cristiano Ronaldo in a career spanning 16 years.
He also made his Tottenham debut alongside Teddy Sheringham, scored for Norwich City at Old Trafford and won 20 caps (inset). But the engaging 42-year-old from West Belfast, who has a masters in sports psychology, has his sights on other goals these days.
For the past decade, Mcveigh has been a respected keynote speaker, delivering motivational talks to blue chip companies including Investec, Cisco, Microsoft and Barclays.
“I love what I’m doing now,” said Mcveigh. “I’m sharing lessons and insights from my career and I get a real buzz from it.
“I want to ensure when the 500 people I speak to leave a room they have been inspired, entertained or learned something that will help them in their personal and professional lives.”
The second leg of Mcveigh’s professional journey is a far cry from his childhood dreams of making it as a footballer in one of the most ruthless industries in the world.
“I hate to break it to you but not everyone wants to be a journalist,” he smiles. “But growing up everyone I knew wanted to be a professional footballer.
“Millions of kids across the world want to emulate their Premier League idols.”
The fact Mcveigh that realised his dream, despite being just 5ft 6ins tall in a muscular era predating Messi, Xavi and Iniesta, says much of his drive and desire. His mental strength too.
“My speaking specialities now are on mental performance and there’s no doubt I applied those principles throughout my playing days,” he said.
“I was only 5ft 6ins and was never the best in the team but understanding how the brain works and the psychology of motivation fed into my football.”
Mcveigh, who released The Stupid Footballer Is Dead – a book on mental performance in the sport – back in 2013, says he can reflect on his career through two prisms.
“You can look at my career and say I played 16 years professionally, scored in the Premier League and also played internationally,” he said.
“Another way of looking at is that
I also got released by every club I played for, no manager ever paid £1 for me and there were many times when I was told I was too small.
“But I didn’t let those things hijack my career. My edge was my mentality.”
Dovetailing motivational talks with lockdown has been far from plain sailing for Mcveigh.
“I’ve had a number of tours cancelled, from Singapore to
America and Australia and all my sessions have been on Zoom,” he said.
“It’s not good for the confidence when you deliver your best joke and there’s silence and no feedback because 150 people are on mute.
“I’m looking forward to getting back out there and standing in front of an audience again.”
SCOTLAND’S top flight clubs have begged the government for permission to start playing pre-season friendlies.
Holyrood has yet to give the all-clear for matches to be arranged behind closed doors as the clock ticks down towards a proposed Premiership restart in less than four weeks’ time.
There is still no official approval from the First Minister Nicola Sturgeon for the SPFL’S plan to begin the new campaign as scheduled on August 1.
A raft of restart proposals, including friendlies between rival top flight clubs, have been sent to the parliament in Edinburgh but have not yet been given the green light.
There is a growing concern among clubs over an apparent lack of urgency to get the game back up and running.
On Friday how clubs reacted angrily after Sturgeon and clinical director Jason Leitch hinted that fans may be locked out of grounds until November. With tensions running high behind the scenes Scotland’s clubs are
now looking for the government to let them get back down to the business of playing practice matches. One club boss said: “If you look around Europe leagues have been re-started and fans are back inside stadiums.
“In this country not only has the league season been scrapped but our clubs have been told we can’t even play bounce matches behind closed doors.
“We’re hoping to get the go ahead in the next few days but it does highlight the disparity at the way football in this country is being treated by our own politicians.
“We’ve not even been told yet if they will approve the August 1 start date so it’s obviously a major concern.”