You will struggle to find a footballer in the lower leagues of the English pyramid who hasn’t at some point been released, transfer listed, told they are not wanted or dropped from a matchday squad. These scenarios can be difficult and sometimes emotional to deal with and to get through these moments and push forward with your career you have to have a level of mental toughness. Mental toughness is the ability to resist, manage, and overcome doubts, worries, concerns, and circumstances that can stop you from succeeding or achieving your goals.
As I know too well football is an unforgiving industry where you are judged on how you perform day in day out in an alpha male environment where you battle with your teammates who are sometimes your friends for a place in the starting XI on a Saturday. It’s not just on the pitch your performance is scrutinised it’s off the pitch too where behaviour is watched closely and it can sometimes feel like you are being monitored 24 hours a day. This battle is a constant one for 10 rigorous months of the year and those who don’t have an inner self-belief sadly fall away and more often than not out of the game.
I have been in the game as a player for 15 years now and there have been times where my confidence has been blown to pieces but other times where I have felt nobody can touch me and fortunately for me it’s the latter that’s occurred more often. For many of the years I have been playing, the end of the season becomes a feeling of anxiety and or worry to see if I would be wanted for the next season by the manager or if I would have to start looking for new employment and this doesn’t only affect me but my family too with my partner often settled in a job or my in recent times my young children in nurseries. Fortunately for me, I have a supportive family who stands by me so I can continue playing the game I love.
In my early career under the guidance of Jim Harvey, the inner thoughts I had were of the constant need to prove myself. I had this edge about me that I wouldn’t be able to forgive myself if I let this opportunity go by so every time I went on the pitch I had this energy in me that I was able to use positively to produce good performances. This constant drive has stayed with me throughout my career and I believe it’s a big reason why I have been able to play so many games professionally. When at Luton Town I was labelled the ‘heartbeat of the team’ by Hakan Hayrettin and in the Nathan Jones era, there was a joke going around with the coaches that “I’d punch my grandma to get in the team” that’s how hungry I was to play. This is the passion I have for football and I believe that a lot of it comes from the mental toughness I have and the inner self-belief I have.
For the many knocks, I have taken throughout my career I have always been able to bounce back. The question is where does this mental toughness and self-belief come from? In my case, I believe it’s partly down to the way I was brought up by my Mum and Dad who are both very hard working people and have always taught me the value of things. I have also developed it along the way, for instance, my college days where I would cycle to the train station at 6.30 am spend the day at college then train for the Morecambe reserve team at night before arriving home at 11 pm following the return journey back. I didn’t have to do this but I pushed myself to keep my face in the door and grab any opportunity I could. Managers have also taught me a lot, Paulo Di Canio worked me so hard when we won the league 2 title that it built resilience in me that I still use today. John Sheridan my recent manager at Chesterfield tested me mentally without even realising by taking the captaincy off me and playing me in positions I had never played before and it did bother me, but I found a way to carry on working hard and believing in myself.
Injuries can also be a testing time for a footballer and can affect your mental wellbeing. Luckily for me, I have only suffered one major injury however injuries in football can make you feel worthless as you are unable to do your job what you are paid for. Some players struggle and it’s easy for them to start feeling isolated or fall into a trap of drinking, gambling, or becoming overweight.
Mental strength can certainly be developed and I have worked hard in trying to develop mine. Reading Dan Abrahams’ soccer tough’ book gave me pointers on how footballers can do this along with ex-player Paul McVeigh who talks a lot about techniques and improvements than can be made in his book ‘the stupid footballer is dead’. I recommend both these books to any sportsmen or women reading this. Both these authors outline the same message that footballers don’t work on the mental side of the game enough and if they did bigger improvement in performance would be seen.
In a result driven business Managers and coaches in general work a lot on the physical and technical side of the game but often overlook the mental side. I believe that players and managers that do put more research and work into this side of the game will become more successful and have longer careers in the game. Your brain is your biggest tool!
NotJustTalent 