- Burnley’s Lyle Foster given time off to receive help for his mental health
- Paul Merson hosted a discussion on mental health issues in football
- DOMINIC KING: I no longer understand what football is – Everything happens
Paul Merson bravely led the discussion on mental health issues in football on Soccer Saturday.
THE Arsenal the legend has spoken candidly over the years about his own experience with depression.
This follows Thursday’s announcement that Burnley forward Lyle Foster was benefit from extended leave receive treatment for their mental health.
And after host Simon Thomas asked if attitudes were changing positively towards mental health, Merson told Sky Sports: “100 percent, clubs change and show fair play to them.
“They pay a lot of money and big salaries for these people, but at the same time they think about the person.
“Fair play to the boy (Lyle Foster). He could have kept that aside. In the past, everyone would have said this and that, but people now understand that mental health takes everyone.
“Just because you win a lot of money and play the best game in the world doesn’t mean you won’t get sick. I wish him all the best and he’s very brave for what he’s done.
“People on their keyboards will say it’s a shame. Don’t listen to them, they’re lemons.
Fellow experts Kris Boyd and Clinton Morrison spoke equally bravely about mental health, before Mike Dean – who works as a refereeing expert for the show – told a horrific story about his good friend and former Tranmere goalkeeper and Fleetwood, Scott Davies.
“When he finished, he didn’t know what to do with his life. It was all he had done for 15 to 20 years,” Dean said.
“He tried something outside of football, but he didn’t succeed. He turned to alcohol and sat on a highway bridge for two hours, thinking about jumping because he just didn’t know what to do when he finished playing football and didn’t know where to find help.
“Luckily he had good friends around him and he recovered. He now has a job at Fleetwood as goalkeeping coach for the under-18s and under-21s.
“But he was in a really bad way when he finished playing and he kept it to himself because he didn’t want to admit he was in trouble, but he had to, otherwise he might not have- not been there.”
Boyd – who gained cult status at Rangers and Kilmarnock for his goalscoring exploits during his career – then explained how and why footballers in particular struggle to retire.
“You don’t have structure in your life and you lose that identity,” he added. “You’re programmed as a footballer, but when that stops you think ‘oh, what happened here’. It’s a shock to the system.”
“There are times when you feel lost in your life and there are people struggling, but there is always someone to listen to you.”
Morrison agreed with Boyd and also paid tribute to Merson for regularly speaking out on the subject, saying: “I suffered enormously but I never came out and spoke. Then I did it because he (Merson) was talking about it and that’s why we have such a good friendship because we can talk about it.
“You have to pick up the phone and there are always people to help you. Don’t listen to these lemons on social media.
