Footballers need advice not Dubai delights
As The Secret Footballer and myself have stated in previous articles, the Professional Footballers' Association (PFA) continues to promote utter bull***t from their monthly magazines, which are sent out to players across the country.
What triggered me to write yet another article regarding the way the PFA go about their business was when I saw this flyer …
This infuriates me as it was in a changing-room at a Non-League football club and the PFA are sending them to players who simply can't afford to be spending their money on stays at seven-star hotels in Dubai.
OK, some can treat themselves to a well-deserved break at the end of the season. Nonetheless, it is rubbing the wrong way.
A player who is on £350 a week doesn't need to be encouraged to go on glamorous holidays to impress their team-mates or girlfriend. The priorities are so wrong within the game and, unfortunately, this is the society that we live in.
Players need to be sent information that would entice them into enrolling on a course to develop their skills for when they leave the game. Education and help should be offered, which will benefit them. Not benefit their bank.
As I have revealed in a previous article, players are not being presented with career advice, financial advice or personal advice regarding any issues that they may face.
I hear talk about organisations raising awareness about issues of mental health. However, I haven't yet seen one representative appear at my training ground to greet me with their support.
So what can be done to help aid this area, which drastically needs humanising?
Well, I believe that players, certainly down the football pyramid, need to be assisted with advice directly from their club.
Football is undoubtedly a very short career but are players made aware that once this comes to an end – perhaps after 15 years, if you are lucky – it's time to make ends meet?
It's time to grow up and start a new career.
But I fear for some players. There are some very naïve ones, who don't quite understand how tough it is out there to find work. Those who aren't qualified in any trade or are uneducated will struggle and find it hard to adapt to life outside of the game.
It's now that players should be making the most of their spare time. Finishing at 1pm every day seems very pleasurable and getting home to just fill in those hours playing on the “PlayStation” or watching “Deal Or No Deal” will only last for so long.
Now is the time to plan ahead, educate yourself and enrol on a course, which will only develop and enhance your skills for when the time is needed.
And yet, after being brought up to accept football as the only job you desire, it's hard to accept what might beckon and what career may be available.
I have witnessed many players go down one career path only to enrol in a different course a few months later as their initial choice did not tailor their needs.
Jumping from one course to another is wasting time and money. How do you know that being a plumber is the right profession for you after playing football for the majority of your life?
Guidance and advice is key for any player in this situation and I hope that this will be addressed soon rather than persistently sending the wrong signals to players.
Most definitely in non-league, players will experience being out of contract many occasions over their career. With clubs slashing budgets and cutting their squads, it is a time where players will be unemployed. The importance of education needs to change dramatically.
I often speak to players in dressing-rooms and they say how they will do a course … further down the line. There is always the same excuse of “I've got loads of time, I will do it when I'm older”.
I will always remember the older pros, when I was a “spring chicken” entering the professional game. They used to say how they regretted not doing something when they were younger – a degree or a trade that would have helped them go straight into a job when they hung their boots up.
It's imperative that football clubs support their players and give them the right assistance, on and off the pitch. Off it is just as important for a player.
I know people say that once you enter the pitch for a game or training, all the issues that you may have are wiped away. Conversely, for players who do have a problem at home, they won't perform to the level expected if it is eating away at them.
Players can leave training and go straight to a bookies to bet money that they don't have. They are in the wrong in this but who else is helping them to escape their addiction?
I fear for many players who aren't supported and this is where the player organisations and/or football clubs need to develop and improve their services.
Yet the blame shouldn't be solely placed on the clubs or organisations. Players themselves need to comprehend – playing football won't last forever.
Their time and money should be used in the correct way; preparing for a long-term career is essential, whether it be on a course to become a barber or an apprenticeship as an electrician.
Work needs to be done now. Players need to understand the fundamentals of their livelihood and career thereafter … before it's too late.
* Read The Secret Non-League Footballer's Column at www.thesecretfootballer.com
* Follow him on twitter @tsfnonleague
