Picture this - You’ve spent your whole life doing what you love, playing football. You’ve been the standout in your school, missed school to train and play. Been part of an academy with the dream of one day making it as a professional. Everything is trending towards you ‘making it’. You’ve dedicated all of your life towards achieving one single goal… only to be released. Now what? Unfortunately, not everyone is going to be a Wayne Rooney who made his senior debut at 16 years old. The fact of the matter is, there are going to be far more players who don’t make it than those that do.
Although there is support for released youngsters, the FA must do more to support young players who've been released from academies, both with their careers, next steps and with their mental health. Many footballers who ‘make it’ don’t have qualifications as they have committed their time to improving their skills. This, in turn, means that young players don’t always put maximum effort into their education due to having a singular mindset of ‘making. The positives are that as of late, more clubs are helping the players in their academies earn an education. Manchester City has a mandatory education partnership in which their players are required to attend.
Ricky Martin, West Ham United’s academy manager stated that clubs look to sign players from as young as under nine. This would suggest that some players at eight years old know nothing other than playing football. They will have grown up playing ‘Sunday league’ level and then progressed into an academy. So, what if they get released at 16? Where do they go from there, back to Sunday league or to a semi-pro club who won’t pay them enough to live off? They will be forced to find full-time work and although some clubs offer alternative education, this isn’t the case for all clubs.
The Lack of club and FA Support
The lack of support from the FA and clubs is evident to see. One of the most damning examples of this lack of support came in the death of Jeremy Wisten. The 17-year-old Manchester City prospect took his own life having been released from the club in 2020. Wisten supposedly left as a result of constant injuries, but it begs the question… Where was the support from the club? A young player takes his life having had his dreams ripped away from him and yet the club seem to have failed the individual. Youth mental health is an aspect that needs to be addressed in all areas of life, including football. If a young player suffers with their mental health, it is important to face these problems head on. The emphasis has to be on ‘post-release’ care for non-professional players. The FA doesn’t have a programme in place to aid young players who have been released and are looking at their next options. This needs to change. A full inquest into the death of Wisten is expected to take place in spring and we’ll know more on the situation then.
The inquest into the suicide of Josh Lyons, a former Tottenham, Fulham and Crawley prospect found that clubs aren’t doing enough to support released players. This is damning and has lead to numerous players suffering from depression following their release from a club. The coroner in the case of Lyons, found that having been released from Spurs, that there was an ‘absence and lack of support in football’.
When a player is released, they lose their wages, their routine and often some of their closest friends. The FA must put in place steps so that young players are not let out into the ‘real world’ without any support, guidance or backing. It is important to note that neither Manchester City or Spurs in these cases are to directly blame for the death of either individual, however, the more support a young player receives following release, the better chance they have of slotting into ‘normal life’.
The way in which footballers are often informed of their release also needs tobe addressed. Devonte Redmond, currently of Wrexham, supposedly found out that he had been released for Manchester United from Twitter. Speaking to Daniel Taylor of The Athletic, Redmond stated, ‘ “I looked at my phone. All of a sudden I’d got loads of notifications on Twitter. ‘All the best’ – lots of messages like that’. After 13 years at the club, Redmond found out from the official ‘retained and released’ list on social media that he was no longer a part of the club. This is truly shocking and wouldn’t happen in any other line of work.
What can the FA and clubs do to help
As we’ve found, a lot of clubs do do their bit to help their young players. They offer them an education, often seen as a ‘fall back’ option should their careers not go the way in which they planned. However, these are often only available for those at the ‘top’ clubs. Premier League clubs and the wealthier clubs down the leagues can offer young people an education and a ‘get out’, but not all clubs can. All clubs that have an academy must have an education programme appropriate for all ages. This would provide all young players with an education, a fallback and a potential ‘Plan B’ should their football career not play out the way they intended.
Another aspect that the FA and clubs could implement is a ‘post-release’ care plan. This would include support in either finding a trial at a new club, finding a job outside of football or finding further education. The money that it would cost to employ individuals that could help and support released youngsters would be a drop in the ocean for the vast majority of professional clubs. A large percentage of clubs have partner clubs of which they could potentially set up trials for youngsters that haven’t made the cut at their first club.
Protection of young people’s mental health should be paramount in order to not see another situation like that of Wisten or Lyons again. Long time care of the mental health of footballers who haven’t ‘made it’ should be a huge agenda for every club as well as more emphasis being put on it by the FA. Support for the youngsters would certainly limit the number of young players suffering from mental health issues.
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