Live

Repeat: OTB Breakfast

12:00 AM-02:00 AM

Repeat: OTB Breakfast
Advertisement
Soccer

Should footballers put all their eggs in one basket or risk taking one eye off the ball?

For every footballer that makes it as a professional, there are many more who fall through the cr...



Should footballers put all the...
Soccer

Should footballers put all their eggs in one basket or risk taking one eye off the ball?

For every footballer that makes it as a professional, there are many more who fall through the cracks - often with little to fall back on.

With many leaving education at 16, it can leave them vulnerable if things do not work out on the pitch.

But while a fall-back option can be great, is there a danger that one can take one's eye off the ball quite literally?

It is something that two of our recent interviewees on Team 33 discussed. Ex-Arsenal, Everton and Nottingham Forest striker Kevin Campbell now has a role at Taurus Security and previously founded a record label, while former Gunners, Yeovil, Crawley and Journeyman author Ben Smith has re-invented himself as a teacher since leaving the professional game.

Here's what they had to say on the subject of looking for fall-back options early on or in the midst of one's career.

Kevin Campbell

"Because football is what it is, you have to concentrate 100 per cent on this job when you're playing. 

"When you get near the end of your career then you can start maybe looking at other things, but for any young player, taking your eye of the ball could really harm you. I'll be brutally honest."

Listen to the full interview with Kev via the podcast in which he discusses playing in the 'Boring, Boring' Arsenal team, playing alongside a young Wayne Rooney at Everton and his brief spell with Turkish side Trabzonspor in 1998-99:

"There's that much going on with all this social media and all these kind of things. I can't believe that players put themselves in a difficult situation at times by saying stuff after games.

"Really, you've got to dedicate yourself to the game and you've got to do the extra work because your body is your business and you've got to prepare all the time and there's more than enough things to do in order to keep you occupied.

"When you get near the end of your career then you can start looking at doing other things." 

 

Ben Smith

"It's a tricky one because you want to be totally single-minded and totally focused on the one thing. You want to be a professional football and that's great but as much as when you're 16 like I was, you just don't want to hear it.

"But you also have to realise that the statistics which show 95 per cent of players that take up scholarships at 16 are out of the game by the time they are 21 which is a ridiculously poor statistic.

"But you always think - like we all do - that we're going to be the person that makes the difference, that you're going to be the player."

Listen to the full interview with Ben via the podcast, including many insights into what life is like for journeymen players.

"It's different now. I work in the academy of a professional club and the support they give to education and the importance they give to it is a lot higher than it was when I was an apprentice when I joined Arsenal.

"If you were one of the more 'intelligent ones', which I was, you went off to a college in King's Cross and did a GNVQ in Leisure and Tourism. But it wasn't monitored and I'll be honest, I wasn't as diligent on my schoolwork as I should have been then. I often wouldn't go and no one would know anything about it, whereas now everything is done on site and they do a really worthwhile qualification like a B Tech which gives them two A Levels.

"Players have also got the opportunity to take A-Levels as well but when I was an apprentice, there wasn't that importance put on education. It was just purely football.

"So, it's a tricky balancing act between being really focused but also being realistic and thinking 'maybe, I need something to to fall-back on' because I also think if you've got something to fall back on, it probably takes the pressure off.

"Because, while you obviously want to be a footabller, if it doesn't work out, at least you know there is something else you can do, whereas if you put all your eggs in one basket, you can put a lot of pressure on yourself if you're not performing."  

Download the brand new OffTheBall App in the Play Store & App Store right now! We've got you covered!

Subscribe to OffTheBall's YouTube channel for more videos, like us on Facebook or follow us on Twitter for the latest sporting news and content.


Read more about

Soccer