It was strange being back in the public eye a few weeks ago. When I sent out the original tweet referring to the abuse I used to get from the show They Think It’s All Over, I never imagined it would get the amount of coverage it did.

It has been very humbling to receive a number of messages from people saying by me speaking out it has helped them. It is an incredible feeling that certainly made it worthwhile talking about my struggles.

I admit, I was a little concerned at times that my original message was lost a little in terms of where the abuse I received came from. This was never my intention and I hold no grudge towards those who may have said nasty things about me in the past. The main point was to promote talking about our problems when we are going through them, as in many cases this can help so much, rather than keeping things bottled up inside.

I felt I could express myself in a really open and honest way to get my point across, I think as a professional player this can be a lot harder when talking to the press as in the back of your mind you don’t want to say anything controversial that could upset the club, manager or fans. 

I also feel a lot more confident in myself to express my feelings as I continue to develop as a person away from football.

I think we are definitely moving forward and conversations about mental health are getting more progressive, both in football and the world in general. 

I remember when I was starting out in football and going through struggles, my attitude was “pull yourself together and get on with it!” Which is of course not the right thing to do at all, and keeping things bottled up can affect people negatively for years. 

Being emotionally intelligent enough to understand your feelings and why you feel the way you do is essential to fulfil potential. The more education of mental health at younger ages and beyond can help so much for people to understand themselves better, and most importantly, love themselves through the good and bad times!

Lockdown has been a time where I’m sure many of us have reflected on our lives and the direction we are moving. 

I have had a great opportunity to spend time with my two teenage boys, who without lockdown I don’t think they would have been interested spending so much time with their uncool Dad!! 

Of course that’s also meant plenty of time with my lovely wife, who has been the worker in the family as she works as a teaching assistant, a key worker we are all very proud of. Although – she does come home from work most days quite angry to see me and the kids have done very little around the house! In all honesty though, with all the tragedy going on around the world, I feel quite guilty to say it has been a great couple of months to reconnect with myself and family. Now, however, I am looking to return to normality full of energy and vigour!

I have to say when football returned in the German league, I couldn’t get in to it, and I didn’t enjoy the games with the eerie lack of atmosphere. But I have enjoyed seeing the Premier League back, the crowd noise helps and makes it seem a little more normal. 

It’s great to see Gary Neville, and dare I say Jamie Carragher, back analysing live football, and also Keano make an explosive return to punditry in the Spurs United game. He looked delighted to be back! But of course he was talking with huge passion about the club he gave his all for. 

Of course I was disappointed to see Liverpool win the league, and despite fantasising of a monumental collapse, they were most definitely the best team and thoroughly deserved the trophy.  

Positive Signs

There have been positive signs from United though who could hopefully mount a serious challenge next season.

I’ve been very impressed with them since the restart. Bruno’s arrival seems to have given the whole club a massive lift and a new found confidence in the whole playing department. 

I believe Ole is the man to get things back on track since Sir Alex left and seems to have similarity in the way he does things and the environment he is building. 

There was real positivity around the club going back into football largely due to the wonderful work Marcus Rashford has been doing both pre and during lockdown. The club prides itself on developing not just fantastic footballers but just as importantly fantastic people and Marcus emphasises this to the letter. 

Seeing Paul Pogba combine with Bruno has been a joy to behold at times, and with Anthony Martial back in the goals and Mason Greenwood looking like a class act, I truly believe one or maybe two big signings could see the club as a real challenger next season.

Ole’s signings have been largely positive. In Dan James there is a winger on the edges of the first team, a position I am familiar with.

Dan has endeared himself to many United fans with his work rate and bravery to carry the ball and keep taking it when things are not going well. 

For me, although right-footed, he is more effective playing wide left, where he is more adept at beating the full-back on the outside because of his balance and how he dribbles with his right foot. This also gives him the option to drive inside with the ball. 

When on the right, he tends to stay a little wide and on the same line as Wan-Bissaka, making it hard to receive the ball and face forward and also getting in the way of the exciting full-back at times. 

If he can improve his end product, adding more assists and goals to his game he can certainly have an impact in the coming seasons both starting games and coming from the bench.

I think Dan can be very proud of the start he has made at the club. For one reason or another he has probably started more games than he would have imagined when he first came in, and has put in a number of fine performances. 

Of course there has been inconsistency which is almost always found in young players and highlighted more when playing for the biggest club in the world. My advice would be for him to show patience, to not get too down when left out of the team, and look to make a real impact if asked to come off the bench. Work hard to improve that end product and think about different ways to be effective, particularly when playing on the right hand side.

I’m looking forward to getting back to football myself. It has been a tough couple of months for the FFF, as it has been for all businesses. 

We are starting to now see some light at the end of the tunnel and can hardly wait to begin our programmes again, to give us the opportunity to positively affect thousands of children through this wonderful game of football.

During this downtime, it has given us a chance to get into a position to grow our organisation as we look to have Football Fun Factories nationwide and eventually worldwide, we are on the look out for those with the same passion as us to spread our word in different areas of the country. 

If you have interest in finding out more about our opportunity, please visit our website www.footballfunfactory.co.uk.