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EXCLUSIVE: RAMON VEGA - Grealish problems show that young players need education
Yahoo's Sport Business Correspondent Ramon Vega looks into Jack Grealish's issues and feels that while Remi Garde was right to discipline the young midfielder, lack of education within football is the bigger problem.
Jack Grealish has been in the news again this week and unfortunately his exploits off the pitch, rather than in an Aston Villa shirt, are once more grabbing the headlines.
The talented youngster has been dropped by Villa manager Remi Garde for his misdemeanours after partying into the night and next day in the wake of the defeat against Everton.
It’s not the first time that Grealish’s socialising has come under scrutiny and I think Garde has done the right thing, as he needs to learn his lesson quickly.
Of course, Grealish is young and we are all allowed to make mistakes. It’s not easy for him to be growing up in the public spotlight and, although many people are understandably short on sympathy for high-earning footballers, coming into such wealth at a precocious age often opens a whole Pandora’s Box of problems.
That is why I believe top clubs need to do even more to in this country to educate their young stars about the hazards of excessive drinking and ensure that they are psychologically equipped to deal with the temptations their fame can present.
Proper structures, utilising the expertise of dedicated professionals who are detached from the day-to-day coaching staff, need to be firmly put in place to cater for young, often impressionable, players navigating their way through a critical phase in their development.
Grealish’s contemporaries outside of football may be spending their weekends and weeknights going to student nightclubs, slamming back cheap drinks and then recovering the next day in bed playing Playstation, or dozing through a university lecture.
At times, this life might seem enviably free of responsibility and pressure to Grealish. And it is. But Grealish must pay a sacrifice for the unbelievable opportunity he has to become an international footballer for years to come. In the long-run, it will be worth it a million times over.
This is what he has been working his whole life for, what his dreams have been made of since he was a boy, and he must come to appreciate just what a terrible waste it would constitute if he blew his golden chance.
I understand that players are human and they need to unwind and let their hair down. I remember how difficult it was to switch off after playing a game. Players stay alert, going through the whole game they have just played in their mind, like a movie.
It is impossible to sleep after a match, the mind just cannot quieten down as your mental senses are so heightened in the build up to and during the match.
It is a very intense experience and it is normal to want to find ways of relaxing. But there are more sensible ways of doing this than going out and painting the town red. Especially in this era of omniscient social media. Especially after a heavy defeat.
Drinking has been part of British footballing culture for decades and I remember being pretty shocked when I arrived here at how much players would put away. I didn’t drink at the time, but others were drinking for me with a pint in each hand!
I remember one occasion turning up to training and the smell of booze emanating from the guy next to me was so strong I couldn’t warm up next to him!
There are obviously benefits in team-bonding from having a few drinks in the pub together but the general situation was not sustainable and over the years things changed pretty rapidly.
The greater levels of professionalism, coupled with the extra influence being wielded by the top foreign stars, ensured that the binge-drinking was phased out as advances were made on the diet, nutrition and sports science side of things.
This is the environment in which Grealish’s talent has been nurtured. I hope this latest episode is the final blip, he can put it behind him and return to the Villa squad to do what he does best – help win points, rather than sink pints.
Ramon Vega is a versatile high-flying executive with a comprehensive track record of driving commercial success in finance, property and football with national, international and World Cup experience as captain of the Swiss National Team in 1994. Proven experience in managing $billion funds in the asset management industry as well as a turnaround specialist who combines financial and business acumen, Ramon has a flair for inspiring others to exceed their own expectations. Follow him on Twitter here @Ramon_Vega71 (http://frompitchtoboardroom.com)
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