I’d like you to imagine that you are a football player. You are good. Very good, in fact. And that is why you’re playing in the English Premier League for a well-respected team. For the sake of this story, let’s say you are a midfield player with Nottingham Forest.
As a player, you train four and five times per week. You play competitive matches on a Saturday or a Sunday and often on a Tuesday or Wednesday too.
Football is your life; the thing you always wanted to do. And while your career is the realisation of a childhood dream, there have been lots of sacrifices along the way; sacrifices that got you to where you are today.
When you were younger, while all your friends were out partying and drinking, you stayed in. You didn’t drink, you didn’t smoke, and you didn’t experiment with drugs of any kind. Football came first.
When your friends all got girlfriends, you didn’t. You could never spare the time. On the rare occasions that you did get a girlfriend, the relationship was over before it even began, just as soon as she realised that football came first, second and third in your life.
There’s been no trips to fancy restaurants. You have been on a nutrition-rich diet for the past 12 years. Along the way, you have had numerous operations to patch you up after injuries: some minor; some far more serious.
Yes, you have been rewarded handsomely along the way. You have the nice house and the fancy car. But you have given EVERYTHING to football in general, and to your club in particular.
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