Read on Twitter
There’s a lot gets said about the ego and attitude of footballers and ex footballers so I’d like to fire a story out there to give people an insight of how some of them really work.
Thread to follow, hope I’m not upsetting anyone sharing this.
Thread to follow, hope I’m not upsetting anyone sharing this.
I met Iain Hume, recently retired former Leicester City and Canada forward through my coaching page. He’d followed me and when I started a podcast I messaged him asking him if he would come on and chat about his career. No hesitation, he told me to give him a day and time.
We done the podcast and it went very well (it got a great response when it went live). What struck me about Iain was that at the end of the podcast when I stopped the recording, he gave me and told me to save his contact number and to stay in touch. Something I never expected.
Giving his contact to a random 23 year old from Twitter felt bizarre but he also chatted for a while after the recording ended and took time to ask me about my coaching journey, aspirations and my general life.
I saved his contact and we stayed in touch. Chatted a few times about random things (football) and again I was surprised at how someone who is often categorised as being a ‘big time’ (footballers) could have so much time for someone like me, just a random old joe.
Next part of the story gets slightly weird from my perspective. I’d been struggling with depression for a long time and had always struggled with talking to people close to me. One night around 3am I was feeling incredibly low, nobody to turn to or nobody to speak to.
For some reason, I thought the idea of telling someone who I didn’t know might help me, but I was also very nervous. I had zero to lose and I was at my lowest. I messaged Iain telling him everything, it probably took him an age to read what I sent.
Within 10 minutes, I received a reply, equally as long as what I’d sent, giving me some incredible advice and ultimately words that picked me up off the floor. We chatted back and forth and he spoke to me like he’d known me 10 years, not someone who he’d spoken to 4/5 times.
Turning to what was basically a stranger for help could of ended all sorts of ways, but the decision to message Iain specifically was the best I ever made. An ex pro who’d played football at the top level, took time to message a kid he’d never met and picked him up.
The exchange I had with Iain that night at 3am is something that’ll stick with me forever and was a turning point for me. He’s a fantastic person (who I’ve never in person by the way) and someone I’ll forever feel in debt to.
Morale of this story, never feel scared to speak to people. Even a stranger or someone you’ve connected with online. It was the best decision I ever made to talk and seek some sort of help.
Thank you @Humey_7
Thank you @Humey_7
