http://www.portsmouth.co.uk/sport/pompey/keeper-reveals-depression-affected-pompey-career-1-6148981 I saw this story today in my local newspaper. I thought he was fairly decent for us, so was surprised to read this.
A big man to come out & admit this. As he says we all think its a dream job. But I can only imagine what goes through players minds when the crowd get on their backs. Whatever John does, in or outside the game, I wish him well for the future.
It's a sad and sorry thing to happen to anybody in life, whatever their career. We know that pressure can get to footballers, but we usually associate it with those at the very top of the game, and how it can affect them. George Best and Paul Gascoigne come to mind. Perhaps we tend to think that, at the lower end of the scale, footballers live in a much more relaxed, easy going environment. Rather, it is clear that the pressures are still there and can affect anybody. I recall how Tommy Caton died, technically from a heart attack, but I recall reading that he had had massive personal problems and a drink problem that was a contributory factor. I must stress here that I'm recalling from memory and cannot support that with any link. I hope John Sullivan makes a full recovery and goes on to have a fulfilling career. Best wishes.
Good luck to him. We may not quite be in the Dark Ages when if you had a mental illness you were tied to a post, but it is still a bit of a taboo subject, even though this could happen to any of us. Only this year a family friend who had to give up teaching (temporarily) due to depression following bereavement was told to "man up" by her boss when she confided that she had had to take a course of anti-depressants to get through a difficult time.
As a manic-depressive and OCD sufferer for over 25 years, I can totally empathise with JS. Even the most wonderful events in life (children, wedding, publishing deal) are tinged with a feeling of loneliness and despair, and happiness is only a fleeting feeling for the most part. It is a horrible illness and it does not discriminate, and telling someone to 'pull yourself together' is the line of someone with no cares in the world. If only it were that simple.
I felt he may have got dealt a bad hand at ours, and that would have probably knocked his confidence a lot, especially with then having to drop two divisions. The local media coverage after his York howler was like a witch hunt, no wonder he cracked. A brave man.
