David Wheeler’s frustration is tangible.
A 32-year-old who has played for seven clubs and at every professional level below the Premier League, he has seen numerous team-mates suffer from depression, eating disorders and gambling addictions.
The midfielder has also witnessed what he calls a culture of ‘hypermasculinity’ – “outdated perceptions of what it is to be a man” – which prevents players from “admitting vulnerability”.
It’s a situation that Wheeler, now in League One Wycombe, feels the game needs to address quickly. With the 2020 figures revealing a 50% increase in the number of players who sought advisory support from the Professional Footballers’ Association (PFA) between 2018 and 2019, their concerns seem well founded.
As he puts it, “We’re leaving open the possibility that a fire will start in someone’s head.”
But Wheeler’s restlessness is also informed by his personal journey.
He has gone from seeking psychological support for panic attacks to leading a unique research project that he hopes will help change what one coach describes as football’s “Dark Ages” attitude towards mental health.
Dealing with nerves can be part of any player’s pre-match preparation, but while many will be familiar with tingling ‘butterflies’ during the warm-up, fewer have to deal with bouts of vomiting. It’s a routine Wheeler lived with for a long time.
“As a child I had extreme levels of competitive anxiety,” he says.
“There were times when I was throwing up in the bathroom before going out for kick-off or at half time, or I couldn’t eat properly, which obviously affected my performance.
“Because I didn’t address it well, it ended up seeping into my personal life. On vacation, shopping, or sitting in a restaurant, I would start having panic attacks out of the blue. That’s when I started looking for help.”
Fortunately, thanks to a concerted effort to understand and manage the anxiety that plagued the early part of his career, those days are behind him. As Wheeler says, “I can feel those feelings of intense anxiety, but it doesn’t overwhelm me anymore.”
That effort led to a college degree and his recently completed postgraduate research, overseen by former England women’s soccer team psychologist Dr. Misia Gervis. She describes his findings as “unique” because she believes Wheeler’s status as a current player offers a “true reflection” of what psychology looks like within the game.
Wheeler met Gervis during her time with Queens Park Rangers and also worked with her at Wycombe.
As the first sports psychologist appointed by the English Football Association to support any of its national teams, she accompanied the Lionesses to the 2007 World Cup and the 2009 European Championships. She also believes that a hyper-masculine culture discourages players to ask for mental health support.
She recalls how, on one occasion, a manager prevented her from working with a player she said was vulnerable and actively seeking help.
“It’s easier to show masculine masculinity because then you create a barrier that no one looks behind,” she says.
“But what I see is fragility and vulnerability that is never talked about, never owned and hidden because there is no safe space for it to express itself, and that is really problematic.”
Wheeler’s study includes testimony from 10 elite coaches who have worked with national teams, Premier League or EFL clubs. She spoke to them about football’s apparent reluctance to fully embrace psychological support.
One manager described a “lack of honesty in football” that sees “players fighting because they don’t want to be seen fighting”, adding: “You still have the archaic mentality that it is weakness”.
It’s something Wheeler found during a career that began in Lewes in 2007 and has included stints at Staines Town, Exeter City, Portsmouth, MK Dons and QPR, in addition to his current spell with Wycombe. He paints a vivid picture of how the atmosphere of a macho locker room can affect the mindset.
“I’ve experienced something pretty close to the best you could find, I imagine, in the Football League, and I’ve also experienced something pretty toxic and the difference is pretty stark,” he says.
“There were times when it’s been so bad that I was dreading going every day. It wasn’t a positive place to be and I just didn’t want to be there.”
“On multiple occasions throughout my career, I’ve seen players almost sleepwalk in a pretty dangerous situation where they’re not fit to play a game, but end up playing because they don’t want to give up their place in the team.
“Sometimes it’s like a cauldron of pressure, especially when the coach can be under pressure. I think the lack of presence of a sports psychologist feeds the stigma and taboo of it.” [psychological support].
“If you celebrated and had [a psychologist] as a permanent fixture, it would be like the coach almost saying, ‘We have someone on our team, so if you have a problem, go to them and be open about it.’ It won’t be returned to me if you don’t want it and it won’t affect me by selecting you.’
“By not having someone, it’s almost saying we don’t place a high value on players’ mental health, or are you saying, ‘I’d rather not know, so if you need it, go look elsewhere.’ I think both are concerning. , in different ways”.
Wheeler’s research recommends forcing Premier League and Championship clubs to employ a full-time accredited psychologist. He points out that the cost of doing so – a 2018 study estimated between £27,000 and £100,000 per year, based on experience – should not be prohibitive for teams in any division.
But he also believes that clubs can take other steps, such as encouraging players to get out of the football ‘bubble’.
“I think [change] It comes from celebrating individuality and encouraging people to explore their personality and develop their character, beyond just being a footballer,” he says.
“A lot of the scenarios I’ve seen where people spiral into anxiety, depression, gambling or eating disorders often stem from having a very limited idea of who you are.
“That narrow idea defines you as a footballer, first and foremost, and sometimes only. So once that doesn’t go well, then that’s it.”
During the last season, PFA members from Premier League, EFL and Women’s Super League clubs were invited to complete a confidential mental health survey. About 22% reported experiencing severe anxiety in the past month.
However, while the scale of the mental health challenge facing the game is clear, the responsibility of clubs to provide psychological support – and their willingness to do so – is less clear.
English clubs with ‘Category One’ leading academies must employ a full-time psychologist registered (or gaining the required accreditation to register) with the Health and Care Professions Council, the body responsible for regulating the professions of health and care in the UK.
However, there is no stipulation for Premier League or EFL teams to hire an accredited performance psychologist to help veteran players; the rules set forth in the Elite Player Performance Plan only apply to academies.
Many elite clubs employ psychologists to work with first-team players, including at least half of the Premier League, but respected figures within the game believe more can be done.
In an interview with The football psychology program in 2021, Wycombe’s assistant manager Richard Dobson, who set up a psychology program at the club described as the “largest in Europe” by the former FA psychology leader, said the system allows clubs to “play to psychology.”
“What I’m seeing now is that a lot of people recently graduated from university are going to work in club academies to tick boxes, because the Elite Player Performance Plan says you have to have a psychologist,” he explained.
“So they [the clubs] go: ‘Well, we have brought one, although we are paying them peanuts, but we have one, so now we are doing psychology’. But they are not. It’s not as simple as that. You have to understand psychology on a much deeper level.”
Wheeler is among a growing group of current and former players calling attention to football’s provision of psychological support. In a BBC Sport interview in August, Real Madrid assistant coach Davide Ancelotti suggested that all elite players would soon be Hire your own psychologists.
Wheeler agrees with the need for more mental health support, but is also aware of the potential for abuse of the system.
“Even players who can afford the best psychologists can easily be attracted to someone who is very good at promoting themselves on YouTube, which even happens at Premier League clubs,” he says.
“They access people who have written a book or have a good social media following, but don’t really have the qualifications or experience to do what they say they can do safely.”
While there has been progress in highlighting the positive impact psychological support can have, with Tyrone Mings, Jordan Pickford and Jack Harrison among a number of Premier League players speaking openly about their work with psychologists, Wheeler believes a pace is needed. faster change.
“I think the tide is definitely turning, it’s frustratingly slow,” he says.
“One of the managers in my studio said, ‘We’re still in the Dark Ages, how many more young people are we going to fail before we get organized?’
“That is my concern and that is why I am impatient to change things, because I can’t help but be aware of how many people are going to suffer in the meantime.”
