I'll meet you halfway on that objection, but there's no denying that his on and off-pitch behavior isn't exactly mature.
Jesse Lingard | Seoul singer
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I'll meet you halfway on that objection, but there's no denying that his on and off-pitch behavior isn't exactly mature.
https://www.theguardian.com/footbal...really-knew-about-my-struggles-were-all-human
Jesse Lingard: ‘Nobody really knew about my struggles. We’re all human’
David Hytner
Nottingham Forest’s attacker opens up on depression during lost period at Manchester United and how lockdown helped him reset
The best way to sum up how bad things were for Jesse Lingard was that he had become everything he is not. The fun-loving, extrovert Nottingham Forest midfielder did not want to leave the house. The boy who has always embraced the ball and the game with everything he has did not want to be on the pitch. He was even drinking. Anything to escape the bleakness of his reality.
“I was on autopilot,” Lingard says. “I was having conversations with people and I was just like: ‘Yeah. OK. Yeah.’ Nothing would register. It would go in one ear and out the other. I was numb and I wanted to be in that numb state where I didn’t have to feel anything.”
World Cup 2022 briefing: squads take shape as Qatar kick-off looms
This is what depression looks like, the insidious condition that has tormented Lingard’s mum, Kirsty, for longer than either of them want to dwell on. Lingard says she has been “depressed from when I was born”, often medicated and in bed; exhausted, overwhelmed, the curtains pulled shut. And it is what took hold of him in 2019 when he was a Manchester United player, gripping with increasing ferocity in the months leading up to the first coronavirus lockdown in March 2020.
Lingard says that rock bottom came in an FA Cup tie at Derby at the beginning of that month. He had played the 90 minutes and United won 3-0, but he was not really there. He had not been for some time. As he boarded the team bus afterwards, a couple of United fans hurled sustained and deeply unpleasant abuse at him.
They did not know what was going on in Lingard’s life. When his mum was admitted to a facility in London in 2019 for treatment, Lingard’s younger brother, Jasper, and younger sister, Daisy, came to live with him. He had them there for “longer than six months”, looking after them, making sure that they got to school and all the rest. As he worried about his mum and felt his siblings missing her, his well-being crashed.
It is unlikely that the abusive supporters would have cared. To them Lingard was a highly paid footballer, living the dream at his boyhood club, and so he had to perform. Full stop. But Lingard wants to open up on his turmoil, perhaps to explain what was a lost period for him at United and, more importantly, to raise awareness and understanding of the issues around poor mental health. It is why he has collaborated on a documentary with Channel 4 – Untold: The Jesse Lingard Story, which airs on Tuesday.
“I just felt so much scrutiny, especially after the Derby game and I was getting abuse as I got on the bus,” Lingard says. “I can normally take it but sometimes it gets to a point where it’s like: ‘Ahh, I can’t even be arsed doing this any more.’
“Nobody really knew about my struggles off the pitch so they think: ‘You’re a footballer, you live in a nice house, you’ve got money, you can deal with anything.’ But when it’s someone’s health and well being – it’s a different situation. We’re all human.
“It was difficult around that moment in time. It was probably [for] months. I didn’t want to play in case I did badly and there was more scrutiny. Football is my happy place but at that time, I couldn’t really put myself in that situation. I was playing and I felt like I was nonexistent. The games were just passing me by. When it’s not working out on the pitch, you try to work that bit harder to do well in the next match but my mind wasn’t there to do that. I wanted to stop completely and have a break and just be at home. I didn’t want to be on the pitch and have all that scrutiny. You lose a ball and it’s more pressure.”
Jesse Lingard celebrates after Nottingham Forest's win over Crystal Palace.
Lingard is back to enjoying his football on the pitch with Nottingham Forest. Photograph: John Clifton/Action Images/Reuters
Lingard paints a vivid picture of the loneliness he felt on the field, one man in front of thousands, the collective stare laser-like and utterly unforgiving. He holds his hands out and brings them slowly towards his head. “You feel like everything is closing in on you,” he says. “All the weight is on your shoulders. You feel closed up. You don’t want the ball, you are hiding away from the ball. That’s never been me.”
There is a scene in the documentary where Lingard is videoed by his elder brother, Louie, lying on the sofa, completely still, eyes blank. He was like that for a few minutes, apparently, and it did not sound like an isolated moment.
“Just autopilot,” Lingard says. “Coming home, lying on the sofa and staring. When I look at that now, I don’t know what was in my mind but it must have been racing. Literally, I just wanted to sit at home and drink a little bit – try and take the pain away. I don’t do that, normally. I’m not really a big drinker. Of course, here and there on nights out, whatever. But sitting at home and drinking before bed … that’s when I knew I was in a bad situation.
“It wasn’t drinking to excess. It was just little bits through the week and stuff like that. I look back and think: ‘What was I doing?’ It was probably just to be in a mind frame where I’ve got no pain, no cares. Because I didn’t have anyone to bounce off or feed off, I resorted to that.”
Lingard did confide in the United doctor and also Ole Gunnar Solskjær, the team’s manager at the time. They were sympathetic and it helped. But what he really needed was to get away from the game. He makes the point that he never wanted to quit for good, just have a break for a month, two months or “whatever it would have been”. So lockdown, perversely, had an upside for him.
Lingard took delivery from Louie of a stack of old videos of him doing well for United at youth level and England at the 2018 World Cup, when he was a fixture in Gareth Southgate’s starting XI on the run to the semi-final – probably the highlight of his career. They reminded him of why he had got to the top in the first place and he was able to reset.
Jesse Lingard before an FA Cup tie against Derby County
Lingard’s lowest moment was during an FA Cup tie for Manchester United against Derby.
“If lockdown didn’t happen, I don’t know what situation I’d be in because I needed that rest to really look at myself again, to reignite that fire in my belly and work out what was wrong with me,” Lingard says. “It was a turning point. I watched those videos and thought: ‘I should never doubt myself.’ I started training every day, going for runs and making sure that I was one of the fittest going back to United after lockdown.”
The knocks continued to come but now he was able to deal with them. Lingard barely played for United in the first half of the following season but when he got a loan to West Ham in January 2021, he caught fire, scoring nine Premier League goals for them, although it was not enough to earn a place in the England squad for the European Championship. He was also able to stay strong last season when he started only three games for United and the club blocked a January loan to Newcastle.
Anger over Fifa president’s ‘stick to football’ letter to World Cup teams
If Lingard describes his Euro omission as a “down moment; I expected to go with the form I was in”, he knew in his heart of hearts that he would not get the call for the World Cup in Qatar. He has simply not started well enough at Forest after his free transfer from United in July, only scoring his first goal and registering his first assist in last Wednesday’s Carabao Cup win over Tottenham. Lingard, though, is back to being himself and he can also be proud of the courage that his mum showed to talk so candidly in the documentary.
“I guarantee that many, many people will be going through depression, especially in football, which is such a mentally draining sport,” Lingard says. “For me, it was about opening up and speaking about it. You’re never going to be judged because you’re a man and you’re talking about mental health and your feelings. You’re not soft for it.”
Untold: The Jesse Lingard Story airs Tuesday 15 November on All 4
In the UK, Samaritans can be contacted on 116 123 or email jo@samaritans.org. You can contact the mental health charity Mind by calling 0300 123 3393 or visiting mind.org.uk
Jesse Lingard: ‘Nobody really knew about my struggles. We’re all human’
David Hytner
Nottingham Forest’s attacker opens up on depression during lost period at Manchester United and how lockdown helped him reset
The best way to sum up how bad things were for Jesse Lingard was that he had become everything he is not. The fun-loving, extrovert Nottingham Forest midfielder did not want to leave the house. The boy who has always embraced the ball and the game with everything he has did not want to be on the pitch. He was even drinking. Anything to escape the bleakness of his reality.
“I was on autopilot,” Lingard says. “I was having conversations with people and I was just like: ‘Yeah. OK. Yeah.’ Nothing would register. It would go in one ear and out the other. I was numb and I wanted to be in that numb state where I didn’t have to feel anything.”
World Cup 2022 briefing: squads take shape as Qatar kick-off looms
This is what depression looks like, the insidious condition that has tormented Lingard’s mum, Kirsty, for longer than either of them want to dwell on. Lingard says she has been “depressed from when I was born”, often medicated and in bed; exhausted, overwhelmed, the curtains pulled shut. And it is what took hold of him in 2019 when he was a Manchester United player, gripping with increasing ferocity in the months leading up to the first coronavirus lockdown in March 2020.
Lingard says that rock bottom came in an FA Cup tie at Derby at the beginning of that month. He had played the 90 minutes and United won 3-0, but he was not really there. He had not been for some time. As he boarded the team bus afterwards, a couple of United fans hurled sustained and deeply unpleasant abuse at him.
They did not know what was going on in Lingard’s life. When his mum was admitted to a facility in London in 2019 for treatment, Lingard’s younger brother, Jasper, and younger sister, Daisy, came to live with him. He had them there for “longer than six months”, looking after them, making sure that they got to school and all the rest. As he worried about his mum and felt his siblings missing her, his well-being crashed.
It is unlikely that the abusive supporters would have cared. To them Lingard was a highly paid footballer, living the dream at his boyhood club, and so he had to perform. Full stop. But Lingard wants to open up on his turmoil, perhaps to explain what was a lost period for him at United and, more importantly, to raise awareness and understanding of the issues around poor mental health. It is why he has collaborated on a documentary with Channel 4 – Untold: The Jesse Lingard Story, which airs on Tuesday.
“I just felt so much scrutiny, especially after the Derby game and I was getting abuse as I got on the bus,” Lingard says. “I can normally take it but sometimes it gets to a point where it’s like: ‘Ahh, I can’t even be arsed doing this any more.’
“Nobody really knew about my struggles off the pitch so they think: ‘You’re a footballer, you live in a nice house, you’ve got money, you can deal with anything.’ But when it’s someone’s health and well being – it’s a different situation. We’re all human.
“It was difficult around that moment in time. It was probably [for] months. I didn’t want to play in case I did badly and there was more scrutiny. Football is my happy place but at that time, I couldn’t really put myself in that situation. I was playing and I felt like I was nonexistent. The games were just passing me by. When it’s not working out on the pitch, you try to work that bit harder to do well in the next match but my mind wasn’t there to do that. I wanted to stop completely and have a break and just be at home. I didn’t want to be on the pitch and have all that scrutiny. You lose a ball and it’s more pressure.”
Jesse Lingard celebrates after Nottingham Forest's win over Crystal Palace.
Lingard is back to enjoying his football on the pitch with Nottingham Forest. Photograph: John Clifton/Action Images/Reuters
Lingard paints a vivid picture of the loneliness he felt on the field, one man in front of thousands, the collective stare laser-like and utterly unforgiving. He holds his hands out and brings them slowly towards his head. “You feel like everything is closing in on you,” he says. “All the weight is on your shoulders. You feel closed up. You don’t want the ball, you are hiding away from the ball. That’s never been me.”
There is a scene in the documentary where Lingard is videoed by his elder brother, Louie, lying on the sofa, completely still, eyes blank. He was like that for a few minutes, apparently, and it did not sound like an isolated moment.
“Just autopilot,” Lingard says. “Coming home, lying on the sofa and staring. When I look at that now, I don’t know what was in my mind but it must have been racing. Literally, I just wanted to sit at home and drink a little bit – try and take the pain away. I don’t do that, normally. I’m not really a big drinker. Of course, here and there on nights out, whatever. But sitting at home and drinking before bed … that’s when I knew I was in a bad situation.
“It wasn’t drinking to excess. It was just little bits through the week and stuff like that. I look back and think: ‘What was I doing?’ It was probably just to be in a mind frame where I’ve got no pain, no cares. Because I didn’t have anyone to bounce off or feed off, I resorted to that.”
Lingard did confide in the United doctor and also Ole Gunnar Solskjær, the team’s manager at the time. They were sympathetic and it helped. But what he really needed was to get away from the game. He makes the point that he never wanted to quit for good, just have a break for a month, two months or “whatever it would have been”. So lockdown, perversely, had an upside for him.
Lingard took delivery from Louie of a stack of old videos of him doing well for United at youth level and England at the 2018 World Cup, when he was a fixture in Gareth Southgate’s starting XI on the run to the semi-final – probably the highlight of his career. They reminded him of why he had got to the top in the first place and he was able to reset.
Jesse Lingard before an FA Cup tie against Derby County
Lingard’s lowest moment was during an FA Cup tie for Manchester United against Derby.
“If lockdown didn’t happen, I don’t know what situation I’d be in because I needed that rest to really look at myself again, to reignite that fire in my belly and work out what was wrong with me,” Lingard says. “It was a turning point. I watched those videos and thought: ‘I should never doubt myself.’ I started training every day, going for runs and making sure that I was one of the fittest going back to United after lockdown.”
The knocks continued to come but now he was able to deal with them. Lingard barely played for United in the first half of the following season but when he got a loan to West Ham in January 2021, he caught fire, scoring nine Premier League goals for them, although it was not enough to earn a place in the England squad for the European Championship. He was also able to stay strong last season when he started only three games for United and the club blocked a January loan to Newcastle.
Anger over Fifa president’s ‘stick to football’ letter to World Cup teams
If Lingard describes his Euro omission as a “down moment; I expected to go with the form I was in”, he knew in his heart of hearts that he would not get the call for the World Cup in Qatar. He has simply not started well enough at Forest after his free transfer from United in July, only scoring his first goal and registering his first assist in last Wednesday’s Carabao Cup win over Tottenham. Lingard, though, is back to being himself and he can also be proud of the courage that his mum showed to talk so candidly in the documentary.
“I guarantee that many, many people will be going through depression, especially in football, which is such a mentally draining sport,” Lingard says. “For me, it was about opening up and speaking about it. You’re never going to be judged because you’re a man and you’re talking about mental health and your feelings. You’re not soft for it.”
Untold: The Jesse Lingard Story airs Tuesday 15 November on All 4
In the UK, Samaritans can be contacted on 116 123 or email jo@samaritans.org. You can contact the mental health charity Mind by calling 0300 123 3393 or visiting mind.org.uk
Never understood a lot of the abuse he got. Sure he seems a bit immature but by all accounts he is a top professional - keeps himself in top condition, works hard when he's on the pitch, never heard any manager / teammate say he is a problem in the dressing room.
He is a great man. Donated so so much to the local community, people who give him abuse should be ashamed.
Having been through a depression myself - and hospitalized - I can wholeheartedly agree on that part. Openly speaking about it (not on an online forum, to real people those close and even less close) gives you back a feeling of control over your situation. Looking back, what I wanted to do most was what was worst for me and what I least wanted to do was the best - that's the diabolical part of a depression. It's little steps that can help overcome that. A great book in that regard in my opinion is https://jamesclear.com/atomic-habits.
I find it funny how everytime he has a decent/good game after god knows how many shit games he does an interview about his struggles. He did the same shit when he was at WHU on loan and had that purple patch.
Jessie everybody struggles in life you're not an exception.
Jessie everybody struggles in life you're not an exception.
It seems to be a common occurence these days and the facts are that that we've had far too many of these come out of our academy.
As Ronaldo alluded in his interview, none of them listen anymore. They don't take mentorship and seemingly feel like they are owed the world after one or two good performances.
Who cares about the timing, its only right these things are discussed and if public figures speaking about depressive episodes impactss someone, encourages someone to recognise their own depression and seek help or talk to someone about what they're experiencing then it's beneficial, as well as helping to normalise these conversations. Doesn't matter if there's some self serving reasoning as well, whether it be to justify or explain poor performances. Its no different to a player revealing they've been playing through injury. Frankly, I think your post is in quite poor taste and is the exact attitude that mental health advocacy is seeking to change, so I'd suggest putting your judgement to one side and watching the documentary with an open mind.
You say that as though a downturn in performance wouldn’t be explained by depressive episodes. When I have my own it’s almost impossible to act with any kind of clarity and it certainly effects my performance in whatever I’m doing, and that’s without defenders coming flying into me if I take a second too long thinking.
It reminds me of the former England cricketer Jonathan Trott talking about depression in a documentary where he just found it impossible to perform when he was struggling, these people opening up on this stuff can help people reading it no end because at the end of the day, it can happen to anyone at any time and more understanding of the situations and side effects of what they’re going through is badly needed, as highlighted by your post.
He's done this at least 4 times in the past 3 years. And everytime these articles came online was when it looked like he was gaining form. I very much doubt it's a coincidence.
2022
2021
2020
2019
He knows he's absolute shit as a footballer and then comes up with these issues as to why he's not playing good. Everybody has all sorts of issues but we don't come out and tell it to the whole world ? Do we?
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Glad you're in the field of GIFs and not medicine.
He's obviously talking about his issues in the press because he has a documentary coming out so unless he timed filming, post-production, marketing, etc with his current downturn of form I'd say it's simply coincidence.
At the end of the day, it's always worth hearing about mental health issues in sports, even if it comes from the man behind BEANS BEANS BEANS.
He's obviously talking about his issues in the press because he has a documentary coming out so unless he timed filming, post-production, marketing, etc with his current downturn of form I'd say it's simply coincidence.
At the end of the day, it's always worth hearing about mental health issues in sports, even if it comes from the man behind BEANS BEANS BEANS.
His very expensive PR team earning their few quid.
I'm sorry but i don't believe him. He had all these issues yet had time for his Social Media and his Brand - posting videos almost every week until Ole warned him to focus on football
Let's not forget this is the same guy who promoted his Jlingz brand in his tribute for Manchester bombing victims.
I'm going to chose to believe that Lingard gets asked to do these pieces on mental health in sport by journalists who are looking to cover it, rather than it's his PR people teeing these up when he's getting a run of games.
You need to re-assess your views on mental health.
Sure. First it was his mother's depression, then it was him having to take care of his siblings and a year later he had mental issues.
You have no idea how much people will fake shit for attention. A few years ago a few youtubers were trying to fake mental health issues to promote Better help service.
You don’t believe that someone whose biological mother has a long term serious mental illness might have had to deal with mental health issues of his own?
And you think that he’s choosing to talk about this right now because… checks notes… his form has recently improved, as opposed to the imminent release of a TV show about his struggles with his mental health?
You’re an odd fella. You have a strange need to make nasty and personal attacks on players whose ability at football you don’t rate. It doesn’t reflect well on you.
Maybe take a moment or two to think about how these all might be related?
Because i've dealt with a lot of these kind of pretenders who fake shit for their own gain. It speaks volumes that he rejected an offer from WHU and apparently even from Milan to go Nottingham Forest -> $$$$
If he has mental health issues do what Aaron Lennon did. Put football on hold and get help but he's surely not gonna do that is he?
Again you need to make more of an effort to join the dots here. You’ve literally just mentioned his unwell mum and dependent siblings.
Now look up Nottingham on a map.
Aaron Lennon got admitted to a mental hospital after being stopped from jumping off a bridge. He clearly had been struggling massively for a long time before that (including a massive downturn in his form, might I add)
Your posts on this subject are absolutely horrid.
Like the Pogba/Raiola drama. As soon as he had a half decent game, which wasn’t exactly regularly given form and injuries, our came the pressers like clockwork.
I'm a mental health nurse, I absolutely know how people can abuse the system. I also know you need much stronger evidence than you have before even contemplating that they are faking it. The cases of people faking it entirely is infinitely small. Some people have more attention or help-seeking behaviours than others, even when the have genuine issues, it does not undermine the issues that they have. None of us can accurately judge the extent of his depression, nor should any of us, because its not a fecking competition, and you don't need to experience a depression that meets random strangers's arbitrary qualifying criteria based on distant observation before you can speak about it. If you haven't noticed, there has been a big push the past 10+ years to promote the open and honest discussion of mental health issues, which is exactly what he's doing. Comments like "we all have issues we don't all bang on about it" make you look like out of touch and in need of some further education. Why not watch his documentary for a start?
200k a week had nothing to do with it right?
There’s a Lingard watch you tube vid Forest put out after the Spurs game midweek (and well before this recent PR). On one hand I’m watching him kicking a ball about with the kids during warm, smiling and laughing with lad who came out with team. I’m also seeing the whole team genuinely made up for him scoring his goal and celebrating with him. I’m seeing Coops with his arm round him at full time, both smiling and laughing. At the same time reading on here that he’s a vile human being!!! I get questioning his commitment to football - I’ve done it in recent weeks - but in the light of his mental health struggles it makes his last two games all the more special. On the other hand the bugger’s teaching Gibbs-White his bloody tic toc goal celebration!
Some truly shite takes in here...
It’s not or never has been £200k - £90k + add ons - closer to £115k max.200k a week had nothing to do with it right?
The bullying he got from United fans went overboard and I just wish Ole sold him for that 10 - 20M that West Ham apparently offered.
The GuardIan article is BS
Yeah, stick to posting GIFs...
Him being here was mismanagement. It was a bad situation for him too no doubt. Maybe he could have forced his hand earlier and it would have done him good, maybe staying in Manchester was worth it regardless of what role he had at the club or how popular he was with the fans. We can judge footballers as footballers but commenting on their personality is probably just a bit low and unreasonable.
He's good enough to start for a premier league team, or he has been previously, age probably wont be too kind to him. It does require him to be focused and in good form but he can do a job for Forest. They were always going to have a terrible start to the season with 20 something new players. If they come back after the world cup with something resembling a team they can pull themselves out of the relegation zone and it'll probably be easier to judge the individual players.
He's good enough to start for a premier league team, or he has been previously, age probably wont be too kind to him. It does require him to be focused and in good form but he can do a job for Forest. They were always going to have a terrible start to the season with 20 something new players. If they come back after the world cup with something resembling a team they can pull themselves out of the relegation zone and it'll probably be easier to judge the individual players.
He went a full year without a goal or assist. All the abuse (about his performances) was totally justified.
Wonderful player and a fantastic part of the twilight of his career, didnt think he had it in him tbh, certinly after the first couple of games, but like the side, grew into the tournament.
Without doubt one of the greatest of all time, been lucky to have seen him so often with satellite and the internet unlike Maradona.
I do feel peole labelling him the undisputable goat tough....is maybe disrespetful to players of the past. Its all opnions though, the BBC pundits seem to agree and the ITV ones almsot certainly dont agree.
He isnt for me but as other have said, hard to compare differnt eras, especially as even alive, fans would have seen far less of the likes of Pele, Zico, Maradona, Beckanbauer, Moore, Eusebio, Best, Cruff, even Brazilian ROnaldo as we have seen of both the current Ronaldo and Messi.
Longeticity wise at the level he has played I think he is probably top for me as well as stats wise, ability and top performance wise though, not for me personally.....but to inspire his team and play the way he did throughout the knocout stages at his age and point in areer, phenomenal....cant think of any of the other greats doing that to be fair
Without doubt one of the greatest of all time, been lucky to have seen him so often with satellite and the internet unlike Maradona.
I do feel peole labelling him the undisputable goat tough....is maybe disrespetful to players of the past. Its all opnions though, the BBC pundits seem to agree and the ITV ones almsot certainly dont agree.
He isnt for me but as other have said, hard to compare differnt eras, especially as even alive, fans would have seen far less of the likes of Pele, Zico, Maradona, Beckanbauer, Moore, Eusebio, Best, Cruff, even Brazilian ROnaldo as we have seen of both the current Ronaldo and Messi.
Longeticity wise at the level he has played I think he is probably top for me as well as stats wise, ability and top performance wise though, not for me personally.....but to inspire his team and play the way he did throughout the knocout stages at his age and point in areer, phenomenal....cant think of any of the other greats doing that to be fair
Guess whos back
Back again
Jesse's back
Tell a friend
Back again
Jesse's back
Tell a friend
Beanz.
Impressive mastery of the 'malfunctioning Michael Flatley' celebration.
MOTM for Jesse - the lads back in form.
I see a bright future for him
Going places