I haven't heard Collymore on the radio, so I don't know what he's like. It's good that he's spoken about depression, that's very valuable. But he does talk some twaddle at times.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/football/37446521
Quote:
“Former Aston Villa striker Stan Collymore says young footballers are "milked like a cow" and are not given enough help off the pitch.
Collymore, 45, wrote an open letter to Villa midfielder Jack Grealish this week after Grealish was reportedly involved in an all-night party.
Collymore told BBC Radio 5 live: "I am concerned. Where are the mentors? Where are the people in the dressing rooms?
"Footballers are produce, there to be milked like a cow."
"When they are surplus to requirements they are dispensed with," he added.
In short: 'Footballers must be boring'
Collymore called his £7m move to boyhood club Villa in 1997 "a disaster" in his open letter, and highlighted some of the issues facing many young footballers.
He told 5 live: "What happens with younger players, and I have seen it at various clubs, is that they are a target. A magnet. People want to get into places on the back of them, want to sell them stuff, want them to supply a lifestyle.
"These young players have a lot of disposable income and they end up paying for holidays, paying for trips, weekends away. I've seen it, lived it, breathed it.
"It's very difficult when you have 20 or 30 people around you saying nice things, being nice to you, to look at the motives of every single person around.
"What Jack needs to do is be like Michael Owen when he broke on to the scene. Do the boring stuff, have a game of snooker, have a cup of coffee, play a computer game - become boring.
"If you go down the other route then you get a reputation and it becomes very difficult to be a professional footballer."”
So basically what you're saying is...don't go to nightclubs and don't go out on the piss?
Is that asking too much of a professional athlete?