One of the problems Jesse has had over the past few years has been depression, which a lot of us have too. He needs to be near to his northern base, I hope he begins to feel better and enjoys his profession. The amount of money he is paid won't necessarily help in dealing with his underlying problems.
Or he needs a good support network around him that understand that - hence the Moyes/West Ham comment. Arguably his best ever season in football was 180 miles from his northern base.
I think he had his brother with him,most of the time and was given extra time to spend with family. I think he and other professional sportsmen and women, really find it difficult. I was watching Katharine Johnson Thompson at the World Championships, she too was struggling. As a retired professional, I would say not to do it and put yourself through the pain and torment but that's the difference when working with sportspeople. It is a specialist area of work which is maybe not appreciated. In the 90s Ron Atkinson said of Stan Collymore,we all get depressed but not on 25 grand a week. Which showed a lack of understanding and empathy for Stan's condition. What I'm trying to say in my usual long winded way,is that sadly wealth,power,position aren't a protection from mental illness, if only it could be. Apologies Ben if it appears I'm disagreeing or arguing with you, I'm not, I think I was making a different point,a bit cack handedly though.
I'd back all of them, apart from maybe Bournemouth, to finish above Leeds and Brentford, given they have to replace Phillips / Raphinha and Eriksen.
I can’t imagine Forest would be paying wages like that. It might be good business in the sense that there’s no transfer fee but putting someone on 3 or 4 times what anyone else is on at the club never works. Just leads to a bad atmosphere in the dressing room. It’s the sort of thing that happened at QPR under the Italians. Forest have got a quality manager who will keep them up as long as they don’t do daft business like this.
It's a phenomenal signing if they get the "16 Games at West Ham" Jesse Lingard. Much less phenomenal if they get the "Rest of the Past 5 Years" Jesse Lingard
