The end of any football career can be daunting and for many, acclimatising to life without the structure and routine of a professional sport is difficult. In recent years, there have been a rise in cases of footballers slipping into wrong habits or fading into obscurity after struggling to come to terms with being an ex-professional.
Many forge a career in the Championship and further down the Football League pyramids but for some, they fail to carve out a professional career altogether. "That was a very difficult time, I don’t think I was paid for eight weeks, maybe longer, the PFA supported us through that, that was probably the first time I used the PFA’s services for support.”
"Or is there something else I can be doing, then you tie in not being paid, more points deductions, takeovers, it got to a point where I thought, ‘there’s got to be something more than this’. A footballers career can be finite anyway, it could’ve been over a couple of years after so it felt like an opportunity to make that change.”
The footballing journey didn’t entirely end there as Lea would go on to enjoy spells as a semi-professional footballer, with the likes of Colwyn Bay. For a transition out of football, it was about as seamless as it could’ve been but for so many, it isn’t the case. “The talent at the club was amazing, they were winning the Premier League every other year, the Champions League so it was fantastic to be around and you felt integrated into that,” says Lea. “Everyone was eating together, first-team, reserves, youth team and used the same facilities so you felt apart of that bigger team.”
"It was like, ‘do I want to stay over here and have a loan in the Football League which is what every English player wanted to do or do I go over there and try something new.’ "Being realistic I wasn’t expecting to get another contract, I was disappointed because I’d been there so long it is a tough feeling. I decided to stay in Manchester, play reserves and try get in the shop window.
In May, the PFA launched RECONNECT, led by Lea, looking to provide retired members with a fitness network in hubs across some of the country’s leading universities and sports facilities - such as Leeds Beckett, Liverpool John Moores, Salford and Hull.
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