Former Rotherham United striker helping players cope with mental pressures of the coronavirus crisis

The former Rotherham United striker – now a successful performance coach and motivational speaker – has turned his life around after hitting rock bottom.

Broughton lost his house and family and was declared bankrupt at the age of 33 towards the end of a nomadic career plagued by addictions and self-doubt.

He conquered his demons when he checked into the Sporting Chance clinic and is now using his experiences to help put the worries of sports people and the business community into context.

Broughton told The Yorkshire Post: “With everything I went through at the end of my career with bankruptcy and homelessness and all that stuff, you cannot lose any more than that apart from death.

“So this for me right now – without saying it flippantly – I have been in a worse place. The tools I used to cope then are the ones I use now and it is what I am talking about now.

“Everyone is worried and the biggest thing is fear. All the work I do all the year around is to separate players from the fear and dread. I deal with fear every day and I am honest about it.”

For many footballers – particularly below the Premier League – football’s shutdown and worries about livelihoods due to the Covid-19 pandemic is proving tough to cope with.

Last month, every professional footballer in England was sent a mental-health survey after the number of players reporting symptoms of depression doubled in the wake of lockdown measures.

A spike in cases since coronavirus restrictions were brought in prompted the Professional Footballers’ Association to seek feedback from players in England’s male and female professional divisions.

Broughton added: “Many players are struggling. Ironically, the ones who I look after are not.

“They came to me originally because they were struggling with football and the things we worked on are their biggest assets now and they have shared with me that their team-mates are struggling in the WhatsApp groups and from speaking to them.

“They are struggling with the uncertainty of ‘What is around the corner?’ and ‘When I am going to play again?’ and ‘What about my contract and is football ever doing to be the same again?’, ‘Are my dreams over?’, ‘Will the wages now change forever?’

“The beauty of the ones I am working with is that is what they were struggling with when they came to me. They couldn’t play well because they were crippled by those thoughts.

“What we have done to create this strength inside is probably their biggest asset at the moment, if that makes sense.

“I look after nine footballers and they all pay me a monthly retainer to do so. I don’t contract with any of them and have had a conversation with all the boys and said: ‘Look guys, I totally understand your position.’

“But they were all brilliant and said: ‘Look, mate, it is fine unless we get a call from the club to defer, and then I might have to defer our agreement’ and I said: ‘Absolutely, no problem.’

“I have also done about ten Zoom chats to companies and spoken to two swimming clubs and we had about 80 people. I have just shared a bit about my story or on topics to groups and then had a bit of a Q and A.”

One of the key messages that Broughton preaches is the importance of structure, a particularly relevant facet in the working life of sports people and most definitely for footballers.

For Broughton, routine also remains the big driver in his new working life alongside focusing on what you control and not what you cannot.

He continued: “I must have a structure for my life because of the nature of who I am and that I am a deep-thinker and that addict type.

“Addiction recovery is all about structure and I have been watching Tony Adams talk a lot about this on Instagram and it is a brilliant podcast. It is all about structure. If I have too much time, I am not in a good place.

“The things I do to cope with this current set of circumstances are the same things I coach and teach players to deal with things during the season when everything is okay.

“I write a monthly column in Milton Keynes where I live and I wrote last month about attitude and how that this was a great chance for people to grow because you are forced to.

“You can try and predict the future, but you cannot control anything. I am just working on guys to accept that they have no control on anything really – other than keeping fit and getting a routine.

“I am just coaching emotionally. During normal working times, it is helping people perform. I am just a sounding board for people and share openly and honestly how they are feeling and I tell them how I cope.”

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