Leicester City and mental health at the moment.

[Foxes99]

6 hours ago, broughtonblue said:

From someone who has been close to suicide, and also has a good friend in his early 30's in the last stages of incurable cancer, there are indeed bigger things in life to worry about. 

Absolutely, remember being at stoke vs leicester when we were relegated to division 1, left the stadium thinking the world was over. Then drove straight  up to Sheffield spine unit, mate just flown back from overseas after after breaking his  spine from  neck down. Walking into that spinal unit just seeing him and all  the other guys just lying there, thought to myself wtf am I worrying about a game. 

[stourbridgefox]

If people want to watch a happy ending every weekend, they should go to the cinema. 

[volpeazzurro]

7 hours ago, Vestan Pance said:

It is only football, but if you can't get past that then I'd suggest a trip to a lower league game, it will remind you why football is great and why it's supporters are great. We've all become way to serious since the League win, it's just some twats kicking a ball around🤣

Spot on. 

[PAPA LAZAROU]

7 hours ago, Col city fan said:

I remember a group of us in the boozer (all 50 somethings) saying exactly that after we won the Prem. That’s it, it don’t get better than that for us City fans of 40 odd years. It has to go downhill now. And it has of course.

But there is always hope. I too remember being at Wembley when we beat Tranmere rovers in the league cup final back in 2000. As we lifted the cup I felt naturally elated and yet kind of sad. I said to my mates among all the joy and cheering " drink every last drop of this because for us this is as good as it's ever going to get " And I truly felt that, simply because of the size history, and financial standing of our wonderful club.

 

There were the four of us that day who had seen all the highs and lows of being a city fan so that day was very special. None of us and I suspect none of the other city fans that day at Wembley had any idea or aspirations any bigger than just being in the prem. Sadly two of our gang have since passed on, but both of them went on to see us win the prem and the F.A cup. My point is no one knows the future, and yes we do seem to be at a low point again but the beauty of the game is it can and will change both negatively and positively.

 

Being a Leicester supporter IS a big part of my life and I admit to being a mardy arse if we lose but that is just dealing with the emotional side of loving your club. A bit like the  " Hello mother, hello father, here I am at camp Grenada" song. Perspective is everything. I'm sure Arsenal fans and this lately Man united fans who had years of entitlement and expectation feel exactly the same. Always look on the bright side of life !

Edited 27 August 2022 by PAPA LAZAROU

[Raj]

My dad passed away on 3rd August, this is football. Some scouse tw@t said footballs more important  than life, it isnt , it really isnt.

Dont let anything as trivial as sport dictate your mental health as it's not in our hands and most of the people who's hands it is in are only bothere6 about the ££££

[turkish14]

8 hours ago, Collymore said:

I wake up every day looking for some Leicester positives and it's completely devoid of any... and it's been like that for a while now and it's making me a bit upset and I'm sure it must be affecting others in different ways. 

 

 

Rodgers looked absolutely deflated in his press conference recently,  he even said something that really annoyed me -  I'll try not to paraphrase him, but It was something like "there's bigger things in life to worry about"

 

Well Brendan - that's not what I want to hear from the guy at the helm when we're free falling with no apparent soul. 

 

I just think with all the stuff going on in the world your football club should be your beacon of hope at times or at least appear to be.

 

It seems like we're going out our way not to be that beacon of hope. It just seems an utter mess in so many ways. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Some really great replies in this thread…

 

I would also highlight that if your struggling whose to say Brendan isn’t? 
 

we are all human after all.

 

I know for many fans the football is their weekly fix of excitement, but the outcome cannot be controlled. (My belief is why I see over the top anger regularly) 

 

Try and find other hobbies that can also be rewarding, or things to look forward to.

[Rusko187]

Used to let results and negative things happen to the club bother me. Don’t let that bunch of millionaires going home to their mansions and driving their Lamborghinis get you down pal. 
 

Find something else in life that gives you joy or sense of escapism from the negativity in the world. Football can live alongside it in your world and you’ll know that a bad game you can just go and do the other thing that picks you up.

[Rusko187]

14 minutes ago, turkish14 said:

I would also highlight that if your struggling whose to say Brendan isn’t? 
 

we are all human after all.

This is another good point, for all of your frustrations try to see from the perspective of someone else. There is a fanbase who think he’s an incompetent idiot and want him sacked, when you think about it, that is incredibly demoralising and hurtful… surely he’s feeling emotionally all over the place.

 

I’ve given him stick, I’ve called him to be sacked but I’ve eased up on this as it’s not right to attack a person when it’s evident it’s affecting them. Still want him gone mind.

[Nalis]

Aside from what others have brilliantly said, If its the non match day stuff then avoid things like twitter. 

 

If its the match day stuff, try to do something fun either before or after a match. Not sure how old you are or if you have kids but that could be a pint before or after the match with mates or taking your kids somewhere afterwards or even doing something you love doing for an hour afterwards or the day after, just something to put your mind off it and give you another focus away from football really.

[tsintskaro]

to be honest i am more "hurt" because of lack of movement off the pitch and disappointment in top management, board and Brendan

Results and playstyle is dogshit and ruins my weekend, but reading all these news - actually not reading anything positive is kinda depressing 

Edited 27 August 2022 by tsintskaro

[Wasyls Pec Deck]

There’s a lot of glum talk here like we’re about to be relegated out of the pyramid…

 

Whatever happens there will still be a club to support, talk about, chat to your mates about in the pub and over analyse pretending that we all know what we’re talking about. 
 

I’ve learnt over the years to not let my weekends be ruined if we lose or get thumped. As has been said on here, if you have no control over a situation sometimes it’s best to sit back and enjoy the ride.

[st albans fox]

8 hours ago, Nod.E said:

Mental health aside briefly, our manager is basically shrugging and saying it's only football. Yeah, true, but the club pays him a lot of money and a lot of people care quite a bit that he does his very best at the football.

 

Obviously there are more important things, it goes without saying. I do not want to hear that from the manager. Bloke has given up and we're just letting him pick up his massive pay packet. Make it make sense.

 

I wouldn't be able to get away with that sort of attitude in my line of work and there are considerably lower stakes than premier League football.

Didn’t he say that it’s only football to the players and the club but it matters  more than that to the supporters ? (Or something along those lines)

 

Gking back to the OP, I remember in autumn 2016, I was asked to think back over the last year and what the 3 highlights had been that i was thankful for  ….   Moved into a lovely house,  eldest daughter passed her A levels and eldest son got his degree.  Simples …….and then it occurred to me some time later that I’d not put in what was emotionally one of the high points of my life …….. how had I forgotten to put that first ???   and then i thought some more and I decided that it was evidence of perspective - that family is the most important thing in my life.  
 

I appreciate that some people are not in the fortunate  position to be able to say this but the majority are and despite the vast amounts of emotional energy we use following our team, it is only a game ! 

 

that doesn’t mean that a few people’s mental state isn’t strongly dictated by what happens on a Saturday afternoon - I understand that 

[gerblod]

8 hours ago, bovril said:

I have no idea what's going on in the rest of your life but seriously, it's just football.

It's a significant part of many people's lives and should be acknowledged as such. For some, it's the fulcrum point in their existence - around which everything else revolves. 

But, at this point, post the global trauma of Covid, with huge and indefensible energy cost rises, a seemingly inept and rudderless government in power and with the horror of what's happening in the Ukraine at the back of ones mind - it's no surprise that people are feeling anxious and depressed. They look to football to provide a distraction to all the bad stuff and City appear to be in as bad a mess.

It seems that the people running City have forgotten the last decade and us supporters and are busy mismanaging it back into mediocrity. I hope I'm wrong but some stability there would be a positive in a currently negative world.

[huddersfieldfox]

Some people are making the choice- feed their family or heat their home. People will die this winter.
Football is amazing sometimes but at the end of the day players come and go managers come and go and each week games are played. 
communities are organising heat banks for this winter so families can gather to keep warm and be fed, sorry but I fail to get worked up about football 

[AmyLGK]

My husband and I are really affected by football, as some have said, its great escapism from what else is going on at that time (and the world is shit at the moment). He's a Newcastle fan so you can imagine how grumpy he was the year we won it 😄 ... tables have turned now 😥). It does mean too much to me, but I have an addictive personality which I have to manage.  So...in order for me to deal with shit football, as others have suggested, I plan in advance what film im going to watch or other nice thing im going to do immediately after the whistle is blown...and get off twitter!! 

Edited 27 August 2022 by AmyLGK

[Captain...]

9 hours ago, Collymore said:

I wake up every day looking for some Leicester positives and it's completely devoid of any... and it's been like that for a while now and it's making me a bit upset and I'm sure it must be affecting others in different ways. 

 

 

Rodgers looked absolutely deflated in his press conference recently,  he even said something that really annoyed me -  I'll try not to paraphrase him, but It was something like "there's bigger things in life to worry about"

 

Well Brendan - that's not what I want to hear from the guy at the helm when we're free falling with no apparent soul. 

 

I just think with all the stuff going on in the world your football club should be your beacon of hope at times or at least appear to be.

 

It seems like we're going out our way not to be that beacon of hope. It just seems an utter mess in so many ways. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

According to your profile you joined in 2004, which means you were a fan during the Levein, Kelly, Worthington, Megson, Holloway era. If you kind find positives in our current situation just think back to having to beg McKinley and Gemill to play for us and pinning our striking hopes on Mark de Vries or Barry Hayles.

[TrentFox]

Some great words of wisdom on here. When our MH is good, we  know footy doesn’t matter. When it’s bad, it can take on unwarranted importance. @AmyLGK ‘s comment re planning the evening after the game is a good one. Optimists tend to temporalise bad things - they put time limits in place. Having something planned for after means you have a reason to draw a line under the bad moment. Ditto a kind of ‘mindfulness’ perspective - even in a defeat there are some positives to dwell on if you search.  Admittedly, you have to search hard at the moment, but they’re there! e.g. You watched the game with your child/mate and have a shared memory to talk about. Even that you forgot about any other worries for a couple of hours could be a small victory depending on your starting point. Lots of us on this forum have dealt with depression and I’m sure there’s a thread in General somewhere that usually has some superb words of advice on it from others who’ve been there. Keep looking forwards - it’s where we are all heading (except the ball when we have it)! 👍

[westernpark]

This thread feels like fever pitch, ‘football papers over the cracks in your life’, something like that until other things happen. 
Leicester being rubbish, which we’re certainly not at the moment in the perspective of having seen us in other situations does not affect my mental health. 

However, I could understand those being affected during the Covid seasons and not being able to go and watch. Because for many it’s so much more than just the football.

[StanSP]

Some great responses in here, and so true. Football isn't the be all and end all, it's not everything and should not always be relied on for hope. Especially when there's no control that we, as fans, have over it. We cannot blame things that are out of our control or influence, so it's remiss of us to turn to it for positives and then feel disappointed when it's not delivered. 

 

We go through the good times and bad as a football fan. That's just the cycle of how it goes. 

I love Leicester and football as much as the next fan, but sometimes I have to remind myself it isn't everything, and there's more important things in life to think about or look to for positives. Of course we all get in the moment especially on game days, but it's important to remove yourself emotionally from it all at some point. 

[norwichfox]

Football matters...

[FoxInTheBirstallBox]

9 hours ago, Manini said:

 All due respect mate, but I think it’s dangerous to pin so much of your own mental well-being on something you ultimately can’t control. 
 

In the grand scheme of things, Leicester City being good is pretty minuscule when you think about it. But at the same time I’d hate to make it seem like I was telling you how to feel, the above is just my take on it.
 

If it’s making you feel bad, I’m here for a chat if you need it, and I’m sure plenty of others too. It’s sometimes good to talk and just unload and at the same time, we’re all going through this period of the club being a shambles together aren’t we? We’ve all got common ground. 

Quite possibly the best post I've seen on here in months

 

[Sampson]

39 minutes ago, gerblod said:

It's a significant part of many people's lives and should be acknowledged as such. For some, it's the fulcrum point in their existence - around which everything else revolves. 

But, at this point, post the global trauma of Covid, with huge and indefensible energy cost rises, a seemingly inept and rudderless government in power and with the horror of what's happening in the Ukraine at the back of ones mind - it's no surprise that people are feeling anxious and depressed. They look to football to provide a distraction to all the bad stuff and City appear to be in as bad a mess.

It seems that the people running City have forgotten the last decade and us supporters and are busy mismanaging it back into mediocrity. I hope I'm wrong but some stability there would be a positive in a currently negative world.

And people are saying that’s not healthy. Of course we acknowledge it. 
 

While football can give you escapism, ultimately making something the fulcrum point of your existence which you cannot control is not a healthy idea. People are suggesting looking for other hobbies or things you can control to make more important and try to ween yourself off emotional dependence on football- that’s not saying it’s easy and that it may even take needing professional help or talking to people, but I think it’s generally good advice.

[FoxInTheBirstallBox]

21 minutes ago, westernpark said:

This thread feels like fever pitch, ‘football papers over the cracks in your life’, something like that until other things happen. 
Leicester being rubbish, which we’re certainly not at the moment in the perspective of having seen us in other situations does not affect my mental health. 

However, I could understand those being affected during the Covid seasons and not being able to go and watch. Because for many it’s so much more than just the football.

I have a stressful af job. I enjoy it, but I definitely need the release somewhere so going to the footy and venting/ranting/calling random players a nob is much much much needed

[Mr Weller 2]

Some on here deny the point made in the post too much. Clearly we do care, otherwise no one would post and we wouldn’t see the huge number of posts there have been.

 

It’s when you stop caring you should be worried. Losing interest in things you used to care about is a red flag.

Edited 27 August 2022 by Mr Weller 2

[Guest Col city fan]

2 minutes ago, Mr Weller 2 said:

Some on here deny the point made in the post too much. Clearly we do care, otherwise no one would post and we wouldn’t see the huge number of posts there have been.

 

It’s when you stop caring you should be worried. Losing interest in things you used to care about is a red flag.

I don’t agree with that entirely. I think people also post because social media is an addiction.

I really do believe that. Picking up a mobile phone, looking at FT and Facebook etc IS an addiction. 
And a hard one to break…