Ex-Mansfield Town star Paul Anderson needed counselling after Stags spell became a nightmare

Paul Anderson has described his time at Mansfield Town as a low point in his career and admitted he had needed counselling to help with his mental health after being frozen out by manager David Flitcroft.
Paul Anderson.Paul Anderson.
Paul Anderson.

After seven seasons in the Championship, and a couple more in the lower tiers, he became one of the Stags’ biggest name signings in 2017 amid a spending spree sanctioned to win promotion to League One.

But boss Steve Evans’ departure later that season sparked another turning point.

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He quickly found himself out in the cold under new manager David Flitcroft, and played no competitive football in the next 10 months.

Paul Anderson Paul Anderson
Paul Anderson

Anderson, mystified by what he had done wrong, was cut out of the first team squad and reserves, and made to train with the club’s academy at Brooksby Melton College.

“I was training at Brooksby for six months with the U18s and a couple of pros, and then, when they weren’t in, went in with the college kids,” recalled Anderson, now playing for ex-Stags boss Keith Curle at Northampton Town.

“They were good kids and allowed me into their changing room, and the guys that were coaching down there were absolutely brilliant with me. They kept me quite sane.

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“Then I would go to Mansfield to do a bike session on my own and then drive home again.”

Paul Anderson on the rampage.Paul Anderson on the rampage.
Paul Anderson on the rampage.

With a new young family now to support, Anderson had a decision to make.

“It was a case of, ‘Do I sit here for another six months and get paid, or do I take a pay-up, which is a much smaller percentage of my wage, and try to get my career back on track?’

“So I cut my contract short at Mansfield with six months left.”

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Aside from repairing damage to his CV there were more pressing personal reasons that made that choice straightforward.

Steve Evans gives his instructions to Paul Anderson at Cambridge.Steve Evans gives his instructions to Paul Anderson at Cambridge.
Steve Evans gives his instructions to Paul Anderson at Cambridge.

“I had to make a decision totally for my mental health to leave a situation which I couldn’t cope with,” he said.

“My mental health was more important than the money, and so was my career, so I had to take a risk that I was going to sign for another team, even though there wasn’t a club lined up.”

Years of that constant pressure to perform and ever-present physical demands, together with the insecurity of keeping your place ahead of new signings and a conveyor belt of emerging talent, had taken their toll.

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Isolation at Field Mill and a hard fight to uphold his reputation in the game, while others dragged it through the mud, proved the tipping point.

Paul AndersonPaul Anderson
Paul Anderson

“If you talked to me 18 months ago I would have been in a completely different head space. A lot of it was negative,” he said.

“When you’re in a dark place and in a hole you can’t see a way out.

“You just don’t want to leave the house sometimes; it was that bad.

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“I wouldn’t say I was depressed, I didn’t have to take medication, but I had counselling.

“The PFA (Professional Footballers’ Association) were very good and got me help when I needed it. It helped talking about it to someone neutral.”

Football authorities are now keen to promote mental health issues, particularly among young men, although some feel only lip service is being paid to the problem.

But Anderson’s praise for the PFA’s support is encouraging, and comes second only to that reserved for loved ones.

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“It’s not just tough for you. It’s tough for your family,” he said.

“I was going through all of that, coming home with two young children, having to try to be positive around my children and my wife.

“I have nothing but admiration for my wife and how she dealt with the situation, how she was there for me when I was in a difficult place. She got me through it more than anyone.”

He added: “I don’t think I spoke to that many of my friends at the time.

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“I don’t think I told my dad how bad it was. I didn’t even speak to my mum about it because I didn’t want her to have that burden.”

Cutting Mansfield out of his life lifted much of the pressure and anxiety, and an offer to spend the rest of the season in League One with Plymouth proved a tonic.

Although a nine-hour round trip to Devon twice a week, while spending days away from his young family, left life some way short of ideal.

“For three months I had to sacrifice being around my family, but being back in training really helped me to get out of the place I was in.

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“I only played four times, all off the bench, so again I didn’t know what was going to happen in the summer.

“Then the manager who signed me got sacked with one game of the season to go so I had another summer of looking for another club.”

Underperforming players in late season are often described as already imagining themselves on the beach, conjuring up images of long lazy, carefree weeks on overseas sunbeds.

This may be the case for those within the top flight, snugly secure among the luxury of five or six-year-deals.

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But for most pros in the EFL’s lower tiers, uncertainty and estate agents are as much a part of summer as sun cream and sand between your toes.

“When you go into the lower leagues you probably only have a one-year deal,” he said.

“If you don’t perform you won’t have a club next season.

“I have two months left on my contract - what if I got injured, what if I don’t play in the games?

“If you don’t play and then you are out of contract, what other teams are going to sign you?

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“I’m fortunate to have had a few highs in my career, but I go into changing rooms where lads haven’t played in the Championship and they are scrapping around in League Two trying to get a contract and it’s difficult.”

He continued: “People think football is this amazing lifestyle and this perfect life.

“Don’t get me wrong, I have lived my dream, but there are far more lows than there are highs. It is such a rollercoaster.

“Every day there is the pressure to perform and to push your body to the absolute limit.

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“And as difficult as it is physically, it’s more mentally draining.

“All I do all week is work and work to play on a Saturday.

“All I want to do is play the 90 minutes, and most of the time you don’t know whether you are going to get to do that, and sometimes it gets taken away.

“It’s a really difficult profession, but I’m really fortunate Northampton gave me an opportunity after the last couple of years.”