Former Tottenham and England winger Aaron Lennon says football is doing “nowhere near enough” about mental health issues in the game.
Lennon, who has had his own mental health struggles, says lots of players are suffering in silence and has called for more to be done to help address the problem.
He has called for the introduction of external psychotherapists to monitor dressing rooms.
The 36-year-old has talked to the PFA, the Premier League and mental health charity Sporting Chance since he retired last year and, speaking on Rio Ferdinand’s VIBE with FIVE podcast, said: “I shared what I felt needed to be done and how we could help these players. Even now, they are doing nowhere near enough.”
Asked what needs to be done, Lennon said: “Honestly, you would need another three hours! It is that bad.”
Lennon, who was detained under the Mental Health Act by police in 2017 over concerns for his welfare, believes external psychologists are needed at clubs.
“There needs to be someone in there… a psychotherapist who may be able to notice it,” he said.
“Clubs now put them in there. But for me, am I going to talk to this guy in this room who sits next to the manager, open up this whole can of worms that I am probably not sure how to deal with myself? I am definitely not going to play now. That was my biggest issues about having it in the club.
“It needs to be someone away from the clubs. Players are not speaking… I have spoken to the PFA and the Premier League and they say the same thing, ‘Players are not coming to us, we know there are lots of players who are suffering’.
“I have spoken to players myself who have come to me just because I have been through it. They do not feel there is someone there for them to speak to.
“It is crazy. In football clubs, you know how much is put on the physical side of it. This is one of my big points… you come back for pre-season and they scan you from head to toe, everything, give you a big programme to get your right and make sure you do not get injured. But they never once say, ‘How is your head, how are you feeling?’.”
Last month, Burnley said their striker Lyle Foster is in the care of specialists after the recurrence of a mental health issue. Lennon, who finished his career at Burnley, says he has spoken to “numerous” other players who are struggling.
He said: “After hearing about Lyle Foster, I reached out to the [Burnley] physio and said, ‘If he needs to speak to me or even just wants to have a chat, I have been there.’ I don’t know his issues so might not be the right person, but I am there if he needs someone.
“And I have had these conversations with numerous players, especially since I have retired. Even at the back end of my career, players started to come up to me. Not with big issues, but with smaller issues that were getting worse. And I felt I was helping them.”
