When Will Mellors-Blair first joined the Manchester United academy at the age of 10, he had the world at his feet and dreamed of becoming a Premier League star like his idol Thierry Henry.
Mellors-Blair, who started out as a no.10, played in the same Man Utd team as Jesse Lingard and Ravel Morrison and enjoyed his football at Carrington. But he could only play for the Red Devils during the school holidays and travelled to Walsall throughout the season due to it being a shorter distance from his hometown of Nottingham.
However, Mellors-Blair's life took a huge turn when his father passed away when he was just 13.
At this point, he was still at Man Utd and Walsall, but football took a backseat as he battled with a number of mental health issues, including anxiety and depression at such a young age.
"My dad passed away when I was 13 years of age," Mellors-Blair told Mirror Football . "That was when I first started to have mental health issues. Having a father pass away when I was barely a teenager, it turned me really, really cold. No love for anyone, very pessimistic, began to be very disruptive at school.
"There were spurts of anger and back then I was very unconscious to the mind, I didn’t know what it was and understood not much about mental health. After that, my mum became my mum and dad, which was very difficult as a little boy."
Mellors-Blair left the Man Utd academy system when he was 14 after Walsall offered for him to become a youth scholar. However, then-manager Dean Smith didn’t offer the forward a professional contract and was released at the end of his youth contract in 2009.
Having spent a year out of the game, Mellors-Blair went to the United States to study at University of Michigan and play full-time football at Detroit City in the USL Championship. The 5”9 striker averaged more than a goal a game in the 2015 season - and received so much praise from his manager and teammates.
But Mellors-Blair suffered yet another setback and returned to England when his mother was diagnosed with Chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD). He continued to play football as well as help out his mum, featuring for Boreham Wood, Notts County and Solihull Moors amongst others.
He added: "My mum had her own mental health issues, she was a chronic smoker, and had around 40 a day. I had witnessed her smoke my own life, but her health turned for the worse in 2015 when she was diagnosed with COPD which is a lung disease that is degenerative, and it doesn’t get better.
"Over time, having the issues I had already, my mum's diagnoses turned me super, super cold, crazy amounts of social anxiety. I would be alone and it was quite detrimental. I would not speak about my feelings, I would keep it all in.
"Trying to play football at the same time, it was almost impossible for me to do. Unfortunately, in February 2022, my mum passed away. Being parentless before 30 was quite challenging."
After another stint out of the game, Mellors-Blair returned in the summer of 2022 following the passing of his mum at Northern Premier League Midlands Division side Stamford. While battling his own mental health issues and playing semi-professional football, Mellors-Blair decided to start his own business in an attempt to help others through his own expertise and qualities.
Mellors-Blair launched True Mind in January, which was designed to support others fighting the likes of depression and anxiety, and help them improve their performance on a day-to-day basis. He has since grown the company and he has a number of clients, including Sutton United's Kwame Thomas and Bristol Rovers' James Belshaw.
"So, bearing in mind I had my own mental health issues, I studied the mind and have been studying it for 10 years and the science behind activation of DNA," Mellors-Blair continued.
"I have been studying bio-technology and how you understand the mind. I have studied meditation and how to help the nervous system levels. Over time, having worked with professionals, I incorporated these practices into my day-to-day life.
"It started to have an effect on people around me, as well as myself. In 2022, I felt as though I could turn this into a project and an adventure. So, earlier this year, I launched True Mind.
"It is a mind optimisation service which is used to help people perform better in their lives by attaining peace of mind. When I reworked my social media to assist semi-pro footballers, the reception was fantastic. So many semi-pros and pros from all levels, speaking up and wanting to have recalls of me and wanting to become clients of mine."
Mellors-Blair, now 30, enjoyed one of the best seasons in his career with Stamford as 'The Daniels' lifted the league title, pipping Halesowen Town and Spalding United in an enthralling race at the top. Although the Nottingham-born striker was used as a bit-part player on the pitch, he had a tremendous impact off it.
He continued: "It has been a godsend, I have known Graham Drury, the manager, for some time now and he has wanted to sign me twice. Once when I was King’s Lynn and the other when I was at Solihull Moors.
"I told Graham that I would need a period of re-strengthening the glutes, the body to get football fit. Even though I I'm fit cardiovascular-wise and weight wise, it wasn’t football fitness. I had no expectations of playing time, goals and assists.
"My main goal was to get amongst it and the camaraderie, the fun, enjoying it and not thinking too much. I thought to myself, if I'm not going to have the contribution on the pitch that I have had in previous seasons and just be a contributing player."
Mellors-Blair still has ambitions to play higher than the seventh-tier before he hangs up his boots, but has focused his detail on his off-the-pitch work with mental health in recent years. There has been a sharp rise in anxiety and depression-related cases since the start of the Covid-19 pandemic, with footballers heavily effected.
He is now campaigning for more work to be done to support footballers and believes the mind is the most important aspect of the game. Mellors-Blair finished: "I would argue that the mind and mentality is the most important part of a footballers’ game. If you are training every single day, or for semi-pros twice a week, and you’re having struggles away from the training ground, how are you able to perform to your potential?
"You’re not. You have so much technology in the game, such as expected goals and Vo2 max to name a few, right? But if you ask the question, what is there out there for the mind and how accessible out there are they? How easy is it for a footballer to incorporate that into their day-to-day routine.
"I would argue the mind is the most important part of a footballers’ game, because if you feel peaceful in your mind, it is easy as you’re in flow. You are not thinking about the things that are making you feel anxious, stressed or depressed. You are in complete control of the here and now and you can enjoy sport."
If you're struggling with mental health, you can call Samaritans on 116 123 or email jo@samaritans.org . They're free, they're confidential, and they're always open.
