I still dream of scoring the winning goal in a cup final. Even though I celebrated my 49th birthday on Monday and haven’t kicked a ball in anger for 15 years!
Football does that to you. I still feel compelled to play the game I’ve loved for as long as I can remember. I can’t help it, it’s in my blood. If I am sitting in a stadium or watching a game on TV at home, and a cross is played into the penalty area, I instinctively nod my head to meet the ball or shift my feet to get in the right position to finish.
I don’t think that impulse will ever leave me, that desire to score a goal. That’s why my interest was piqued by Manchester United midfielder Casemiro’s admission this week about how his team’s performances are keeping him awake at night.
It made me wonder whether, deep down, the 32-year-old Brazilian is starting to realise that time might be catching up with him. Casemiro’s words resonated with me. They prompted me to cast my mind back to the time in the autumn of 2008 when it hit me like a bolt from the blue that I was no longer capable of doing the things that had made me famous.
I am not saying that Casemiro should hang his boots up, by any means. But I do suspect that he might be starting to feel the pace of the most competitive league in the world. It’s a realisation that initially creeps up on you by degrees.
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One day you feel exactly the same as you did at the start of your career, full of confidence and brimming with energy. The next you’re not quick enough to take a pass in your stride or you can’t close down an opposition player with the same level of aggression.
Slowly but surely it begins to seep into your mind that time is catching up with you. It creeps up on you. You might get knocked off the ball a little easier, or you don’t shake defenders off like you used to. Your ego is still telling you that you can still do the business, that you’re still the main man, the player you’ve always been.
Then, bang! After months of denial comes the realisation that it really is all over. I remember thinking to myself the day after I had pulled on a pair of boots for the last time ‘where’s it all gone?’ It only felt like yesterday that I was an 18-year-old making my debut for Liverpool. The rest was a blur. A click of the fingers and it’s gone.
Your turn! Should Manchester United sell Casemiro this summer? Give us your verdict in the comments section.
Robbie Fowler admits that he was initially in denial (Getty Images)I think everyone who has been in that same position suffers a bout of depression to some extent because it’s so hard to let go of something you have loved all your life. It is well documented how many footballers, and other elite athletes, struggle with mental health issues when they walk away from something they’re wired to do.
I am a big believer in footballers being at their best when they are working in an environment that suits their needs. That’s why my peak years were when I was alongside kindred spirits at Anfield. I am not so sure that kind of environment exists at Old Trafford at the moment.
Perhaps Casemiro is feeling the strain a bit more than he normally would.
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