I’m sure most of us saw the story that emerged over the weekend in the Daily Mail reporting on Jack Grealish’s Saturday night antics following the heavy defeat at Goodison Park. However, this is a topic that seems to have significantly divided opinions amongst Villa fans, some seem completely disinterested, whilst others appear outraged.
Jack Grealish is a young lad, what does every other young lad do on a Saturday night? They go out with mates, have a few drinks, and try to forget anything that’s troubling them in their normal day-to-day lives. The article published in the Daily Mail describes Grealish as “singing into the camera in an enthusiastic manner” and the opening line says “Jack Grealish has been filmed enjoying a boozy night out”. These seem to be the only significant lines in this somewhat lazy piece, and some may ask; what is Jack doing wrong? It’s simply because of his status that he’s having these non-stories made blown right out of proportion simply so that the papers can profit from them. Imagine if every time you went on a night out with mates, you looked in the paper the next day and discovered your social life illustrated across the back pages.
I’ve read a lot of comments on social media on this matter, a main argument that seems to arise against Jack is the notion that he is a professional footballer who makes claim to be a true supporter of this club, and he is straight out after yet another humiliating loss, with his beloved childhood club sitting bottom of the premier league table, to go and party as if he couldn’t care less about it. My immediate response to this is, what did the rest of you do on Saturday night? Did you sit in your room crying yourself to sleep over it? Or did you go out with mates in an attempt to forget about it and get on with your life. I find it hard to imagine many would have done the former. So why should Jack be exempt to this? As much as we’d all like to see some hard evidence that our players truly care as much as we do about our club and the tragic state that it’s in, we have to be realistic and honest to ourselves, at the end of the day it’s the supporters that are the heart of the club, as Villa fans we know this more than anyone.
Of course, if this sort of activity begins to reflect on his performances on the pitch, then we have to question his commitment and attitude, and it can also become particularly agitating for us supporters as we pay our hard-earned money week in, week out, to see it not only go to waste on the pitch, but to have it seemingly rubbed in our faces off the pitch by those we dedicate such big parts of our lives to.
In addition to this, what people must realise is that Jack has become a target for the media. Yes, this is partly his own fault as a result of the reputation he has developed for enjoying himself a little too much at times, notably over the summer, but it’s also because of his vulnerability in being a young, upcoming home-grown talent that the media seem to thrive on, because they know they can sell stories based upon this.
Because of this, it’s important for readers to acknowledge that he should not be singled out as a result of a few lazy, heavily exaggerated articles in tabloid papers. Footballers are human beings just like us, so why are they not entitled to enjoy their lives in the way that we can? They’re just lucky enough to have the talent and profession that we all dream of, but this shouldn’t deprive them of experiencing the rest of their life, should it?
