AaronTheBlue
Player Valuation: £60m
GEORGE GREEN has revealed that he thought about committing suicide when he was at his lowest ebb with Everton.
In a brutally honest interview with The Guardian today, the former Blues Academy player has opened up about his struggles to cope with the fame and fortune that came his way.
Green, 19, was released by Everton in the summer after joining the club from Bradford City in October 2011 for an initial £300,000.
The deal could have risen to £2m but Green failed to make a senior appearance for the Blues and moved onto League One side Oldham Athletic.
But the attacker left Boundary Park in November by mutual consent after making just three appearances and is now earning just £75-a-week playing for Evo-Stik First Division North side Ossett Albion.
Green says Everton did all they could to have helped him through his darkest days, a period in which he went to see a psychologist, but says he “threw it back in their faces”.
The teenage forward was tipped for first-team stardom at Goodison but struggled to hold down a place in the under-21s side and Green admits he cut corners and then struggled to deal with the setback of injuries.
George Green - on loan from Everon - celebrates after scoring for Tranmere against AFC Wimbledon
“It was nothing to do with drink or drugs,” Green said.
“I suffered really badly when things started going wrong on the pitch.
“I wanted to take my life a few times.
“There were a couple of bad stints but now I’ve come out of them stronger.
“I was expected to make the first team at 16 and then win an England call-up.
“But if you have one bad game then you start having people question you and asking why you aren’t progressing.
“It did all get too much because I was only doing the best that I could.
“They did everything they could but unfortunately I threw it back in their faces,” Green says of the Blues.
“Everton knew I had ability but they wanted to see that I could be more professional and unfortunately I didn’t show that.
“I was sent to see a psychologist to get my head right but he didn’t really help. He gave me some tablets which I didn’t take because I didn’t want to be known as someone who needed that to feel right. It all hit me at once. I pushed away all my friends and family because you don’t realise they are there to help.”
Kristoffer Peterson of Liverpool and George Green of Everton in action
It is claimed that Everton paid Green a £45,000 signing-on fee and that he was earning more than £4,000 a month with the club.
“It went straight to my head,” he said.
“I just went out and blew the signing-on fee.
“You’re earning thousands of pounds a week and you get more leeway than other players. You don’t want to take liberties but I took more than one.”
He continued: “I wasn’t going into training because I thought I was better than everyone else.
“Being an idiot. Being an absolute idiot, if I’m honest. I wasn’t turning up sometimes because I wasn’t enjoying it and I thought I could do what I wanted.
“When I did go in, I was training absolute s***e. When you’re playing at that standard you can’t do that.
“It’s a better game than that.”
In a brutally honest interview with The Guardian today, the former Blues Academy player has opened up about his struggles to cope with the fame and fortune that came his way.
Green, 19, was released by Everton in the summer after joining the club from Bradford City in October 2011 for an initial £300,000.
The deal could have risen to £2m but Green failed to make a senior appearance for the Blues and moved onto League One side Oldham Athletic.
But the attacker left Boundary Park in November by mutual consent after making just three appearances and is now earning just £75-a-week playing for Evo-Stik First Division North side Ossett Albion.
Green says Everton did all they could to have helped him through his darkest days, a period in which he went to see a psychologist, but says he “threw it back in their faces”.
The teenage forward was tipped for first-team stardom at Goodison but struggled to hold down a place in the under-21s side and Green admits he cut corners and then struggled to deal with the setback of injuries.
George Green - on loan from Everon - celebrates after scoring for Tranmere against AFC Wimbledon
“It was nothing to do with drink or drugs,” Green said.
“I suffered really badly when things started going wrong on the pitch.
“I wanted to take my life a few times.
“There were a couple of bad stints but now I’ve come out of them stronger.
“I was expected to make the first team at 16 and then win an England call-up.
“But if you have one bad game then you start having people question you and asking why you aren’t progressing.
“It did all get too much because I was only doing the best that I could.
“They did everything they could but unfortunately I threw it back in their faces,” Green says of the Blues.
“Everton knew I had ability but they wanted to see that I could be more professional and unfortunately I didn’t show that.
“I was sent to see a psychologist to get my head right but he didn’t really help. He gave me some tablets which I didn’t take because I didn’t want to be known as someone who needed that to feel right. It all hit me at once. I pushed away all my friends and family because you don’t realise they are there to help.”
Kristoffer Peterson of Liverpool and George Green of Everton in action
It is claimed that Everton paid Green a £45,000 signing-on fee and that he was earning more than £4,000 a month with the club.
“It went straight to my head,” he said.
“I just went out and blew the signing-on fee.
“You’re earning thousands of pounds a week and you get more leeway than other players. You don’t want to take liberties but I took more than one.”
He continued: “I wasn’t going into training because I thought I was better than everyone else.
“Being an idiot. Being an absolute idiot, if I’m honest. I wasn’t turning up sometimes because I wasn’t enjoying it and I thought I could do what I wanted.
“When I did go in, I was training absolute s***e. When you’re playing at that standard you can’t do that.
“It’s a better game than that.”
.ya must be hard for alot of young lads to leave home that young,to leave for a strange city with 1000's in your back pocket.some lads take to it like a duck to water and others just crumble and fall to the wayside.
