“They’re stood there thinking, ‘What do I do now?’” – Former Sheffield Wednesday duo, Neil Mellor and Chris Kirkland, are looking to help footballers after they hang up their boots

Mellor and Kirkland - who played almost 150 games between them for the Owls - teamed up with their friend, health and life coach, Buddy Owen, to create Future-Proof Sports Consulting, an organisation aimed at helping footballers through that transition.

Speaking to The Star, the ex-SWFC striker explained his reasons behind starting up Future-Proof, saying that it’s important that somebody helps to try and fill the void that is left when retirement comes along, and that it can’t just be left to the Professional Footballers' Association alone.

Now a Sky Sports pundit, Mellor said, “Me and a friend decided to set it up, and we thought that Chris would be ideal to be involved as well because of his experiences. For me, I feel as though every player struggles coming out of the game, and the idea to set this up was to prepare players for life after football.

“It seems quite simple to say that, but a lot of players really struggle to take responsibility – because from the age of five, everybody has done everything for them basically. And then they come out of the game, and they’re stood there thinking, ‘What do I do now?’.

“They have to fill the void of routine, structure, security, and the identity and adrenaline that they’ve lost coming out of the game. These are some of the areas that we want to target by looking after the players’ well-being.

“What we want to do is help their mental well-being. To try and help stop bankruptcy, stop divorce, stop depression – all these things that escalate for a lot of players because they don’t have that help in place.”

Meanwhile, former Owls goalkeeper, Kirkland, says that it’s something he wished he’d had during his playing days, telling The Star, “Buddy and Neil set it up and got hold of me, and what we’re trying to do is help players both during their careers and in that transition after retirement. Instead of doing it just when they retire, we’re trying to help them get ready for life after football – whether that’s helping them take a different course and learning a new trade, or just being there to talk to because we know how tough times are at the moment.

“When they told me about the idea, I just thought that it was something that I wished I’d had during my career. Having had that help would’ve been good for me. It’s still early days and we’re only recently up and running, but hopefully we’ll get quite a few players on board.”

But was there something that sparked the decision to start it up? Mellor – who had an impressive goal return during his time at Hillsborough – says he’s been considering it ever since the day he became an ex-footballer himself back in 2012.

He explained, “It’s something I’ve thought about really since the day I retired. The PFA are a brilliant organisation, and they’ve been unbelievable for every player with what they give. But a lot of the time the players don’t want to take responsibility, they don’t want to go to the PFA.

“We’re hoping that, because we’re independent, and because I’ve been relatively successful since coming out of the game and Kirky has come through having had some real struggles, combined we can really help them.”

Kirkland, who joined the Owls a year after Mellor’s loan came to an end in 2011, has been a huge advocate for mental health causes, making him an ideal candidate to come in and help players who may be dealing with similar issues.

He went on to say, “I’d gotten to the point where I was comfortable talking about my situation, I was asked by Michael (the Director of Player Welfare at the PFA) if I’d talk about it, and I think I was one of the first.

“I wanted to get the message out there, and use the platforms that we had. Not just for footballers, for everybody in society.

“We’re also involved in ‘Walking’s Brilliant’, where we get together and talk about mental health. Exercise and talking is the key, it’s two of the biggest things you need to do – even if you’re not the fittest people in the world, and it’s low impact as well.”

Despite never playing in the same squad post Liverpool, Mellor and Kirkland followed a very similar career after leaving the Reds with Wigan Athletic and Preston North End as well as Wednesday, but now they’re finally getting to work together off the pitch.

Mellor added, “Players struggle to realise how much they need to invest in themselves… They need to recognise the fact that they’re out of the game a lot longer than they’re in it. It’s a massive honour to be a footballer, but they don’t like to think about what they’re going to do afterwards.

“We’ve put a facility in place to work with the players to identify what skills they have, and how they could perhaps go into something else. A lot of players just go into coaching even if they don’t want to – we’re here to help identify positions that actually suit them.

“We’re here to help. Don’t be scared to make a phonecall, send a text, or get in touch in whatever way. Invest in yourselves.”

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