[Albion] Aaron Connolly - joining Hull permanently

[Han Solo]

At his time with BHA he was a young man, an overnight minor celeb, with money in his pocket, a lot of spare time, and an entourage of hangers-on. He liked a drink and he liked to party. He had the time, the money, and the inclination, and (crucially) also lacked the maturity and discipline a professional athlete needs to stay at the top. He just stopped working. He himself has admitted this.

Your theory that NSC/Instagram/Twitter DROVE him to almost drinking his career away is frankly ridiculous. Just accept your thesis turned out to be off-track. He liked the party and nightclub lifestyle, got a taste for it, and discovered you can't burn the candle at both ends without buggering up your own career.

Thats it.

Yup it must be that simple right? Because humans aren't complex. There's one single cause and one single solution to any problem.
One single factor playing a role in every single thing. All the dynamics in everyones life are as simple, black and white as you describe them.

 

[BBassic]

Well, time to put this thread on ignore. As much fun as it is watching people argue with a brick wall.

 

[Man of Harveys]

Christ give it a sodding REST man. You’re just plain wrong.

 

[Easy 10]

Yup it must be that simple right? Because humans aren't complex. There's one single cause and one single solution to any problem.
One single factor playing a role in every single thing. All the dynamics in everyones life are as simple, black and white as you describe them.

As simple as squarely laying all the blame at the door of the likes of NSC et-al for his downward spiral. As you have.

 

[jcdenton08]

@Han Solo

You’re absolutely deflecting here, and you know it.

My issue with you is you always think you are right, because of everything you read online. This is the entire basis of your knowledge, not lived experience. If someone has actually lived the experiences you claim to know about, you simply rubbish them or claim they’re old/wrong/lying.

In this case, you outright called lots of us liars because we were saying at the time that Connolly was always out on the piss with his entourage, getting into fights in nightclubs, and not being a good professional footballer - and we recognised that naturally this would be a big problem for a still young and developing Premier League footballer.

You outright called us liars, that it was simply impossible for common folk to see professional footballers out in town, or in nightclubs, or snogging random girls on the street.

You seem to have a fundamental lack of understanding of other people, their lives and experiences, and if they are different from yours (frankly, rarely going outside, eating takeaway pizza and getting high and/or drunk every day) then they are liars or wrong.

Just apologise and move on, rather than defending a completely untenable position and looking like a bit of a nutter.

 

[Wozza]

Very moving, articulate interview. Good luck AC.

 

[Lenny Rider]

Horse shit.

Development a in, can you improve on the pitch. It is NOT the responsibility of the manager to organise every players friends and social lives.

Or is it, when the club are investing huge amounts of money in his career?

If he were a racehorse they wouldn’t let him laze in the field all day eating out of the pig bins, then expect him to win the 3.40 at Kemptown Park or at least expect a place?

I do think for all the great work the club does both off the pitch and results on it, this has been a blip, thankfully AC has come out the other side, and if it means they change their policy and general attitude with the younger players then its been a huge learning curve.

 

[Pinkie Brown]

Connolly made a comment when he was struggling that ‘Shane Duffy had taken him under his wing’. I remember reading it and thinking well that’s going to end well.

I missed that one, but yes. A person known to like a drink or three isn't likely to be a positive influence. Duffy also had a passing happening with Katie Price which suggests his common sense antenna isn't too tuned.

 

[Commander]

Shane Duffy, the club, the HR department, the coach, the HR department, the lack of experienced players at the time...

WHATEVER we do, lets not mention the years of verbal abuse from Albion fans here and on every thinkable social media channel as a possible reason for his psychological struggles. Because if we start mentioning that, maybe we can't abuse the next teenager over how he fails to live up to our dreams, and wheres the fun in that? So lets continue to pretend that recieving 24/7 abuse from your supposed supporters as a 18-19-year-old has no impact on the life of the player. Lets pretend that shit never happened and just lump all the responsibility at Shane Duffy or whoever.

Good on Aaron showing that the bunch of middle-aged men who in the old Connolly thread for years called him ugly, stupid, moronic, useless, claiming he'd play in Worthing when his Brighton contract was over.. they were all wrong. This guy has at the age of 24 identified his issues and been brave enough to talk about it because it can help him and others. His critics aren't fit to polish his shoes.

So a thread on NSC criticising Connolly for being out on the piss regularly and his personal life being a mess, drove him to being out on the piss regularly and his personal life being a mess.

And all the stories that surface on here about him were all made up though.

I do think your general point is valid about young players being built up too much and knocked down again, that has been the English way for decades, and sadly comes as part of the package of being a footballer. But what you just never seemed to understand, was that there were no stories about any of our other young players out living the life that Connolly was living, and that was the difference. That was why he was being singled out.

And quite frankly, your utter inability to admit when you are proved wrong about what is going on day to day in a place that you have never even been to, when scores of people who actually live here say what is happening, is just an unbelievably weird hill to die on.

Everyone who follows the Albion and lives in Sussex knew Connolly had some issues. Thankfully, he seems to have now accepted that himself, and hopefully this will be the turning point in his career. Good luck to him, he comes across really well in that interview.

 

[Commander]

Horse shit.

Development a in, can you improve on the pitch. It is NOT the responsibility of the manager to organise every players friends and social lives.

I think the club would massively disagree with you there. You think they are happy to just let their assets worth millions of pounds do whatever they want in their spare time? Those days are long gone. There is a reason they don't house young players in central Brighton, and get them to live in Hurst etc.

 

[Pinkie Brown]

A very honest and difficult interview for him to do. Best of luck to him for the future.

I do agree with the earlier sentiment that the club might have been more proactive in some form of firm action when it was clear things were getting out of hand. It's not as though the controversies with Aaron at the time were out the public eye behind closed doors, thus they wouldn't have been aware what was going on.

 

[jackalbion]

Becoming an alcoholic and/or partying your life and career away are symptoms of other things being wrong. If he or you doesn't know that, then yes I know something he and you doesn't.

Have you watched the full video on YouTube? I don't think the social media comments are the main cause of the problem and he admitted as much, he lived a party lifestyle, and those in and around Brighton new it too clearly, (to the point where if you wanted to find him all you had to was go to a certain nightclub, even before he broke through, so much that it became a running joke within my mates to try and get a picture with him in said Nightclub whenever anyone visited). He's admitted he has a problem and solved it himself, its really good of him to do that, because he clearly had a problem. Don't think saying its everyone else's fault for social media is helpful to his own recovery, because despite the comments , regardless he still had an alcohol problem, and had it for a long time and its important he overcomes that himself. All the best to him, hope he does well at Sunderland because his PL2 form was blistering.

 

[jackalbion]

Horse shit.

Development a in, can you improve on the pitch. It is NOT the responsibility of the manager to organise every players friends and social lives.

I agree it isn't, and I'm not laying the blame with Potter here, BUT, I do think his handling of certain younger players stood out to me, some were chucked by the wayside to a certain extent, end of the day it is the responsibility of the club, an overall good period for the club with Potter, and he was very decent in some aspects, but his handling of Young left a lot to be desired, and wasn't something I noticed, where as for whatever reasons, De Zerbi seemed to be a lot more successful at integrating players out of the academy to go on and have decent careers here.

 

[jackalbion]

Or is it, when the club are investing huge amounts of money in his career?

If he were a racehorse they wouldn’t let him laze in the field all day eating out of the pig bins, then expect him to win the 3.40 at Kemptown Park or at least expect a place?

I do think for all the great work the club does both off the pitch and results on it, this has been a blip, thankfully AC has come out the other side, and if it means they change their policy and general attitude with the younger players then its been a huge learning curve.

I think the development of players since then has certainly been improved upon since, lessons have been learnt club wide after the very early development and strong signs of Connolly and Alzate that season to the success we are seeing now.

 

[Commander]

Have you watched the full video on YouTube? I don't think the social media comments are the main cause of the problem and he admitted as much, he lived a party lifestyle, and those in and around Brighton new it too clearly, (to the point where if you wanted to find him all you had to was go to a certain nightclub, even before he broke through, so much that it became a running joke within my mates to try and get a picture with him in said Nightclub whenever anyone visited). He's admitted he has a problem and solved it himself, its really good of him to do that, because he clearly had a problem. Don't think saying its everyone else's fault for social media is helpful to his own recovery, because despite the comments , regardless he still had an alcohol problem, and had it for a long time and its important he overcomes that himself. All the best to him, hope he does well at Sunderland because his PL2 form was blistering.

Nonsense. You must be lying. No way could anybody have actually seen, met or interacted with a Premier League footballer in Sussex.

 

[jackalbion]

Nonsense. You must be lying. No way could anybody have actually seen, met or interacted with a Premier League footballer in Sussex.

To be fair the times, me and my mates have spoken to him, he has been pretty amicable and nice!

 

[Lenny Rider]

F*** it, let’s all blame Potter


But in all seriousness great to see AC back on the right road, and if this helps only one young player follow the right route then it’s a positive.

 

[Justice]

It was quite noticeable he was losing the pace he showed on his debut.
Instead of trying to beat his man he went for the cheap free kick. Now we know why he was unfit.

 

[Guinness Boy]

@Han Solo

You’re absolutely deflecting here, and you know it.

My issue with you is you always think you are right, because of everything you read online. This is the entire basis of your knowledge, not lived experience. If someone has actually lived the experiences you claim to know about, you simply rubbish them or claim they’re old/wrong/lying.

In this case, you outright called lots of us liars because we were saying at the time that Connolly was always out on the piss with his entourage, getting into fights in nightclubs, and not being a good professional footballer - and we recognised that naturally this would be a big problem for a still young and developing Premier League footballer.

You outright called us liars, that it was simply impossible for common folk to see professional footballers out in town, or in nightclubs, or snogging random girls on the street.

You seem to have a fundamental lack of understanding of other people, their lives and experiences, and if they are different from yours (frankly, rarely going outside, eating takeaway pizza and getting high and/or drunk every day) then they are liars or wrong.

Just apologise and move on, rather than defending a completely untenable position and looking like a bit of a nutter.

This.

You've regularly dismissed the main reason for a lot of criticism, which was because we (Sussex residents) all either kept seeing him out boozing all the time, or knew someone who had. You inferred we were bullying him and making it up.

Aaron Connolly was not reading criticism on North Stand Chat when he was out on the piss in Brighton. Or Hove. Or Worthing. Or Ditchling. Or Burgess Hill. Or Hurstpierpoint. Or Shoreham.

It wasn't made up.

and this.....

It's ok to just be wrong sometimes, @Han Solo. Stop embarrassing yourself with this nonsense. You can whine at middle aged men on a forum if you like, but that was never the cause of his fall from grace.

He was seen out drinking regularly, he had a big problematic entourage, he was taken under the wing of a senior player known for heavy drinking. Sometimes if it looks like a duck, swims like a duck, and quacks like a duck, then it probably is a duck.

He had a drink problem according to the man himself. I actually think it's far easier to say that sort of thing these days where mental health is talked about and not suppressed, so I just hope he isn't paying lip service to his own words and actually addresses the issue. Obviously like every sane Brighton fan, I wish him well.

and this.....

At his time with BHA he was a young man, an overnight minor celeb, with money in his pocket, a lot of spare time, and an entourage of hangers-on. He liked a drink and he liked to party. He had the time, the money, and the inclination, and (crucially) also lacked the maturity and discipline a professional athlete needs to stay at the top. He just stopped working. He himself has admitted this.

Your theory that NSC/Instagram/Twitter DROVE him to almost drinking his career away is frankly ridiculous. Just accept your thesis turned out to be off-track. He liked the party and nightclub lifestyle, got a taste for it, and discovered you can't burn the candle at both ends without buggering up your own career.

Thats it.

and this.

This is going to be an increasing issue for our Swedish friend seeing as we do have some young posters with young mates who still go clubbing but, moreover, many of us oldies are now in the position where our children or relatives know some of the young BHAFC players or staff from going to school with them.

Whatever you do, don't read the Varndenians thread @Han Solo

 

[Milano]

I think the club would massively disagree with you there. You think they are happy to just let their assets worth millions of pounds do whatever they want in their spare time? Those days are long gone. There is a reason they don't house young players in central Brighton, and get them to live in Hurst etc.

Happy = no. Will they offer support = absolutely. Young players housed in 'sensible' location = yes. The issue here is that AC was an adult, he was 19, he was not in a club house. You can offer an adult all those things but if they CHOOSE not to accept them then what are the club (or any employer) meant to do? Break the law? Kidnap them? What?
In a 'normal' job he would have been warned and then fired. It's not a normal job.