Ross Barkley

[Sexual Ealing]

I suppose it depends on how much he was dependent on alcohol but it might be that the "personal issues" were the club agreed he could take time away at specific facilities to help him over the first few months of getting over the need for drinking. I suspect if there was something more personal (blacked out drunk when looking after the baby, becoming more abusive to his partner, etc) they weren't covering it.

Why stop with just two wild speculations? Perhaps he was keeping his wife on a perch outside the utility room and only feeding her beetroot and meat? I wonder whether he left the baby in a factory while he huffed on Ventolin? Did he really put bricks in a baby's socks? Awful, if so.

[Somniloquism]

I chose two scenarios that I know happened with a former friend who had a drinking problem. But you do you.

[pauliewalnuts]

It's still conjecture, though.

[PeterWithesShin]

I heard that while drunk he'd listen to U2 while making bacon sandwiches and put red sauce on them.

[selly park trinity]

He’s gorra go Tom

[Somniloquism]

It's still conjecture, though.

It is. My clumsy initial reply was to Eamon who stated "the article didn't explain the personal issues as to why he missed the first couple of months of the season unless I missed it." I was initially replying that the personal issues were pretty much covered with him stopping the drink in the summer with the clubs support. I then offered that if there was any major personal reason he was off for (examples), they weren't going to cover it were they? I apologise for suggesting either actually happened with Ross and hopefully he feels alot better mentally and physically since his decision.

[brontebilly]

It's hardly a surprise Barkley has issues with alcohol. Was strongly rumoured during his Everton days that he was a party boy. Clip of him with Lundstram last summer when he was clearly off his head, it's summer time fair enough, but wasn't exactly a huge surprise that he was dealing with a "personal issue" soon after. Likely that's where his first stint with us went off the rails with Grealish and his shin injury that didn't heal for ages

Fair play to him admitting that he's addressing the issue and it's impacted his career. Emery clearly rates him and I'm very surprised he has put him back in as a 10 recently.

[darren woolley]

Thanks for posting SV great article.

[dcdavecollett]

Didn't Ross have an injury of some sort before his 'problem' was alluded to by the manager?

[Somniloquism]

Last year yes, but he started to appear at the end of last season for a minute here and there. Then disappeared over the summer games and into the new year with the "personal" reasons used by Emery a couple of times.

[ROBBO]

We hold top footballers to a different standard, When I was in my late teens and twenties I was out for fun and entertainment with a lot of grog involved, they reckon the brain of a male isn't fully developed until the age of twenty five, I reckon I was well past that. It must be a struggle for any young player to avoid the normal temptations.

[LeeB]

I think people are conflating the 'personal issue' he was out with and the fact he gave the booze up in the summer. I'm not sure they're related at all.

I'm also not so sure he had a drink dependancy issue either, more a recognition that it's not going to help him as an athlete and a dad.

[Brazilian Villain]

I think people are conflating the 'personal issue' he was out with and the fact he gave the booze up in the summer. I'm not sure they're related at all.

I'm also not so sure he had a drink dependancy issue either, more a recognition that it's not going to help him as an athlete and a dad.

Yeah, that's my view too.

[paul_e]

I think people are conflating the 'personal issue' he was out with and the fact he gave the booze up in the summer. I'm not sure they're related at all.

I'm also not so sure he had a drink dependancy issue either, more a recognition that it's not going to help him as an athlete and a dad.

Same, the fact that he's only talking about stopping whilst he's still playing sounds weird if it's a dependency thing that's he's been getting help for but if it's just about staying fit and stretching his career as long as possible then that line fits the rest of the story much better.

To me it just sounds like he's grown up and decided to focus on his career and his family and put the partying behind him, which is why i think him talking to the academy kids about his experiences could be a really good thing for us as well.

That said I could see the 'personal issues' being a trigger of some sort that prompted this and had him decide to take some time to get his fitness levels up and focus on changing his lifestyle

[PaulWinch again]

Impressive self awareness and he’s been good in his time on the pitch this year. His versatility is really helpful too.