Dele Alli at Everton

[nferno]

Hungry Dele having a barnstormer of a season during 2023/24, then bring him home when his Everton contract expires in the summer of that season. He’s overcome his demons and ready to finish his unfinished business here.

 

[aliyid]

I loved him before and now that I have more context behind his struggles I have nothing but immense respect for what he's had to go through and the coping mechanisms he's had to develop over time in order to find his happy place.

Anybody who watched him live wouldn't call him lazy and he was often right at the very top of our 'pressing' and 'distance covered' stats. He became slow to release the ball towards the end of his spell as he tried to find the right pass rather than go with his first creative instinct but he always put in a shift off the ball

 

[phillipjpalmer]

It's funny the same people criticising the guy for being distracted by fame and wealth are now holding the #BeKind picket boards.
Ultimately human nature has always been fickle and hypocritical, led by media and social influences.

I'm one of them, I thought his form was a result of his social media and fashion/gaming focus, but they were probably to help keep him busy.

 

[southlondonyiddo]

I'm retired now but I have a background in counselling and therapy spanning 40+ years, later teaching it at tertiary level. Couple of points spring to mind:

When Dele changed the name on the back of his shirt, every person I spoke to in my profession (who follow football) talked of the warning bells this signified.

Gary Neville is an extremely skilled interviewer, he really is, and one could use this interview in a training setting. Really impressed with distance, open stance, the non-verbal reinforcers, the clarifying questions and the summarising. He was very skilful. That was fascinating viewing. Makes you really want to give Dele a huge cuddle.

His name change was virtually to the day when his form dropped off a cliff

 

[heinsmit]

Oh wow what a ****

Before anyone gets confused like I was, I believe he was quoting a twitter post which seems to have been taken down. So it looks like he's calling Dele a **** when in fact I assume he's calling someone a **** who belittled what Dele has said.

 

[mabolsa_ritchey]

Hats off to him not only for the interview, but for having the strength to initially seek the help. That in itself is such a hard thing to do. Hopefully this interview will be another step forward to remove the stigma of men needing to always be tough, and that it is ok to ask for help. As he said at the end, it could save lives.
I’ve no doubt that he is at the right place with the right manager to help him get through this. Like everyone, I want to see him smashing it again like he used to.

 

[Marty]

Before anyone gets confused like I was, I believe he was quoting a twitter post which seems to have been taken down. So it looks like he's calling Dele a **** when in fact I assume he's calling someone a **** who belittled what Dele has said.

Good point. Always useful to screenshot stuff like that and post the picture in case it gets taken down.

 

[NEVILLEB]

I understand the sentiment, and perhaps we should have been more pro-active, but in Dele's own words - he was hiding the state he was actually in.

Sure but clearly there was a mental issue and the club has all the resources to investigate and find out what might have been the issue.

He was labelled as lazy and shipped out.

Mourinho's tough love wasn't the right approach for this sort of thing at all.

 

[Frozen_Waffles]

We should be ashamed about how we have treated Eric as a fanbase.

The way some of us treated Winks as well.

Some players for whatever reason might not make it at spurs or go on a downward spiral. Absolutely no reason to be dicks about it.

The only player I've actually disliked recently is Ndombele, and that's because of that walk when he was subbed. Even so, there is no need for vitriol.

We can say a player isn't good enough. But there are levels, that Davinson thing made me want to stop watching spurs, I don't want associate with people like that.

 

[EighteenEightyTwo]

His name change was virtually to the day when his form dropped off a cliff

I don’t think that’s right. He scored 10 goals with Alli on his shirt and 57 with Dele.

 

[robertgoulet]

Would love him back at the club but think Dyche is probably a better manager for him than Ange, tbh. Feels like he needs a manager who will connect with him/be a father figure type like Poch. Dyche seems that guy.

 

[Gassin's finest]

I'm very guilty of being lazily judgemental about him. I accused him dropping off because he'd rather play computer games and shill clothes.

Sexually abused at the age of 6.
Dealing drugs at 8.
Hanged from a bridge(?!) at 11??

Fuck.

 

[Marty]

His name change was virtually to the day when his form dropped off a cliff

He's had Dele on his shirt since 2016. It was only Alli for the first season.

16/17 and 17/18, the two seasons when he was a bona fide superstar, he played with Dele.

 

[Shanks]

I'm very guilty of being lazily judgemental about him. I accused him dropping off because he'd rather play computer games and shill clothes.

Sexually abused at the age of 6.
Dealing drugs at 8.
Hanged from a bridge(?!) at 11??

Fuck.

It’s too easy to get caught up in the whole ‘not performing’ on the pitch or a lack of desire.

unknown trauma being the cause of it all, whilst some had suspicions something must have gone on behind the scenes because you simple don’t fall from this levels in the manner he had done. I’d just assumed it was a David Bentley type scenario tbh and I should understand trauma on that level as my own kids gotta deal with some stuff when they older too.

 

[E17yid]

I'm very guilty of being lazily judgemental about him. I accused him dropping off because he'd rather play computer games and shill clothes.

Sexually abused at the age of 6.
Dealing drugs at 8.
Hanged from a bridge(?!) at 11??

Fuck.

Kid had his own house key at 7 years old and could come home when he wanted. As he said, you’re basically raising yourself at that point which sadly leaves you open to be preyed upon by various people for different reasons.

 

[The Apprentice]

What a lad. Always have a massive amount of love for Dele. For me, he more than anyone, typified the Poch years. It was his off the cuff, maverick, young and hungry approach to the game that was a real spark.

A big disappointment that no one (Jose, Spurs, Amazon) ever set the record straight about the whole ‘lazy’ comment in the documentary. It has really hung around him since then and become a natural comment/belief for Joe Public when discussing Dele’s merits.

Would absolutely love him to have a storming season for Everton next year.

 

[wrd]

I think something needs to be done regarding the damage that fucking pointless puff piece of an amazon documentary did to the club and to the individuals involved. I think the sheer scale of what it cost us is fucking seismic, whoever organised that needs to take responsibility as they failed to give their staff the work environment they needed.

 

[Albertbarich]

I'm very guilty of being lazily judgemental about him. I accused him dropping off because he'd rather play computer games and shill clothes.

Sexually abused at the age of 6.
Dealing drugs at 8.
Hanged from a bridge(?!) at 11??

Fuck.

Don't be too hard on yourself.

He is a millionaire celebrity, you're a frustrated fan. Human beings judge eachother, it's in our nature.

What's important here is that now we know the underlying issues did the club support him, have they got the right procedures in place to protect not just the players but all employees and will the football industry as a whole use this as a lesson to protect the mental health of those within it.

I'd also love for the associations and industry as a whole to come together to deal with the tabloid press. And restrict access if necessary.

 

[JUSTINSIGNAL]

Sure but clearly there was a mental issue and the club has all the resources to investigate and find out what might have been the issue.

He was labelled as lazy and shipped out.

Mourinho's tough love wasn't the right approach for this sort of thing at all.

Nah. You're just speculating.

Dele clearly said he was suppressing a lot of trauma. He probably didn't even know himself that his past experiences were effecting him in the way the were.

The club can only investigate as much as he let them in. I doubt even Dele blames Mourinho for what happened. End of the day he wasn't performing to the level he should have. Most on here were blaming Levy (as usual) for holding onto him longer than he should have. We don't know what conversations were had at the time. But clearly it was decided a new start was needed at a different club. No point blaming the club for conversations you have no information about.

 

[nailsy]

That was a very brave Interview by Dele. Although he was talking about some difficult topics I actually thought he looked quite content for the most part. Hopefully it's because the rehab has really helped him and now he's spoken about this maybe he can find some inner peace.