The wife of Aston Villa left-back Stephen Warnock, who seems poised to quit the club gave an insight into the side of things we don’t often see.
Transfer deadline day is a combination of excitement and tedium for supporters, who wait on tenterhooks for their club to make a deal – Which may not even happen.
But that does not stop us from enjoying it, and thanks to Twitter and the live coverage from Sky Sports News, it becomes more exciting than ever for supporters.
For players, not so much. One minute they may be watching the coverage too, and because it is on a Friday this year, preparing for the weekend’s games, only to get a call from their agent and be whisked halfway across the country – or even abroad, for talks with a new club.
For young players starting out, they will live the excitement of the fans, but for the older professionals who have been there and seen it all several times before, it will be highly stressful.
Take Stephen Warnock for example, last season he started out as a first choice left-back for Aston Villa, while this year he has not featured in either of their opening Premier League games.
On Wednesday night Villa signed Joe Bennett from Middlesbrough, limiting Warnock’s chances even further. He will be pushing for a move today – but the question is where?
At 30-years-old, Warnock like many pro’s has a wife and young kids, and are left bearing the brunt of the player falling out of favour at his club.
His wife Laura Warnock tweeted last weekend: “Hate this not knowing. So hard, need to get my girls down for a school to start next week. Don’t know where I’ll be.”
Getting kids a school place can be difficult at the best of time, and despite the money they will have, the logistical problems of moving at this time of year, combined with the uncertainty cannot be good for the player or his family’s state of mind.
Does he search for a club only in the Midlands? Should he accept sitting on the bench for an easy family life? Or if he moves halfway across the country he faces being separated from his family for a short while, living out of a hotel while his family prepare to join him later on.
It is something we often forget when we think about transfers, and get drawn in by the whole ‘hype’ of deadline day – as it draws towards its conclusion over the upcoming hours ahead tonight, tomorrow will be the calm after the storm, for clubs, players, families, and kids, who could all wake up to a new changed life.
“Sorry luv, I’ve been transferred to Inverness.”
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