Ross County manager Owen Coyle spoke yesterday about the impact on his former players’ mental health after one of their teammates “died” when his heart stopped during a football match.
Coyle said he spent four days by former Bolton Wanderers player Fabrice Muamba’s hospital bed after his heart stopped beating naturally for 78 minutes.
Coyle, who was manager of Bolton at the time, said: “It was nothing short of a miracle recovery, but the effect that had on my team was incredible because a lot of players refused to go and play because they said, ‘if a fit and healthy young athlete collapses on the ground, it could happen to me.’
“We didn’t play for three weeks. They (the players) felt insecure about their wellbeing. There was no doubt a lot of players were really fragile after that. It was a difficult experience but as a team we got through it together. It was an experience to learn from.”
The 51-year-old said that as a manager he now always tries to read a player’s body language and sit down and have one-to-one chats with players.
He was speaking yesterday afternoon to a conference at Strathpeffer Pavilion called Rural Wellbeing: Building Resilience Together.
Afterwards, Coyle also revealed that some of his hardest decisions as a manager are to consider the mental impact of deciding to leave young players out of a team.
He said that when players move to the Highlands and are so far away from home, it is important to make sure they settle in properly – something which he says Ross County “pride themselves” on as a club.
Coyle reflected on experiences at past clubs where players had “gone off the rails” because they had too much time and money without the right support.
He also stressed that when youngsters lose out on professional contracts it is the responsibility of clubs to make sure the support system is there to deal with any rejection by ensuring players come out a better person by giving them life education.
Conference organiser and founding director of Bridge a Gap Ltd, Helena Macleod, said a key aim has been to encourage third sector groups and charities to go into the workplace and speak to employers about how they should handle employees with stress or depression.
Mrs Macleod highlighted the UK Government-commissioned “Stevenson and Farmer review of mental health and employers,” which estimates up to £42 billion is lost each year to employers in the UK because of reduced performance at work due to mental health, as well as additional costs from sick leave and staff turnover.
She said construction is one example of an industry they are focusing on.
The conference was also geared towards establishing more “well being hubs” in rural communities, and encouraging more social interaction for people with diseases such as Alzheimer’s.
Football star Muamba had “died” for 78 minutes
Fabrice Muamba had effectively “died” on the pitch when he suffered a heart attack during an FA Cup match between Bolton Wanderers and Tottenham Hotspur in 2012.
Born in Zaire – now the Democratic Republic of Congo – in 1988, the 29-year-old remarkably recovered despite his heart having stopped for 78 minutes.
He had played for Arsenal, Birmingham City and Bolton as a central midfielder. As he had moved to England at the age of 11 he was eligible to play for the country and represented them up to under-21 level.
It was on March 17, 2012, he suffered a cardiac arrest and collapsed during the first half of a televised quarter-final match against Spurs at White Heart Lane.
He was given defibrillator shocks on the pitch and also in the ambulance to hospital, where he was accompanied by Bolton manager Owen Coyle.
Amazingly, he was sitting up in his hospital bed within two weeks and was discharged on April 16.
Muamba attended Bolton’s home match against Tottenham Hotspur on May 2, where he was given a standing ovation and he expressed his gratitude for the support he had received.
He later played 15 minutes in a testimonial match in 2015.
Muamba, who later graduated with a BA in sports journalism, was part of ITV’s coverage of the 2013 Africa Cup of Nations and has commentated on other matches.