Football managers often have a fearsome reputation with tales of fiery dressing room confrontations almost as legendary as the games on the park. But a change is underway in Scotland where bosses have historically had a particularly infamous reputation - from the boot-throwing "hairdryer" tirades of Alex Ferguson to the menacing growl of Jock Stein.
The Scottish Professional Football League (SPFL) is offering its managers unique mental health awareness courses, sparked by the suicide of a promising player whose career was cut short by injury. Chris Mitchell struggled to adapt to life without football and took his own life in 2016 at the age of 27.
Choking back tears, Mitchell's dad Philip told AFP: "He looked at me, and he said, 'I'm done dad, I'm done.'" The family were aware that Chris was contemplating suicide, but there was no structure in place to support players.
"We came to the conclusion that there was very little in place to help people with mental health issues in Scottish professional football," added Philip. As a result, the Chris Mitchell Foundation was founded to raise awareness of mental health issues in the sport.
Mark Fleming, the SPFL chaplain who runs the course, has already been asked to do bespoke training at top flight clubs like Celtic and Rangers and further afield in Liverpool. He's also giving mental health training to Scottish Rugby and would like to see it expanded to other sports - particularly after the apparent suicide of young British snowboarder Ellie Soutter in July.
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