Jason Steele says he once ‘hated’ football before his career was revived at Brighton. As Brighton pursues the Europa League this season, Steele has taken over as Roberto de Zerbi’s first-choice custodian.
But earlier in his professional life, he had hit a “tipping point,” and he wanted to find a way to rekindle his love for the game.
Steele recalled, “There was a time when I was really at the bottom and didn’t even care about playing football anyway.”
Prior to his 2018 departure to the south coast, Steele had successive Championship relegations with Sunderland and Blackburn Rovers.
Despite sitting out Brighton’s first 22 Premier League games this season, he has since started all 11 of those games in an effort to help his team contend for a “top-six finish,” which would guarantee European qualifying for the first time in the club’s history.
“There was a time when I detested football and all of its associated elements. Social media creates a muddle; it toy with you continually and makes you carry it around like a huge weight all the time, according to Steele.
Steele was discussing the effects of social media harassment on players following a statement from Leeds United condemning the “completely disgusting online abuse” directed at Patrick Bamford and his family. Threats were made after the striker failed to convert a penalty against Newcastle on Saturday, and the club ordered that the behaviour stop.
It has an impact on our family, including our wife, children, and parents. People who are writing these things are unaware of their impact while they sit there. Steele remarked, “We are all humans, and we all feel things and have feelings.
“I’m completely free of it, and I don’t require it. I’m elderly and wise enough to recognise a successful or unsuccessful game. I don’t need people to follow me on Twitter and tweet me random things.”
When playing a game and checking your phone, you could hear people say things like, “That was ten years ago, and I think it has grown so much recently.”
