Greg Tansey: My Psyche

‘I used to walk into my mum’s house and she’d have Sky Sports News on and I’d have to tell her to get if off,’ admitted Greg Tansey the former Stockport County, Inverness CT and Aberdeen midfielder, who last year was forced into retirement at the age of just 30.

For the most part of Greg’s career, a consistent pattern emerged of both personal and career progression. Success whilst rising through the ranks at Stockport led to being introduced to ‘idol’ Steven Gerrard and an offer to play for Liverpool. A move to Inverness saw Greg raise into the sky the handles of the Scottish Cup in 2015 and battles in the Europa League. Next on the list, moving to Aberdeen should have been the next inevitable success for the Liverpudlian. Instead though, it unraveled into the beginning of a nightmare and premature final chapter of his footballing career.

‘That time in my career, when I went to Aberdeen, I classed that as when my career ended. I was only there a month or two before I had a hernia operation and, to be honest, I was never the same after that.’

Self-confessedly someone ‘who tends to dwell on things,’ this trait was truly put to the test when, rubbing salt into the wounds, his injury worsened after an error in surgery.

‘I had the initial hernia operation and the mesh that the surgeon was meant to put in over the hernia was in the wrong place. So the hernia was still there and the mesh, in the wrong place, saw it get infected.’

This saw Greg contract osteomyelitis and after an extended period out of the game, Aberdeen, having paid for his surgery, were quick to offload him. Although this was admittedly a hugely disruptive and challenging spell, it appeared as though there was a light at the end of the tunnel in the shape of St Mirren.

‘St Mirren signed me on the notion that they could get me fit again and get over the injuries I had so I could push on with them. I played in a reserves game against Celtic or Rangers and, after the game, I felt it again. I got into bed and it was sore. I was just hoping that when I woke up that it would be gone.’

Sadly for Greg though, there was no relief the next morning. Instead he met with the St Mirren physio, which resulted in a conversation that would completely change his life.

‘I went into the physio, Alex McLean, who is a brilliant physio. He said to me, “I need you to start preparing for the worst here.”

‘Hearing that for the first time it destroyed me really. I was in tears. I was trying to talk but when you’re trying to hold back tears and you can’t and your lip starts going and tears run down your face. It just broke me down.’

Just as things appeared as if they couldn’t get any worse for Greg, contact from St Mirren revealed they were attempting to distance themselves from Greg and avoided the cost of paying for his surgery.

“This is Aberdeen’s problem, we’re not going to pay for the surgery” they said. In the end, St Mirren didn’t pay a thing and I ended up paying for it.’

Facing the stark reality that his career was reaching an unfair conclusion and the club’s lack of support during such a difficult period, it was at that point Greg revealed he sunk further into the dark place he felt himself falling into whilst at Aberdeen.

‘As a footballer, I didn’t feel like a piece of meat but at that point I felt like everyone was like “get him away, he’s damaged get him away quick.”

“I was suffering with depression at the time, which I am not ashamed to say at all. The club (Aberdeen) wasn’t checking in on me, at all. There were times where I’d go into the club and they’d tell me there was nothing I could really do here, and they’d give me a call when they wanted me to come in. As a duty of care, you want to look after your players in the best way you can and I don’t feel they did.’

The thing most striking and hugely worrying for other footballers whilst speaking to Greg is the fact that even if he wanted to, he felt as if he couldn’t speak to anybody regarding his mental troubles due to the current footballing environment.

‘It took a year and a half for me to even tell my fiance that I was feeling that bad. So I wasn’t going to tell my peers or Aberdeen. Certainly not going to tell them since they were wanting me out the door as quickly as it could go cause I was injured. They didn’t have any use for me.

‘I spoke to the PFA who helped, but I probably needed someone one-to-one who I could speak to most days. I don’t really want to take it down this road but there’s a lot of lads who were worse than me. There’s a lot of lads who have really struggled and sort of thinking about ways to harm themselves, which is totally awful.’

As difficult as it seemed at the time, retirement helped Greg somewhat put an end to the pain he was experiencing both mentally and physically in his final years in football.

‘When I retired, it was sort of drawing a line under this. I thought, I can’t do this anymore. I’m not putting myself through this because it’s not good for me. I was damaging myself a little bit in terms of putting my mind through really bad situations. I was thinking, I just want to get back to normality.’

Avoiding watching, talking or thinking about anything football related for almost a year following his retirement from the game, Greg certainly doesn’t let his time at Aberdeen and St Mirren define his career. Instead, he is proud of what he achieved and the good times throughout.

‘I know it ended badly, but there’s been a lot of good times in my career. The semi final goal against Hearts meant a lot to me, playing in Europe a few times with Inverness. At the start, when I was at Aberdeen, playing in Europe. The full-time whistle for when we won the Scottish Cup was just a major relief and an incredible feeling.’

Describe yourself in three words

Humble, selfless and loving.

How would your family describe you in three words

Intelligence my missus says but I’m not sure if she’s just massaging my ego! Loving and selfless.

Motivation: Love of Winning or Fear of Losing

Love of Winning, but more so being able to put myself in a position to help family and my mates.

Introverted or Extroverted

Extroverted.

Biggest Mental Challenge

Aberdeen but probably St Mirren.

Best Moment of Career

Full-time whistle of Scottish Cup.

Biggest Weakness

Dwelling on things. Taking things to heart.

Biggest Strength

My determination.

Best Advice been given

My Grandad and John Hughes said the same, not caring what other people think.