Jack Grealish — the former Birmingham midfielder made headlines in the English media after his impressive performance in the FA Cup semi-final against Liverpool, but in June 2015 he attracted public attention in a very different way: pictures of Grealish lying on the floor, probably in a drunken state, hit the net.
For Aston Villa’s top prospect, it was a stark reality check: fans were divided over their young hero. In one interview, Grealish recalled the incident publicly for the first time. According to him, the media hostility made him grow up very quickly.
“We all make mistakes when we’re young, but you’re unlikely to see anything else like that in my performance. In February before last, nobody even knew my name. I had no idea that I would attract so much attention. I just wanted to spend my holidays the way young people do nowadays.
Now I realise that a professional footballer has no right to do such things. We have to set an example for children.
A few months later, after the 0-4 defeat to Everton, Grealish was spotted in a Manchester City nightclub. As punishment for this, Remi Garde decided to send the lad to the youth team.
We got a pretty good thrashing but I decided to take a walk anyway. I realise it was stupid. The season wasn’t going well and on days like that it’s better to go home, think about what happened, put my head under the pillow.
I think I’ve really matured since then. I need to learn and I’m still only 20 years old. I can see why the fans were upset. I owe them an apology.”
Jack Grealish joined Manchester City in August 2021, where he received every footballer’s coveted legendary number ten on his shirt. The move cost the city £100m. This was a record transfer fee among British footballers. The contract was for six years.