Grealish learns lesson the hard way

Jack Grealish, the former Notts County impresser made the headlines for all the wrong reasons last week when the youthful playmaker was spotted appearing drunkenly sprawled on the streets of Tenerife whilst on holiday with friends.

A photo of Grealish emerged on Twitter a week last Sunday which soon went viral as the general public lapped up the news of the highly-rated prospect snapped worse for wear, unconscious on the road by a fellow holiday-maker.

Grealish ultimately fell foul to what the journalism industry calls ‘citizen journalism’.

This has become prominent since the explosion onto the scene of the social networking websites which allows members of the public to communicate eyewitness video footage and images to the internet, often on the device of a smartphone, which can be hard to distinguish from the objective and somewhat observational journalism of the professional media.

It was Grealish then who epitomised this relatively new trend when pictured in a befuddled state, seemingly unconscious after a heavy night partying.

Whilst it is the norm for footballers to take to the strip in the close season- the news of the intoxicated antics of Villa’s prized possession will not be what the fans wanted to hear following a season of turmoil which saw the Villains narrowly avoid the drop to the Championship.

Grealish was the shining light towards the latter stages of last term following the appointment of the former Spurs boss, Tim Sherwood, by Randy Lerner to succeed Paul Lambert in February, tasked with the duty of fending off relegation to the second tier of English football.

Sherwood did just that by nurturing the best out of the Belgian hitman, Christian Benteke, and taking a punt on Grealish- subject to an international duty tug-of-war, with the midfielder yet to commit to either the English or Irish senior teams.

The impact of Grealish on the big stage comes as no surprise to Notts’ fans who witnessed the midfielder sparkle whilst on loan during the 2013-2014 season.

Grealish was a shrewd acquisition by ex- Magpies gaffer, Shaun Derry, who turned to the rough diamond to escape relegation to League Two just 12 months ago.

Whilst the outburst has sent the footballing world into frenzy with fans divided in sympathising with the naïve midfielder’s behaviour and other’s incensed, the reality is that Grealish’s conduct was unprofessional and merits disciplinary action.

Despite his tender age of 19, Grealish is an ambassador for one of the biggest football club’s in England and a role model for football fans alike.

In any other occupation Grealish would have been unduly disciplined, and as a ‘professional’ footballer there should be no exception.

Grealish has ultimately learned the hard way for celebrating wildly and erratically as a result of alcohol abuse which his body was simply not used to tolerating after months of conditioning and dieting designed to maximise his performances at Villa Park.

Grealish now faces a meeting with gaffer Tim Sherwood amid the turmoil.

It is now up to Grealish to make amends to his manager and fans on the pitch and kick-on from his promising performances evidenced this season.

Grealish has recently been the subject of interest from Premier League big boys and money barons, Manchester City and Liverpool, who are looking to profit from the Villa man’s misdemeanours.

Grealish is clearly a young player with bags of potential- a major attraction to Liverpool should they lose their own home grown talent, in Raheem Sterling.

It is critical that Grealish now remains grounded and produces the goods on the pitch to fulfil his potential and prove his critics wrong.

Jamie tweets @JBarlow95_