AFTER recently returning to the world of football management, Martin Ling has had to overcome a multitude of seemingly impossible obstacles in his battle with depression. Ling’s case is an example to not only football but the world of sport itself, and features as a running case example in Michael Calvin‘s latest book Living On The Volcano. Calvin is one of the UK’s most highly regarded sports journalists and the recipient of multiple awards, including sports book of the year for his previous works The Nowhere Men and Proud – the autobiography of former Wales rugby union captain Gareth Thomas. The former chief sportswriter at the Daily Telegraph, Calvin now writes a weekly column in the Independent on Sunday. Total Sport’s Danny Gallagher caught up with Calvin in the days following Ling’s unveiling, to get a feel for the character of the man at the Robins’ helm and the challenges he has had to overcome..
“The one thing that struck me immediately about Martin is his great morale courage. To articulate what he went through but to actually not spare himself with the most intimate details,” Calvin began.
“I saw Martin recently in the Chelsea press box taking some teas down when we were doing the London radio, and we had a chat about the book. He told me the great thing about the way the book told the story was – ‘people realise we haven’t got two heads.’
“By ‘we’ he was meaning people in sport who had mental health issues.
“It’s such a common issue for people to deal with and there is almost a sense of ‘let’s hide it behind the curtain’ and I thought Martin was brave here because he knows football is quite an insular and introspective world,” Calvin added.
While writing Living On The Volcano, Calvin and Ling spoke at length about his managerial situation and the opportunity to return to the game.
“Ling mentions in the book, ‘I know I’ve got a coffee stain on my CV but it is nice that that CV is being spring cleaned,” Calvin said.
“I think its a great appointment for Swindon, and all power to the club for giving him the opportunity because I think it is really important that people don’t get stigmatised.
“Football management is a very small world, a band of battered brothers in a way and there is a lot of affinity between.
“Since I did the book I’ve had a lot of other managers come to me and speak about how Martin has been. There is an issue in football and all professional sports, especially in positions of authority like a manager, you have to be superman with the mentality that I can’t show any weakness.
“But just because you admit a weakness or a sequence of weaknesses that doesn’t mean you haven’t got any strength or you’re not strong, and I think Martin, in the way he has tackled this and the way he has regenerated his career, he shouldn’t be judged on what was a traumatic but mercifully brief interlude in his professional life,” Calvin said.
“You’ve got to look at the 10 years he spent as a professional manager, operating in the sort of environment Swindon now find themselves – the wrong end of league one.
“He’s really resourceful, he understands that level and he will go back into football with the best wishes of everyone within the game simply because there is a real respect for the way he has handled himself.”
Calvin revealed how Ling was keen for the book to portray him comprehensively, with no stone left unturned.
“In the book he didn’t spare himself at all. I told him it was going to be vivid, and the book actually starts with him receiving E.C.T (electro convulsive therapy) That’s a pretty brutal image in many ways, and he was fine with that.”
“He encouraged me to speak to Dean Smith, his best mate and second in command at Leyton Orient,” said Calvin.
“It was all too apparent the deep affection in which Martin was held – it came across so vividly in conversation. Dean told me of a walk he had with Martin while in Roehampton (The Priory mental health facility) and it was like walking with an 80-year-old man.
“But he is now as ready as anyone can ever be for what is a institutionalised, institutionally strange world.”
Sharing the positive sentiments of many, Calvin is pleased Ling’s return has happened with a club like Swindon Town.
“I think it is a good fit in that Martin is still very well remembered by the club for what he did at Swindon as a player and that will count in his favour. Hopefully the honey moon period will last longer than the usual five nanoseconds.”
Despite his wishes for Ling to succeed, Calvin realises the extent of the task his friend has at hand.
“Obviously he’s got a tough job. He’s got a club at the bottom end of the table and, judging as an outsider, they’re conceding a lot of late and sloppy goals,” Calvin said.
“The manner in which they are losing matches is quite demoralising and it is a team with real issues to address. But he will have the best wishes of the football community and the inherit support of the fans.
“All I can wish him is the best success in the world. He’s a fantastic guy and a really great coach and he’s reinforced his resilience over the last few years in terms of rebuilding a career which was commensurate with what he was doing before in different areas – his coaching role at Tottenham Hotspur, his soccer schools and the scouting position at Walsall.
“His CV might say there is a two or three year gap between his last managerial position, but actually he’s been within football because he is of football,” Calvin said.
Using Ling’s battle with depression to sequence a narrative, Calvin had first hand experience of documenting the new Swindon boss’ rise to well-being.
“Within the book I was able to use Martin in a way as to show his rise and recovery,” said Calvin.
“From the first chapter which was pretty harrowing and his lowest point, to the last chapter which shows him recovered. He was and is a symbol of inspiration to sport and to other football managers.
“He did a conference up at St Andrews in front of 40 or more coaches about this topic and, after talking to people like Alan Pardew about Lingy, they speak very warmly and with complete and total respect for him.
This, according to Calvin, shows the strength in unity which exists within the football world.
“Football is a bit of a brotherhood and I think if there are favours to be called in, people will do so for him,” Calvin said.
“I wouldn’t be surprised in the months to come, when it’s getting a bit sticky and maybe he needs a couple of loan players, people might help him out.
“But that will not be in any form of condescending way, as it will be out of a huge professional respect for the man and what he has done.”
In tackling his issues with mental health, Ling received support from outlets such as the League Manager’s Association (LMA) and many of his professional peers, something Calvin was quick to acknowledge.
“I think people should also look at the work the LMA do. They looked after Martin and paid for his treatment and, my suspicion is, he was not the first and he won’t be the last to go through that type of thing,” Calvin said.
“When Martin was coming out of it, that’s when the phone calls began – Sir Alex Ferguson, Sam Allardyce, Chris Hughton all phoning him when he was in the hospital. He said it was almost as if the word had got out that ‘one of our own is in trouble.’”
Despite coming back from what was a dark period, Ling was always open to Calvin about how his managerial chances may be affected.
“Martin admits in the book, ‘look, if I’m in a room with 10 other people I’m probably not going to get the job’. But he was in a situation where he was determined very quietly to get back and this is where I think Swindon is a perfect fit for him,” said Calvin.
“It’s his club, to a degree, and it’s an environment he’s worked in before. I give Lee Power every credit in the world for giving Martin an opportunity, and I strongly think it should not be seen as a charitable gesture.
“Football is a hard and brutal game, people often forget that. Brian McDermott once put it well when he said that his theory is there are a lot of people in football who are depressed, but they do not realise it because they are so conditioned to the brutality of the game and the way the people are disposable – they’re essentially empty crisp packets.
“I think that is where this situation, with Martin, is particularly important symbolically. If someone is in a similar situation and going through a quiet hell, they may read of Martin coming back and have a little bit of inspiration inside them as a result.
Calvin revealed Ling was also sought after in other areas, following his successful come back.
“Talking to Martin recently, I know the FA were keen to use him to do some coach education work; in other words going in and talking to other coaches about the pressures and tell-tale signs of depression,” said Calvin.
“So many people have responded in a way of admiration after reading about Martin in the book. People who don’t know him respect him immensely and all those who have worked with him can’t say enough about him,” Calvin added.
Swindon Town chairman Lee Power has already confirmed Ling will form what is essentially a director of football role, overseeing general footballing duties but leaving training and coaching responsibilities to second in command Luke Williams. This format is something Calvin believes has to be firmly established with a grounding of respect, if it is to be successful.
“As with any football club it is all about the human chemistry and what works. My instinct tells me Martin likes to be out on the grass, involved in things, but I can see the broader advantages of having someone like him in an overarching role,” said Calvin.
“In my previous book The Nowhere Men I looked at the dynamic between a head coach and a director of football. Now, the problem with that relationship is that if there is not a professional respect between the two individuals in those roles, you are pretty much going to end up with a car crash at some stage.
“My sense is that there is a respect between Luke Williams and Martin – for the reasons of Martin’s general character but also as a manager he has been around the block and done his very hard yards. He’s been promoted before and been a successful manager at this level.
“If you have a guy with that sort of experience, that sort of character and that sort of attitude – not just towards football but also towards life – you would be very silly if you didn’t exploit that to the full,” Calvin added.
Re-entering the world of football management, Ling now returns to a profession where the impact upon the human emotions of those who work within are often largely overlooked.
“In the book I tried to humanise what is a really dehumanising job,” said Calvin.
“What people have got to understand is that these people, football managers, are just like you and me – they’re flesh and blood. You cut them they bleed, you shout at them and they wince. They are ordinary human beings in an extraordinary job. What Martin’s case proves is you can’t hold the human spirit back – for him to come back in this manner is great and I think he is absolutely terrific.
“That said, I put it to Martin, ‘if I was your son I’d beg you not to go back’, because this is football and it can be a brutal, brutal business, and I sincerely hope that he doesn’t get hurt. But he’s a strong guy, you cannot come back from what Martin has come back from unless you have that outstanding moral fibre. I really cannot stress my admiration.
“Although you can see the worst in human nature in sport, every so often you see the very best and Martin’s comeback just made me that little bit warmer inside.”