DUE TO THE exorbitant salaries earned by players, football can seem disconnected from the real world at times. But while there are elite players who earn massive paychecks for their entire careers, some players struggle to get a job, just like anyone else.

Sean St Ledger has been without a club since getting released by Leicester in May and today he spoke to RTÉ’s Saturday Sport about the lonely process of looking for work.

“It feels like I’ve finished football, it’s been the weirdest feeling ever. I always say ‘there are no friends in football’. I think that’s so true, that they’d probably stab you in the back. I’ve found this period really lonely. I ring my friends and say, ‘What have you been up to?’ and they say ‘I’ve been training, what about you?’ I’ve just gone to the gym or gone to do Bikram Yoga and come home. I don’t really do anything because I’m obviously hoping that tomorrow I’m going to get a phone call. It’s been quite difficult. My family have been great. And the lads at Leicester, I still speak to them. But it’s not the same, they’re going in day-in day-out, having the banter in the changing room and I’m just not a part of that.”

Ledger says that he almost signed for Huddersfield before the season started but that the move ultimately never materialised.

“I was very close to signing for Huddersfield at the start of the season but that didn’t materialise,” St Ledger said.

“I was offered something but then it just didn’t happen. It was going to be more [incentive-based] and only a three-month contract so I felt I was taking all the risk.

“I said ‘what happens if I pull my calf’ but they were fine, [manager] Mark Robins said ‘okay we’ll sort something out on Monday’. But then I woke up on Sunday morning and he’d got the sack or resigned. I was like: ‘How’s your luck?’”

St Ledger is hoping for a move to the MLS in January.

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