Life After Professional Sport co-founder Rob Steed admits working alongside some of the biggest names in sport is a 'double-edged sword' for the organisation.
Adam Lallana and Danny Cipriani are just two household names who support LAPS' work in finding sportspeople employment after they retire - something which is proven to prevent mental health issues and a feeling of helplessness.
But Rob, a recruitment consultant, stressed that LAPS primarily works with sportspeople in lower levels, rather than multi-million pound footballers:
"I think sometimes it’s a bit of a double-edged sword. Clearly Adam Lallana doesn’t need to work again, his relatively well-documented salary proves that he doesn’t need that financial boost. We know that he recognises he’s not going to want to retire at 35 and then do nothing, so he recognises the importance of it. He’s been at two really good clubs, in Southampton and Liverpool, where he would have seen the effect on younger players certainly.
"It’s important to have those recognisable faces supporting us but we’re really clear that we’re not just about helping multi-million-pound Premier League players, and actually often it’s the people playing in the lower leagues and competing in sports where there isn’t the financial reward to see them through that are more important to us.
"Certainly, the majority of our members aren’t Premier League footballers but are lower league footballers and athletes from other sports."
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