Despite ‘not playing‘ for fifty plus days and with limited training opportunities Jamie Paterson is about to be welcomed back in to Russell Martin’s first team plans with Blackburn Rovers in mind. It most certainly isn’t a surprise that this is in Martin’s mind, but what exactly is going on in Paterson’s has to be of some concern. And of course who is still influencing him negatively.

There have been constant references to Jamie Paterson’s mental health since he ‘didn’t refuse to play’ but didn’t play for the club who pay his salary as per a very clear and agreed contract. A contract he signed willingly last August that has apparently now driven him to such a distraction he can’t play football.

And now Russell Martin tells us this “The advice he’s been given has been really poor and the message it has sent out to the rest of the footballing world was really poor and untrue. But he’s still here and like a new signing, it’s brilliant he’s stayed. He’s still not in a brilliant place mentally. He’s never refused to play. He’s not been in the right frame of mind to play. He didn’t want to do his team mates an injustice. He was in the same place in the summer when he didn't have a club. It will take him a bit of time to get him back to how he is, but he will be back in the squad tomorrow and hopefully back in the squad for Saturday."

Brilliant, this is just what Paterson needs, a supportive manager who looks elsewhere for the reasoning Paterson hasn’t played. And now there’s no chance of another club upping his salary and of him leaving Swansea within days he is able to make a return. We expected the ‘like a new signing’ reference, and if in time he is fit to play then it could well be just that. A new start for Jamie. But if he was in such a bad place in the summer when he wasn’t in contract with any club, had a huge fillip when he signed for the swans, and then once he had been ‘got at’ clearly by his agent he is unwell again.

Who is to blame for this, if anyone ?

There’s a saying in life, get rid of the people in your life who do nothing but bring negativity, poor friendship and use you for their own gains. Now that’s an area that everyone should explore. Trust me, it makes everything far more clearer and your decision making far more positive. Jamie is surrounded by people who have agenda’s that won’t fit his current mindset, and that’s been evident for over a month. He hasn’t really had much choice regards who he talks to and who contacts him, and if his mental condition isn’t anywhere near as it should be then he is hardly going to all of a sudden be better again. That’s the bit that he and the club should concentrate on and when Jamie is fit to play he really needs to explore.

Queens Park Rangers were very persistent in January, they made three maybe four attempts to sign Jamie. Swansea City turned those bids down, the suggestion they were trying to get him on the cheap isn’t far wrong. The club agreed that his worth was £750,000 and QPR didn’t even get close to that. That should tell Jamie there’s a door open still for him, as Martin has confirmed. But the whole January process which has seen him train with the under 23’s, a decision that will always be seen as a punishment regardless, and yet now we hear this from Russell Martin.

“He hasn’t been fined. He’s been mentally and physically not feeling well. I'm not going to fine someone for that, I don’t blame him for it one bit. I have been disappointed by it, I have been hurt by it, but he’s back and hopefully he will be back quickly” This part is an either or. And of course relies upon your trust in what we report. The club did ‘decide’ to fine Jamie, and regardless of the eventual outcome, we stand by that. At the time of this website reporting that it didn’t feel right. Nobody in the state of mind we are told Jamie is in should be fined.

People will always choose wether to believe, question or just generally dispute anything that is written on Swansea City. Believe it or not it happens to us too. The vitriol we got for breaking the Jamie Paterson situation was comedic and lacked taste or the ability to enter in to a dialect worthy of a response. Remember get rid of the people who don’t help you in life. That happened. The breaking story is here for you to read.

⚽️Jamie Paterson breaking news

And no that isn’t I ‘told you so’ it’s the start of the timeline that has led us here today. A day where we now have a manager facing the press and trying to explain as professionally as possible what the situation is now the transfer window is over. There will always be a question hanging over Jamie Paterson’s head now. Some will feel sympathy due to their own experiences, others as we see so often will abuse him and care not for the consequences, of course to suit their own agenda.

Mental health should never be taken lightly, how someone feels but sometimes can’t explain is an impossible situation. We have to take Jamie at face value, he has to be given at least an opportunity to help his own career. A career which hasn’t got that long to run. His manager hasn’t been far from his side when he said “He’s been where he was in the summer, in a really bad place. Which many footballers and they don’t want to talk about when they are out of contract or feel they have been let down or there is a lack of trust. I don’t judge him for that and no one should.”

There is no doubt now that if Jamie Paterson is fit and capable he will reappear at some point, we are not too sure about Saturday, a spot on the bench is surely the best he can hope for ? And what swans fans hope for is a fixed and better Jamie Paterson, but if his mindset has been where we have been told for a month or so, then of course he won’t be fixed. Mental illness isn’t a common cold, it is treated by a plan of cognitive therapy and medication if needed. So escaping Swansea on deadline day, still worrying, still hoping, or just running situations over and over in his mind is hardly helpful.

Here’s hoping Jamie Paterson has a review of his friendships and partnerships, he won’t get any better with them chirping away in his ear continuously, they are no better than the abusers he has suffered from on social media. They don’t help, they are definitely not needed and are hardly capable of understanding the effect on him.

That’s what started this situation and even today it is still evident. And it’s very, very sad.

If you want to explore more on men’s mental health click here.

⚽️Mens Mental Health

Photographs licensed from Reuters

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