Meath resident's look behind the closed doors of the transfer market

This week the media outlets who chart the fortunes and misfortunes of clubs in English soccer were buzzing with speculation - as well as hard news - about the transfer market; what players are moving where?

Alan Gernon will be watching the coming and goings (the deadline is midnight tonight) with particular interest. It's something he has done for years - but this time around he will be looking at the flurry of activity with a different perspective than he did heretofore.
Recently Gernon, who lives in Carlanstown, near Kells, launched his second book - 'The Transfer Market: The Inside Stories'. It's a well written book that seeks to tease out some of the realities involved with players moving from one club to the other. 
Gernon looks at the practicalities of a transfer for players; what it means to move from one end of the country to another, often from on continent to another.
"I was always a sucker for transfer gossip over the years, but I never thought much about it beyond the football side of things," he told the Meath Chronicle last week.
Invariably players when they sign for a new club are presented to the media. They are photographed holding their new club's jersey or scarf. Everyone seems happy; there's lots of smiles.
However, there is another reality behind behind the flashing cameras and Gernon has sought to expose the nature of that reality. What's involved in moving, how it impacts the player and his family. How children often have to be uprooted from one school and moved to another.  
"When I spoke to a lot of the players, they had never been asked about the transfer before. When they moved they were only really asked about the football side of things, while all this personal stuff is going on in the background.
"We hear about a footballer on the pitch but we don't hear what's going on in the background," the author adds. 
A freelance journalist - who is married to Navan woman Tracey with four children - Alan has written for a variety of outlets from newspapers to websites. 
He got the idea for 'The Transfer Market' while he was writing his first book some years ago 'Retired: What Footballers Do When The Game's Up." 
Gernon discovered that one in three footballers are divorced after they stop playing. Much of the instability originates in the fact that a footballer's life is nomadic  - and, apart from the very elite, full of uncertainties and anxieties. Many, in the lower levels, move for short contracts simply to extend their careers, and pick up a pay cheque.  
"The problems seem to stem from the constant moves; the whole instability of a footballer's life, the pressure on families, wives and kids; the constant instability hanging over them. Just one phone call can change everything, you're moving yet again. I never really considered that side of the game before." 
Writing the book took Gernon much of last year - and it became something of an obsession. "Even during the holidays in summer when the family would be in bed I would be working away proof-reading, looking for ways to improve it."
He adds that it was a big help to have 'Retired' out there. "The last book opened a lot of doors. Niall Quinn wrote the foreword and John Terry promoted it on instagram. There was a picture of him reading it on a flight to a game in Liverpool and he spoke about it on Soccer AM, that opened a lot of doors. 
"I contacted players out of the blue through platforms such as Linkedin and I was shocked at the amount of players who read the last book and got back to me and said they were happy to speak to me about this one." 
One of the most memorable episodes for Gernon was coming across the story of an African player who arrived in England to play for Aston Villa, but was terrified of getting off the plane. He had, to him, entered a new and strange world. The Aston Villa welfare officer met him and she realised she had a lot of work to do." 
 

* 'The Transfer Market: The Inside Stories' is published by Pitch Publishing.