Hearts' Sean Clare interview: I've been seeing a sports psychologist - and I'd recommend him to any footballer

Sean Clare has been working with a football psychologist to help him deal with the intense scrutiny of life as a Hearts player in the wake a particularly difficult spell last month.

Hearts midfielder Sean Clare has returned to the starting XI after a couple of matches out. Pic: SNS

The 23-year-old was heavily criticised by supporters and pundits following a couple of costly mistakes in the 3-2 home defeat by Motherwell and in the following match away to Hibs he suffered the ignominy of a section of the Hearts support booing him as he was substituted. The midfielder was subsequently dropped to the bench for the games against Aberdeen and St Mirren, with manager Craig Levein explaining that he “felt it was better for him to take a little breather” in order to “clear his head and get himself back on track.”

Clare has set about doing this by meeting John Johnstone, an Edinburgh-based football mindset coach who has worked with other Hearts players, John Souttar, Craig Wighton and Jake Mulraney. Johnstone claims to specialise in “coaching footballers to deal with opinions and perform with confidence”, and Clare feels his sessions over the past month or so are already having a benefit after he produced a strong display in Sunday’s 1-1 draw with high-flying Rangers.

“I’ve been working on my mindset recently because football’s a tough game,” he said in a candid interview with the Evening News. “I’ve been meeting John and it’s been really helpful. He helps a lot with putting things in perspective. You can sometimes focus on things too much and it can affect your next game. In football, everyone’s going to have an opinion so the important thing is not letting them affect you and trying to put in the best performance you can every single week.”

Clare, who turned 23 last month, admits he has found the level of scrutiny in the early years of his career hard to deal with at times but concedes it is something he simply has to acclimatise to if he wishes to fulfil his ambition of playing at the top level. “Of course it’s hard, but it’s part of the game,” he said. “I love the game and enjoy playing but it’s something every player needs to think about and learn to cope with. If I want to reach the heights I believe I can reach, the scrutiny will be a lot more intense than it is now, so I need to be able to cope with it. I also need to be able to perform consistently because if I’m not making mistakes, then the negative comments won’t be coming my way.”

Taking its toll

Clare admits some of the criticism he has been subjected to, allied with a feeling that he was letting his team down, has taken a toll on him. “Of course I was taking the negative stuff home with me,” he admitted. “I’m not going to lie. I put my heart and soul into every game and I feel like I’ve let the fans and the team down occasionally. Even if I’d had a good game and just made one mistake, I’d go home feeling like I’d let everybody down so it’s about trying to keep it all in perspective. Football’s the main focus and when you train or go out on the pitch to play, it’s 100 per cent focus and 100 per cent effort, but it’s not the be all and end all - you can’t let it affect your life outside of football.

“Football’s not going to change - it’s a demanding game. Fans pay good money to come and watch us play and if they feel someone isn’t putting in the effort, they’re going to voice their opinions. I have absolutely no problem with that. But as players, we know it’s part of the game and we need to be able to deal with it. We know the fans are going to have strong opinions because they love their club. It’s something I’ve been focusing on dealing with and I feel like it’s really helping me. I think every footballer should look at it. I’ve been seeing John for about a month now and I’d recommend him to any footballer.

“He has helped me a lot, along with the support I’ve had from family, friends, the gaffer and the staff at the club. It’s a really good family club here, all the way up to [owner] Ann Budge, who comes round and gives advice to the players. It’s something that I appreciate and I want to repay everyone by what I do on the pitch and show them that their belief in me isn’t wasted.”

Social media

Clare, who has struggled to find consistency in his first year as a Hearts player, admits the pressure of being a footballer is heightened by social media. “It’s such an intense world for a footballer these days with social media and everything but it’s at our discretion whether we go on social media,” he explained. “If you’re really struggling, you need to come off it. Those platforms are there for people to voice opinions so it’s up to us as players to decide whether we want those opinions coming via our phones. It’s something I’ve been looking at recently because the opinions aren’t always positive. I’m learning that you shouldn’t go looking for the positive opinions but equally you shouldn’t go looking for the negatives. For instance, we put in a good performance against Rangers but we shouldn’t get too high and equally when we lose games we shouldn’t get too low. Football is really up and down so you’ve got to try and remain level.

“For me, being on social media wasn’t the problem. It was more just dealing with the criticism. I’ve been getting it recently and I know I’m going to get it in the future. All players will get it at some point, so the bit I’ve been working on is trying not to take it completely to heart. We’re all going to make mistakes on the pitch but no player wants to. We’re probably more frustrated than the fans when we make a mistake but it’s about trying to deal with it internally, not letting mistakes or bad games define you, and not letting your head drop. It’s about picking yourself up, going again and putting it right.”

Clare has been an ever-present in Hearts’ starting lineup this season apart from those two games against Aberdeen and St Mirren. He feels this brief break has benefited him. “I’d played every single game throughout the Betfred Cup and the league, and we’re all human so I think I needed a little break from the limelight to press the reset button, and the gaffer really helped me with that,” Clare explained. “I’m back on it now. I’ve been training well and I felt like I put in a good performance against Rangers but I need to build on it, play like that more consistently and chip in with more goals and assists.”