‘The Clubman’ - more valuable than a Messi or Ronaldo

“They were like ‘do you want to go down to the stadium’ - I was like ‘silly question, of course I do!’ So I jumped straight in the car, went straight down to the stadium. I was desperate to see it…it’s still some sight to this day 200 games in…I still get goosebumps like I did on my first day.” - Luke O’Nien, Sunderland skipper.

Clubman

Noun: A man who is an enthusiastic member of a club or clubs.

Some players just exude goodness.

Purity. Enthusiasm - their self interest is subsumed by the needs of the club that they pull on their shirt for.

They accept, without question, that their role on the pitch is merely one piece (albeit an important one) within a larger set of an organisation's history, dreams and expectations.

In essence, it is a player who internalises the fans emotions.

They are among a group of athletes that are so hell-bent on contributing to their team, that they’ll risk not only the health of their mind - but their body.

Someone whose self worth as an individual (rightly or wrongly) is in part indistinguishable from, and deftly intertwined, with their externally perceived value to a club.

A signing who’s effort spent on the pitch balances out any regarded shortfall in innate natural ability.

Introducing ‘The Clubman’.

For the purposes of this piece, let's look at Sunderland skipper Luke O’Nien.

As synonymous now with the Stadium of Light as the crimson and ivory shirt, it is hard to believe that O’Nien’s place in the starting eleven was ever in doubt, his issued squad number 13 first proving to be as disadvantageous as Western constructs would have you believe.

Substituted after a mere 45 minutes on his debut against Charlton, his career with Sunderland began on an inauspicious note.

“I didn’t play for four months [afterwards] - I couldn’t get in the team. I just couldn’t get things right,” he admitted when speaking as part of an in-house Sunderland documentary ‘My Sunderland Story.’

However after a heart to heart with first team coach John Potts, something clicked for O’Nien.

This new found self-awareness would kick start an inner drive and commitment to the betterment of his game that could not be ignored by Sunderland’s then manager, Lee Johnson.

“There was so much quality around that I tried to be like everybody else and forgot who I was,” he reflected. 

“That [day] was the turning point for me… I used to spend the first couple of months, when I wasn’t in the team, just in here by myself with the goalie coach. 

“We used to spend hours in here…we tried working on every part of the game possible so when the time did come where I got my opportunity again I’d be ready to take it… the work soon paid off when I got my first goal for the club against Shrewsbury away… a moment I will never forget.”

Speaking on the Paul Mort Talks SH*T Podcast, with the pride of a soldier retelling a military triumph, having secured his place in the squad, O’Nien relays his willingness to take one for the team, having suffered a shoulder dislocation during the Black Cats fight for Championship promotion against Accrington Stanley.

“I’ve gone down on the floor, holding my arm out of its socket, devastated… half-time happens and I just assumed at the time that someone else would come on and that’s me done,” he told Mort with a ghost of a smile in his voice. 

“[But] the gaffer came up to me and said ‘Luke, we need ya this second half. We need ya’. And I went ‘Yeah. No problem’…I went out the second half and just didn’t use my left arm...we won the game 2-1.”

In the 2021-2022 pre-season, fresh faced O’Nien, undoubtedly in the prime and form of his career at the tender age of twenty six, demonstrated his loyalty to The Rokerities when he declined numerous offers to jump ship to teams who were comfortably positioned one tier above League One, where Sunderland had languished for several years. 

“I’m a man of my word and I said to him [Lee Johnson] I’ll give you everything until we’re promoted,” he proclaimed. 

“I had the option to go to the Championship and I turned that down because there is no place like up here. 

“You can’t compare... It didn’t feel right to just jump to another team. I don’t think I would have been able to live with that decision in the future.”

The English-Singaporean's adoration for the North-East of England led to a collaborative decision to postpone a three month lay off to address a long term shoulder injury, the sting from the play-off defeats in the two seasons previous more keenly felt than each slip of his shoulder joint.

“The idea was to get promoted and then go get it in the summer,” he explained to Mort. 

“We got to the point where we were taping my fingers so that was a visual cue for every time I went to use my left hand - I’d pull it back… 

“But it got difficult when I couldn’t hold my little one… my quality of life was starting to take an impact…I was having nightmares at night of my shoulder coming out.”

The doggedness shown by management to temporarily alleviate the injury with ribbons of tape, left his Achilles heel exposed and primed to be subsequently targeted by the opposition.

Unable to ignore a shoulder that was practically hanging out of its socket, the defender resigned himself to a forced break in play as winter approached, and with it a gamut of emotions were expelled with volcanic force.

“I got the surgery.. then I started to do my rehab. Everything then just hit me. This feeling of… a helpless feeling…I held every negative lens possible. I tried to block it and block it and block it. Suppress it suppress it suppress it. I think at that moment it all just came out.”

“I didn’t feel like I was being a good Dad,” he continued quietly. “A good partner…I was doing my rehab by myself - nowhere near the team.”

This breakdown in O’Nien’s mental state highlights the hidden danger that lurks for ‘The Clubman.’

For the right back winger, isolation from teammates and a disconnect from fans was the greater evil when compared with the excruciating physical pain felt on the field.

Identity and an inner sense of value intertwined with Club, such a player will go to extreme lengths to avoid the discomfort that not being ‘useful’ to the team invokes - something O’Nien, now twenty-nine, is aware of.

“[At school] I was known as the kid in the academy…” he revealed. 

“Wrongly or rightly people would give you a bit more respect and like you cause you played football… that identity was getting forced upon me as the footballer… had I got released then… that’s a big part of you just gone..and I still have that a little bit now, but I’m working on it.”

Such introspection and self-awareness is vital for any player to avoid burnout or injury, but particularly ‘The Clubman’s.’

Their unwavering and often unrivalled commitment naturally provides a conundrum for any Club when a long term absence (or even a short term break) is warranted - let alone a team like Sunderland, desperate to attain promotion.

The club cannot therefore be relied upon by the 'Clubman’ to have their best interests at heart.

A strange dichotomy given the players unwavering allegiance to the very same establishment.

On the flip side, on hearing O’Nien speak, you get the sense that he gets back in spades what he expends.

“The way to describe playing for Sunderland is the buzz that you get from it - it’s huge,” he enthused.

“Even away, but at home the buzz it gives you stepping out in front of that many fans, wearing the iconic Sunderland shirt that I grew up seeing on Premiership Years - I grew up seeing that and to picture myself as a kid watching football thinking I will be in the North East wearing that one day - you can’t quite put them things together.”

Unlike some of the so-called ‘stars’ to have passed (and exited just as quickly) through the imposing gates of The Stadium of Light, O’Nien will not throw his hands in the air and sulk if a performance doesn’t go his way.

Nor will his cards be fanned closely to his chest for the benefit of his wallet when a contract requires negotiating.

He is transparent, genuine, hard-working, loyal, warm and represents the very characteristics of Sunderland’s populace.

He is the ultimate ‘Clubman.’

It’s no wonder that this year, in club captain Corry Evans injury induced absence, he was awarded  the skippers armband, a role he continues to occupy with “immense pride.”

“This stadium means a lot to people in many different ways,” He reflects wistfully. “It's people’s homes… it’s people’s haven…it’s people’s place to come and express themselves…for me it's not just a stadium where I come out to kick a ball…

“It’s a reminder that things aren’t always going to go your way, [that] you’re going to be down in the dumps, feel like the world is against you…it’s a reminder that it’s okay to be there. This place is a reminder that there’s better days ahead.”

With a player as devoted to Sunderland's cause as Luke O’Nien, I’d tend to agree.

Promotion beckons.