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Kevin Ellison: Winger keen to talk mental health after tough 2020

Kevin EllisonHuw Evans picture agency

Kevin Ellison made his Newport debut in an EFL Trophy game with Norwich that the Exiles lost 5-0 and itted he was "old enough to be some of his team-mates' father"

By Michael Pearlman
BBC Sport Wales

"For a number of years I just held it all in... because of my age I thought a club wouldn't touch a player with mental health issues."

For Kevin Ellison, like so many others, 2020 has been tough.

Job security is a scarce commodity for so many at the moment and that certainly applies when you are a 'between clubs' footballer the wrong side of 40.

With bills to pay and children to feed, Ellison has faced a time of stress. He has been open in the past about his mental health struggles or, as he describes it, "that dark cloud".

It returned this year, Ellison its, but he is now feeling good again.

Having signed for the team he used to torment for a decade and with his playing career secured for the season, Ellison is keen to use his profile as League Two club Newport County's mental health ambassador to help people who are struggling.

Appropriately, Ellison could be set to make his league debut for the table-toppers on World Mental Health Day after a year that started badly and did not improve until Newport came calling.

'Dark cloud' returned amid pandemic uncertainty

It has been a tough period for Ellison. The winger was let go by Morecambe after almost a decade with the club. His father - also named Kevin - spent a month in a coma after falling off a roof and is thankfully now recovering after being critically ill.

Worries over family, health, bills and the future are extremely relatable subjects at any time but especially during a pandemic, and Ellison is keen to be a sounding board and example to players and fans struggling with depression or anxiety.

"Until this summer football used to be more of a release than something I felt pressure over, until you are unemployed with two kids to feed and a house to run. That is pressure and that's when I started feeling things again," he says.

"In the UK a lot of people are going through this because none of us have a crystal ball about what will happen, people are struggling.

"A bit of a cloud came over me again; I was thinking: 'How am I going to my two kids">