Joe Silk

[Whitstable Town Football Club @whitstabletown]

New U16 Girls Team
Show Your Talent. Shine on the Pitch.
https://t.co/jZl4bhYPnZ

[Joe Silk @Slickyjoe]

@PurelyFootball Is this April fools?

[Joe Silk @Slickyjoe]

@rickygervais @chippychop_ What if it dies after 12 years. Playing with it may not actually be that much fun for another 3 years. Retrieval would still be similar to my fit and able but sometimes lazy dog. Not sure I would also notice much difference to the smell either

[Joe Silk @Slickyjoe]

@bernifresh @sainsburys @TheRAC_UK Never goes down that quickly, get all the bull crap about prices can't drop till they used all the petrol they bought at that price. Never seems to work the other way around though. Strange that. Multimillion pound companies profiteering when they can

[The Sporting Resource @TheS_Resource]

1️⃣ Poaching in youth sport happens more than we like to admit.

↳ It is not always malicious, but it is always a signal.

A coach does not go hunting for an “experienced U7 right back” unless the environment has started valuing outcomes over development. Grassroots becomes fragile the moment it starts acting like a recruitment business.

2️⃣ The language gives it away.

● “Need a U9 keeper who can play with both feet”
● “Looking for an experienced centre mid”
● “Must be top division standard”

↳ That is not grassroots language, that is selection language.

3️⃣ Grassroots is meant to be inclusive and equitable.

Local access. Local belonging. Mixed ability. Appropriate challenge.

If a child has to travel 30 to 50 miles to play “grassroots”, something has gone wrong with priorities.

4️⃣ Mini-academies in grassroots are not a pathway.

They are often an imitation of a pathway, without the safeguarding, support systems, and accountability that proper performance environments should have. They create a pecking order early, and the game becomes smaller for the children who need it most.

5️⃣ Why do coaches poach?

➟ Because they feel judged every weekend.
➟ Because they link self-worth to results.
➟ Because they fear losing status, league position, or influence.
➟ Because it is easier to recruit a solution than coach one.

6️⃣ Coaching is building the player you have.
Poaching is the deliberate selection of players.
One is development.
One is insecurity dressed up as “standards”.

7️⃣ Mixed ability squads are not a problem to solve.
→ They are the job.

It is a skill to stretch the strongest without discarding the latest developer. It is a skill to adapt practices so everyone can participate meaningfully.

❤️ That's coaching.

8️⃣ If a player outgrows the environment, there is a proper route.

‣ Extra challenge within the club, where possible.
‣ District, county, performance programmes.
‣ Academies for families who can commit.

Those pathways exist for a reason, so grassroots can stay a foundation, not a talent-hoarding environment for adults.

9️⃣ What gets missed in the poaching mindset.

When you chase “ready-made” players, you stop learning how to develop.
The coach improves more slowly, depending on those "better players" to "win games". The team becomes dependent on recruitment. If we lose, let's poach better players, and the cycle continues.

The environment becomes anxious and fragile because every season becomes a rebuild.

🔟 What good looks like instead.
🔥 Develop the players you have.
🔥 Keep football local where possible.

⭐ Compete properly, but not at the cost of community access.

If you are a coach who embraces mixed ability and keeps every child in the game, you are doing the work that actually matters.

[Joe Silk @Slickyjoe]

@WR1NKLY_NINJA @LFC Awful isn't it

[Stan Collymore @StanCollymore]

Suicide.

I'm choosing to be deliberately blunt and provocative in this post because it's necessary. Government, charities, football clubs are all pushing water up a hill in highlighting what is undoubtedly a major health crisis.

You take a rope.
You put it up in a garage or a tree nearby or far away.
You're thinking about every loved one you'll leave behind as you put that rope around your neck.
Then you drop.

Some are decapitated.
Some aren't.
All are found by someone who has a lifetime of trauma that will never leave them.
A son.
A daughter.
A brother.
A sister.
A mother.
A father.

I know 2 men who hung themselves.

One was found by his Mom.
One was found by his brother.
Neither have recovered fully. 20 and 30 years on.

A life sentence for people who were already worrying, terrified their loved one may do something.

So just visualise the above and ask, "is there another way"?

A segway for a moment.

I do a few Q&A's every year. Tales of yesterday with a 99% male audience of my age group.

After the stories and fun, my last question back to the audience is..

"Hands up if you struggle with a mental health issue".

Nobody ever puts a hand up. Despite 1 in every 3 of 500 attendees statistically struggling.

"Ah, nobody, that's fucking brilliant! Well I do! ". I then graphically tell people, stunned into silence about how a rope around my neck in the middle of nowhere jolted me to go home and cry like a baby to my Mom.

After the Q&A has finished, something always happens. I'll be chatting to a few guys, saying bye and one by one, men will come over and whisper " I struggle".

Or my mailbox the next day will have 30 emails from guys, their partners or kids saying " Dad/Uncle /Brother was there last night and what you said hit them hard".

And that's how some people realise that it's time to speak to a pal or family member or even rant to me in an email. It works, I often get a follow up email a year or 6 later saying that they took responsibility for their suicidal feelings and are now flying.

Humans are programmed to want to live, to have families and to keep the species growing and thriving. So for a human to want to short circuit that desire isn't normal, and it should never be spoken of as normal. It's the ultimate red flag.

If you suspect your mate, Dad, Brother, Uncle is struggling mentally, they deserve your intervention.

They deserve a " are you OK, please tell me what's up".

They deserve an opportunity to get past wanting to hang a rope over a tree or in a garage and slowly struggle until they die and you find them.

If you've been there and trust me I have plenty, then you'll know that text out of the blue, or a footie mate or one of your kids asking jow you are can open the curtains to some sunshine.

Because when suicide is your only answer, the room is already dark, and you can't see a way out.

So please, fucking pretty please, ask that husband, Dad, Uncle, Cousin, footie pal TODAY how they are.

You may be shocked what comes back but extremely glad that you asked.

For those who struggle, you're not alone.

[The Sporting Resource @TheS_Resource]

Recruiting isn’t coaching.
And building a winning youth team by poaching players?

That’s not leadership.
That’s insecurity in disguise.

If you’re whispering to a child on another team, telling them they’re “too good” for their mates, you’re not helping them grow.

You’re feeding your ego.

💡 Real coaching?
It’s developing the child who’s behind.
It’s giving the quiet one a voice.
It’s building something, not buying it.

And the ones who preach respect while undermining others?

We see you.
And more importantly, the children do too.

📌 Development ≠ recruitment.
Let’s raise the standard.

[Joe Silk @Slickyjoe]

Please share, great team, manager and players

[Kyle @KB2X]

Hey there! I’m reaching out to share my struggle with cancer and the urgent need for private medical care to get the best chance at recovery for my family. Your support, no matter the amount, can make a real difference in my fight. Appreciate anything YNWA https://t.co/o8bmVO6ZYU

[Joe Silk @Slickyjoe]

@EPLBible If only he was that loyal to his wife

[Joe Silk @Slickyjoe]

Or changed

[Joe Silk @Slickyjoe]

@EPLBible

[Joe Silk @Slickyjoe]

@stimpsondan Really?????

[Joe Silk @Slickyjoe]

@RichFeliciaBM Thought it was 130 fc now?

[Joe Silk @Slickyjoe]

@RealBobMortimer I gotta a pal who been fishing for 65 years who would be absolutely comedy gold. He is such a legend if you are ever in South east of England. I have loved fishing with him last few years, such great stories and story telling.

[Joe Silk @Slickyjoe]

@themichaelowen Did you have secret talks with them too? Surely that's called tapping up??

[Whitstable Town Football Club @whitstabletown]

🛡️Join Our U15's JPL Warriors! 🛡️

We are looking for talented players to strengthen our JPL Warriors Squad. Could that be you? 🫵🏽

Email us at [email protected]

[Whitstable Town Football Club @whitstabletown]

Join Our JPL Warriors #Pitchero
https://t.co/LCmFHcSzAP