so for years, paul merson stayed silent and suffered.n. i could not see any future for myself going forward and that was very scary and also very, very tough for — for me and my family. these games of silent football have been put on to showjust how weird it is when people don't talk, don't even celebrate. it was impossible. football is all about communicationj and when you cannot communicate, you feel the strains of that so, like, reflecting on that in- a real—life sense is very important. you're kind of screaming for the ball in your head and waving your arms around. yeah, it's like being tied up a little bit when you are playing, l'd sax _ men feel like they need to suffer in silence, they don't reach out and start that journey to help themselves, get the recovery they deserve. and so, by playing today and showing kind of the power of silence and highlighting how important communication is, i think hopefully it will reach some people and make them realise that it is absolutely ok. and they deserve to get help and they deserve to speak

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