On The Spot with ex-Wolves and England winger Matt Jarvis

Matt Jarvis racked up more than 400 senior appearances during an 18-year career that saw him play 205 times in the Premier League.

After starting out at Gillingham, he starred for Wolves, West Ham and Norwich, while also earning one cap for England against Ghana in 2011.

Having suffered terrible injury problems during his stint at Carrow Road, 36-year-old Jarvis speaks exclusively to LiveScore about the toll they took on him mentally, as well as how Wolves and the Hammers have started their Premier League campaigns.

Hi Matt, thanks for speaking to us. You hung up your boots in May 2021 after a spell at Woking. How have you found the transition into retirement and what have you been up to?

It’s never going to be an easy transition but it has been great. I’ve spent some time at home with my two kids and that is a huge positive for me. I love doing the media and if I can’t play, there is nothing better than talking about it and doing as much of that as I can. I’m also doing some ambassador stuff at West Ham. It’s nice to still be involved in football and do that as much as possible.

You had a really difficult period at Norwich with a couple of long-term injuries. Did the time spent in the gym, working alone while your team-mates trained, allow you to think about what you might do once you did retire?

It’s hard to be on your own in that situation. I was lucky that there was someone else that was injured on a long-term basis at the same time, Louis Thompson. Even though we had completely different injuries we could work together in the gym. Sometimes I wouldn’t be feeling it and he would bring me through, other days he wasn’t and I would do the same. 

When you’re on your own and in there for long periods of time you get chances to think about things and that’s the difficult part. You’re at the training ground longer when you’re injured. When you’re fit, you’re in, you train, you love it and have the banter, then you have time to go home and can actually do some education if you want to — do something else. When you’re injured, you’re constantly thinking about the injury and trying to get yourself fit. 

The only part of my rehab that made me think was when I was really struggling, and the specialist was telling me to retire really. I was like ‘no, I’m not doing that’. But my wife and others were telling me I needed to start thinking about later life — will I be able to play with the kids in the garden? Then you start questioning whether you’re being selfish or not. 

But it was my life and I wanted to play football. I missed a lot of my son growing up. He was my first child. I missed the first sort of two years of his life as I was mentally and physically trying to get fit to do what I wanted to do and play football.

You have spoken previously about struggling with your mental health at times during your rehab. Do you think the understanding of the mental side of the game has improved in the years since you were injured and could the sport do more?

It has definitely improved but there is so much more that could be done. 

Everyone only sees the glitz and the glamour of playing football. People say: ‘they’re earning this, they’re earning that’. Yes, they are but there is so much sacrifice to get to that level. Don’t get me wrong, we are all blessed to have done or be doing what we are doing. 

The other side to it that you don’t see is when they’re injured, they’re struggling to get fit or they’re in pain and the amount of work that has to be done mentally to get themselves right to go out. If you go out and say you have hurt your groin or something, you rehab and do all that, then do it again. It is so frustrating, so hard to deal with. 

I was drilled every day to go out, play football and help my team. I couldn’t do that. I felt like whatever I did, I just missed playing the game. I missed helping my team-mates and I was in pain every day. I couldn’t even walk down the stairs properly. It’s a huge struggle once you get into that spiral. 

I think a lot of clubs now see that side of things and a lot of players who have been through it will help players that are in that situation with injuries too.

Your old club Wolves have had a difficult start to the season. Was it the right move to sack Bruno Lage?

The squad of players that Wolves have is really strong. They backed the manager in the transfer window. They got the players and squad together that he wanted really. You look at Conor Coady going, you look at [Morgan] Gibbs-White, [Leander] Dendoncker going. I would imagine the manager had the final say in his decision to get rid of these players for his team and the shape. 

Matheus Nunes who they signed is fantastic, while obviously they were unfortunate with the injury to Sasa Kalajdzic. They signed a centre forward, which they were screaming out for, and he goes and gets injured in his first game. That is devastating. 

Defensively they are solid, they pass nicely and they get through the lines, they get to midfield and it’s creative in that sense. Then they get to the final third and it breaks down. That is what they have struggled with ever since [Raul] Jimenez got injured a couple of years ago. 

You could hear the Wolves fans and they weren’t happy with the manager at West Ham. He made a few changes and they’re screaming ‘you don’t know what you’re doing’. You could see that it was inevitable that he was going to lose his job.

Plenty of managers have been linked with the vacancy. It is an attractive job to go into given the quality you mentioned previously.

Wolves fans now can see the squad of players — whoever comes in has got a fantastic group. It is all about the attacking formula. They have shown for years that they can defend, they can pass, they can keep possession. They did that with Nuno [Espirito Santo] and they have done that with Bruno Lage. Now they have got to be able to have that end product. That is what they have been missing and they can go straight up the table with that group of players if they find it.

You mentioned West Ham, that win over Wolves should kick-start their season and alleviate some of the unfair pressure on David Moyes?

It was a huge game for them. It was must-win. They didn’t play outstandingly well but it was all about the result. 

[Jarrod] Bowen hadn’t hit the heights of last year and he was back to his old self. He was driving the ball up the pitch, cutting in, having shots and creating again. It looked like he had a new lease of life and getting the goal will help his confidence and get him going again. 

[Gianluca] Scamacca is a really good player, I really like him. He’s just a really good goalscorer, he can hold up the ball well and an actual centre forward is just what they needed. [Michail] Antonio has been incredible for them and what he does for the team has been outstanding. Now they have the chance to rotate the two of them which is huge with their European commitments.

The depth in the squad is the best they have had in a long time. They needed this influx of players. David Moyes has done an outstanding job but he has been used to having a small squad and he doesn’t like to rotate. They’ve made some good signings and have two strong players in every position. 

Fulham on Sunday is another game that they will be expecting to win and to kick on. I think it is only up from here for West Ham.