I like to write. In addition to a Footballers' Football column for the Mail Online, I've produced the following two books.
Graduation: Life Lessons of a Professional Footballer
Life changed for Richard in 2010.
Following ten years at Watford – a journey which took him from aspiring schoolboy to established Premier League goalkeeper – he moved on to Brentford and subsequently moved down the pecking order.
Stranded as a fourth choice stopper in League One, a far cry from the glamorous career he’d envisaged and already experienced, Richard plummeted into a crippling pit of self-doubt and acute mental anxiety.
Injury, depression and a flirtation with retirement in his mid-20s followed. The only way was up. It was fight or flight.
Graduation uncovers that fight from Richard’s campaign to reclaim the number one spot and overcome a host of new mental challenges in the process.
Filled with hilarious anecdotes and a refreshing honesty from a professional footballer’s perspective, this story shares Richard’s understanding of the mind’s complex workings and how to apply it for high-level performance.
So, You Want To Become A Professional Footballer?
It's not as easy as some might think.
The exciting path to professional football is riddled with obstacles every player has to overcome to reach the very top. From a schoolboy’s aspirations to facing psychological challenges upon entering the game, preparing for life in football is paramount to forging – and then maintaining – a successful career.
Richard Lee has been there and done it. And now, as part of his own performance management agency, he’s helping others to achieve those same goals with the often-neglected education every footballer should receive.
Alongside highly-proclaimed teenage author Adam Woodage, Richard shares advice, expertise and knowledge in a bid to unravel the mindset of football’s elite – and what you can do to match them.