Former England goalkeeper Ben Foster has opened up on the mental struggles he faced during his time at Manchester United, admitting he suffered a “breakdown” at the club
Former England star Ben Foster has bravely opened up about his dark days at Manchester United, revealing he suffered a “breakdown”.
The goalkeeper, who was at the Red Devils under Sir Alex Ferguson from 2005 to 2010, found it tough to secure his spot as a starter due to Dutch icon Edwin van der Sar’s firm hold on the No1 jersey. After two loan spells at Watford and a battle with the pressure of playing for one of the world’s top clubs, Foster shared his mental strife.
The now 41-year-old, who earned eight caps for his country, had initially kept his struggles to himself, finally confiding in his wife. On an episode of his Fozcast podcast, Foster candidly spoke about feeling like an imposter amongst football greats after moving from Stoke City.
“(My mindset was) look at these absolute legends,” he said. “They’re used to playing with Edwin van der Sar, Tim Howard, Peter Schmeichel and proper goalkeepers. They’ve now got Ben Foster behind them from Lillington.
“I told nobody except my wife towards the end. I remember having a big breakdown and going, ‘I just can’t do this. I need to get out of this football club and I need to escape from it’.
“The club knew that I was struggling. They could see it physically, emotionally and with the way my demeanour was around the place. It just wasn’t working and it was the wrong place at the wrong time.
“When I was at United, I used to go into the game thinking, ‘don’t make a mistake’. I’d be thinking it all game long, but then you start to try and keep it safe which means that you don’t really get to showcase your abilities and your skills.”
Foster revealed he felt unsupported by the club, suggesting it was because they had plenty of other goalkeeping options. The pressure became too much, leading him to leave United for Birmingham City in May 2010 after just 23 appearances.
His career saw a turnaround as he won the League Cup with Birmingham the next year, then moved to West Brom and returned to Watford, amassing 390 Premier League appearances. Despite retiring in September 2022, Foster made a shock comeback in March 2023 to aid Wrexham in clinching the National League title.
Reflecting on his tough times at United, he believes the experience ultimately improved his mental resilience. He said: “It kind of worked out for everybody, but I actually learned from those experiences. There’s a lot of people that get buried by it though, and they struggle with it, and that can really impact them for the rest of their lives.
“I took it into the rest of my career with Birmingham City, West Brom and Watford and it helped stand me in real good stead. When I did come to those bad moments, I had some resilience already built up.
“I never had those feelings to that deep, dark extent again, because once you get into, it’s very hard to get out of it.”