Ex-Sheffield Wednesday man Izzy Brown announces tragic early retirement after ‘toughest year of his life’
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An in a revealing interview with The Athletic just hours after he announced his retirement from the game aged just 26, it is clear just how difficult that time has been.
A free transfer to Preston North End at the end of an eight-year association with Chelsea ended with public accusation from manager Ryan Lowe that he hadn’t met the standards of attitude required at Deepdale.
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Hide AdThe extent of Brown’s injury battles were not then known – double Achilles surgery was followed-up with hand, foot and mouth disease and a problem with his nervous system.
On top of all this he was struggling to come to terms with the death of his close friend Dominic Yarwood, who died by suicide in December 2021. Problems sleeping impacted his ability in training and caused him to be late on occasion, Brown said.
“It’s not that I have a bad attitude. I was just going through something that not many people should ever have to go through, and on top of an injury as well. It was probably the toughest year of my life.”
Brown had a difficult relationship with Wednesday fans in a season-long loan that saw him play 21 times without scoring a goal.
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Hide Ad“Being a footballer, you have to bite your tongue quite a lot because when you have a bad game, you’re the first one to know,” Brown told The Athletic. “But you go on Twitter, you see what the fans are saying and you have to just deal with it. It’s part and parcel of the job.”
Once one of the brightest talents in English football, Brown’s career in the game didn’t go as he would have liked and the circumstances around his retirement are tragic.
“I’ve been trying to deal with my emotions and it’s been difficult,” Brown said. “It’s been a difficult year but, really, today and tomorrow will probably be the hardest couple of days of my life. I don’t like uncertainty. I don’t like not knowing what’s going to happen in the future. It’s very difficult for me to process everything.”