Luke Amos | Changing the Narrative of the Modern Footballer

Giving The Game Away

Narrated by Tom Hardy, the most recent All or Nothing series grants access to Tottenham Hotspur during the first campaign in their new billion-pound stadium. In contrast to the past edition with Man City, which was criticised for being a blatant PR exercise, the Spurs edition is far from sanitised, and lifts the lid insightfully into the lifestyle of a modern professional footballer. The series humanises the Spurs players by showing their down to earth changing room discussions and highlighting their inspirational work in the community. In this way, the series helps to change the often negative narrative that surrounds the modern footballer.

Someone else who is attempting to change this same narrative is Luke Amos, former Spurs and current QPR footballer, whom we recently invited on for a session. During a media storm about young footballers inviting girls back to their hotels during quarantine and others getting into trouble with police while abroad, Luke Amos (with full A’s and A*s at GCSE) is helping to break the mould and show off footballers in a more positive light. As he says in our session, when quizzed about why footballers are some of the most scrutinised people in society, “of course it's a lot of money for just kicking a ball around, but footballers are only working class people who have made something of themselves... so I always find it hard to understand why people scrutinise us so much.”

Key evidence of his intelligence and awareness is Luke’s understanding about what football can give him. Too often the perception is that footballers only motivation for playing is fame, money and social media notoriety, but Luke explains how football can give him the opportunity, alongside many others from working class backgrounds, to inspire change in poorer communities. In a similar way to Hector Bellerin, who in a recent Forbes article, explained “football gives me so much, it puts me in a position that I can help more than most”, Luke details his ultimate ambition to play in the Premier League which will enable him to be financially stable for his family and one day enable him to go back to Nigeria and help out in the communities there.

The importance of preparing early for the time when he can no longer play as a professional would have become all too apparent when, 6 weeks after stepping out for Tottenham in front of 65,000 people against Barcelona at 21, Luke ruptured his ACL and was out injured for what he describes as the toughest year of his life. Psychologically, he turned to The Chimp Paradox, one of the seminal books for anyone on a journey to understanding their brain. As he says, “when you go to sleep at night, it's just you and your thoughts, so you've got to mentally stay strong." He’s incredibly open about the doubts and stresses he experienced at this time and it was a pleasure to chat to him.

Now, having signed for QPR at 23, Amos is ready to return to the Premier League and fulfil his career goal. We chatted to him on a Tuesday night after a double training session, yet he was more than happy to chat about anything from BLM to Messi, and from income inequality to Maguire.