Harry Maguire's mum defends her son over 'disgraceful' abuse

But we start with Harry Maguire whose mum has hit out at the totally unacceptable abuse aimed at her son following his own goal for England against Scotland and says it's a good job he's mentally strong enough to handle it. England beat Scotland 3-1 but Maguire was jeered throughout after coming on as a half-time sub. Gareth Southgate criticised the treatment of Maguire afterwards labelling it a joke and Maguire's mum has now posted on social media. Zoe Maguire who was at the game posted this on Instagram. She said as a mum seeing the level of negative and abusive comments in which my son is receiving from some fans, pundits and the media is disgraceful and totally unacceptable to any walk of life never mind someone who works his socks off for club and country. I understand that in the football world there are ups and downs, positives and negatives but what Harry receives has gone far beyond football. For me seeing him go through what he's going through is not OK. I would hate to have to see any other parents or players go through this in the future especially the young boys and girls breaking through the ranks today. Harry has a massive heart and it's a good job he's mentally strong and can handle it as others may not be able to. I wish this sort of abuse on nobody. Well as you can see our chief reporter Cavi Solicol joins me now and Cavi it was a really open and honest statement there from Maguire's mum. How is this abuse affecting his family then? I think it affects them because they go to every game. Maguire's family and his representatives, his mum, his dad, his siblings go to every single United and England game home and away. I've seen them at games myself and obviously they've been there during the good times and they're going to be there during the bad times but I think what his mother is saying today is saying look this has gone too far, enough is enough. Footballers when they step on the pitch of course they know they are going to be targets, they know if they make mistakes they're going to be abused but what is happening to Harry Maguire feels like it's more than just about football and I don't think he wants to come out and speak about it because he's uncomfortable being at the centre of so much attention. He's just a footballer, he just wants to play football So I think his mother has taken a very brave step today by coming out on social media and saying look all this abuse does affect people. Harry is mentally strong, he can cope with it but before you say things and before you post things just stop for a second and think about what you're doing, the effect that it can have on other human beings. Yeah and I mean she has said that he is mentally strong but it does have to affect him surely. Look the information I have and you might find it incredible is that it does not bother him that much. For him it's not a big issue, it really doesn't affect him. I think this morning he is bemused about the fact that he's been talked about so much and to be honest with you he doesn't really take that much notice of it because he doesn't look at social media, he doesn't listen to newspapers. His representatives are the same people who looked after Wayne Rooney. They are used to having one of their clients being the centre of so much attention and I think they feel that his personality is similar to Wayne Rooney when it comes to football. All he wants to do is play football. He still enjoys training at United, he still enjoys playing for England and playing for Manchester United as well when he gets the chance and I know it's become almost a sort of running joke that he's not a very good player but look at the facts. He was one of the best defenders at the World Cup in Russia in 2018. He was one of the best defenders at the Euros. He was one of the best defenders at the World Cup in Qatar just a few months ago. This is not me saying this, this is the people from UEFA and FIFA who compile the official teams of the tournaments. So I think what we need to do is do what his mother is asking people to do. In a funny way we're talking about Harry Maguire. I think him and his family would prefer it if everybody just stopped talking about him, leave him alone to get on with doing his job. OK Cavy, thank you very much for now. Well we can speak live now to former Norwich midfielder Paul McVeigh who now works as an elite sports psychologist. Paul, really good to speak to you this morning. I'd like to start just from the footballing perspective. What is your take on the abuse that Harry Maguire is receiving right now? Well good afternoon Joe. I think it's really sad. You know if you're looking at an individual taking that much abuse in any game, in any walk of life, in any job or career, that's incredibly sad. The fact that his mum needs to come out publicly to try and defend him. Obviously the England manager Gareth Southgate came out to defend him. So I think that's just a really sad state of affairs. But it probably isn't all that unexpected because you just have to look at what Gareth Southgate went through when he missed a penalty in the semi-final in the Euro 96. And you think well he clearly understands it and Gareth Southgate clearly comes across really well in terms of how he empathises and definitely sympathises with his players. He's gone through something very similar to what Harry Maguire is going through right now. So you can see why not just his mum and his national team manager want to defend him. But it is also part of the game. I think what Harry Maguire is going through now is probably a really extreme version of it. But it wasn't that much later after what Gareth Southgate went through as a player to what then someone like David Beckham went through in the 98 World Cup and being sent off. Unfortunately these things do happen in football and careers. Obviously to a lesser or greater extent. But it definitely will make Harry Maguire a stronger person. Do you think that hearing from someone like Harry Maguire's mum, it almost helps people take a step back and think hang on a second, he's got a mum, he's a normal human being which can sometimes get overlooked when we talk about footballers. I think it does and I think it also needs to be just any fan that's going to a game to realise it. Can you imagine if it was one of your family members that was getting that abuse and I think that's probably what makes it too easy. It's easy to abuse and it's easy to judge and criticise and completely understand anyone who either goes to a game or even watches it at home or reads about it that they can have their opinion. But I think your reporter just mentioned there, Gareth Southgate talked about it before. Harry Maguire is getting selected by some of the best teams in the country, in the world to be playing week in week out. Now of course we'll all go through ups and downs in terms of our performance levels but consistently Harry Maguire has been playing at a very high level. It's almost a bit like Lewis Dunk, not that he's getting the abuse but Lewis Dunk's been performing exceptionally well and people suddenly see him in an England shirt and say oh he's a really good player and the same as Harry Maguire. Harry Maguire's been doing the same thing week in week out even from when I played against him when he was at Sheffield United and he's just got consistently better. So I think ultimately it's really sad to see it but I don't think this is affecting Harry Maguire. You said it might make him stronger. Maguire's mum says he is mentally strong. Do you think he will be speaking to a team psychologist perhaps to help him during this period or would you expect that the team would at least offer some kind of psychological support? I would say it's one of those situations where the coach will probably be just pulling him on the side of the pitch and saying how are you, are you okay, are you dealing with this and I'm sure Harry Maguire's going to be saying yeah it's not a problem, it's not the first time he's experienced this, he definitely knows how to get through it and deal with it. So if he's seeing a sports psychologist or anyone to help him with his mental performance, if he's currently seeing them, hopefully he'll continue to see them. I suppose it's probably a little bit of a sad endowment in the whole world of performance psychology that you would only go and see someone when everything's going wrong or you get to this level of what can I do to try and improve my performance in my opinion and which is why I love this whole subject when I was playing for nearly my 20 year career that I don't think it should be something you should do only when things are going wrong or when you're going through a tough time, I think it should be used and utilised through every single week of the season so that you're continually improving as opposed to waiting until it all goes wrong and then look into it. Yeah, really interesting because it kind of brings us on to Tottenham striker Richarlison, he was pictured in tears on the bench last weekend when he was subbed during Brazil's win over Bolivia. He's since revealed that he will seek the help of a psychologist to help him turn things around as well as dealing with things that are going on in his personal life. How refreshing is it to see a player come out and speak about the fact that he is going to seek help? Yeah, it's brilliant. I think it also probably reflects society that, you know, I think people are more open and probably have a little bit more vulnerability and, you know, even just thinking about how he used to have to be such a, almost like a macho alpha male just to survive in a football and dressing room. And you probably couldn't have said that 5, 10, 15 years ago. But the fact that Richarlison is saying that openly, the fact that, you know, he's expressing his emotions on the pitch, he's clearly a very emotional guy, like we all are, just we all express them in different ways. But it's the same point that I mentioned about Harry Maguire, you know, is Richarlison only going to go and see a sports psychologist because, in my opinion, sports psychologists should be utilised when you are performing at every level, whether you're playing well, whether you're not playing well, whether you're just being okay. So I think the fact that he's going to see one now is a really good sign because he's now open to it. But it would also say, why do you have to wait until everything starts going downhill before you want to go and see someone like that? Paul, it's been really great to get your insight on all of this. Thank you so much for joining us. Pleasure.