Former Liverpool goalkeeper Daniel Atherton joins us to tell some unbelievable stories from his time at the club, including Steven Gerrard’s brutally competitive side, Jordan Henderson making him look ridiculous in training, and the bizarre Palmer Violets incident that left him fearing his Liverpool career was over.
Daniel lifts the lid on what it was really like training alongside some of the biggest names in football, from Gerrard to Henderson, and opens up about the highs and lows of a career that took him from Liverpool to non-league football.
But behind the funny stories, there’s a much more personal conversation. Daniel speaks honestly about battling anxiety, depression and ADHD, reaching some of the darkest points of his life, and how opening up and getting professional help helped him begin to understand his own mind.
It’s a brilliant, honest conversation about life inside a Premier League academy, the reality of a football career, and the importance of talking when things get tough.
0:00 Intro
1:47 Liverpool Academy
4:45 Rejected by Liverpool
16:48 Nearly Released
17:46 Steven Gerrard at Liverpool
19:37 Gerrard’s Dark Side
20:58 Career Ending Video
26:46 Pep Lijnders & Liverpool Training
27:40 Jordan Henderson Humiliation
29:12 Imposter Syndrome
31:00 Training With Liverpool’s First Team
34:00 Klopp Plays Him Up Front
36:00 Nearly Scoring for Liverpool
39:27 Leaving Liverpool
40:20 Málaga & Spanish Football
44:00 Football Trials
47:00 Improving as a Goalkeeper
51:00 The New Saints & Champions League
55:00 The Champions League Dream
1:00:00 Losing His Love for Football
1:04:00 Warrington Town & FC United
1:06:50 Anxiety, Depression & ADHD
1:08:22 Drinking to Silence His Mind
1:11:37 His Darkest Moments
1:13:49 Feeling Alone
1:18:29 How Therapy Helped
1:19:07 The Fire Pit Therapy Exercise
1:20:16 Talking About Mental Health
1:22:40 The Don’t Want to Talk Podcast
1:24:35 Outro
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⚽ I Had Trials Once is the football podcast where the best stories from the game get told. Every week we sit down with former footballers, current players, managers, coaches, journalists and some of football's biggest personalities for honest conversations, hilarious dressing room stories, untold career moments and behind the scenes insight.
📈 From the Premier League and EFL to Non League, grassroots football and beyond, if you love football stories, football interviews and proper football banter, you're in the right place.
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