DAVID BENTLEY ENJOYS a laugh, he never stops. After all, life, itโs fair to say, isnโt half bad for him. Three years after walking away from football, Bentley is living the lifestyle he was unable to enjoy during his career.
He now calls Spain his home and itโs there he puts his energies into his young family and an ever-expanding restaurant business. Football couldnโt be any further from his mind.
There were many reasons for his decision to abandon the game at the age of 29, not least the reality of falling out of love with something heโd grown up dreaming of doing.
The scrutiny and criticism of footballers which escalated throughout his career and subsequently exploded with the onset of social media was a significant factor.
The former England international has previously expressed his aversion to people encroaching on his privacy in no uncertain terms. It was one of the reasons why he opted to retreat into the oblivion.
During a brief stopover in Dublin during this week, he spoke of one particular incident during his Tottenham days when the person next to him in a restaurant tactically lifted their phone, pretending to read a message, to get a picture of Bentley and his wife.
โWhen did that even become acceptable?,โ he asks, genuinely irked by the personโs impulse to take a picture for Twitter. Interestingly, he doesnโt have any social media accounts himself.
โItโs missing, something is missing. Weโre human beings, we want to have fun. It shouldnโt be like that, I donโt know whatโs wrong with modern football.
โWhen I started at Arsenal there was [Tony] Adams and [Ray] Parlour and they were loving it. They were living the best lives they could and yeah they ran into problems but everyone was having fun.
โItโs definitely changed. I mean football used to be like that back in the day when I first started playing but itโs changed a lot because society has changed. You know: the media, social media, the focus, the money, the bitter minds of people towards the players.
โYou literally play football, go home and thatโs it. Whereas before, there was a lot more fun. It was an enjoyable experience. Youโre pictured out having a drink with your dinner and youโre a drinker or out playing golf and you get criticised.โ
Bentley has no such worries now. His โLa Salaโ business (Stephen Carr is also a shareholder) in the south of Spain is thriving and he looks back on his truncated career with fondness. For the first time in a while, heโs at ease in his surroundings.
โIโm very busy, three children, businesses and stuff like that,โ the 31-year-old said. โThe planets aligned. My contract ended with Tottenham, my missus was pregnant with twins and I just thought I had a decision to make, what do I do?
โI had my business out in Spain and I wanted to bring my children out there and my six-year-old was just starting school. I made a decision, you know what, it just shows one comment โfalling out of love with itโ and itโs stuck with me.
โI havenโt fallen out of love with it, I love the game, itโs my life, I dedicated my life to it but I needed to move on. I could have signed on again for another two or three years but that wasnโt something I wanted to do.โ
His career was full of promise so itโs probably natural, from the outside looking in, to paint him with the brush of a wasted talent. He was extremely talented, a particularly gifted set-piece taker who won seven caps for England under Steve McClaren.
There was a time, most notably after he scored a hat-trick against Man United for Blackburn Rovers, when he was being labelled as one of Englandโs brightest young stars.
He was even compared to David Beckham. For whatever reason, it never quite worked out.
โI didnโt waste a minute of it,โ Bentley says looking back. โI enjoyed every single minute of playing football, even in the bad times. People on the outside looking in, they want to see a success, a medal, a trophy or something, I just enjoyed every minute of it.
โIt panned out really well, really happy with what happened. I didnโt want to hang around, did what I did and got out. You donโt have a long time to live. Thereโs only so much money you can earn, how much do you need?โ
โI live a great life, very happy and privileged. I came from nothing. Mum and Dad used to struggle to give me five quid. I used to buy shoes from the car boot sale and whatever else is a bonus. All this is fun. From a kid struggling to this.โ
Bentleyโs attitude is certainly shaped by his upbringing. He almost has a childlike sense of fun, the joker in the room, and two hours in his company reveals his true personality.
โThis is the most enjoyable interview youโll ever do,โ his agent said before we sat down, and he wasnโt wrong either.
The former winger has years worth of stories to tell. The most infamous is probably of the circumstances surrounding the now famed Christmas party in Dublin with Tottenham.
โIt was good, we were all to blame,โ he said of the trip. โMost of us planned it together, worst plan ever. It was when camera phones werenโt really around and before Twitter and Instagram and all that sort of stuff. Itโs impossible now.
โIt was good, we had a great time. I actually got in a little bit of a heated row with Harry [Redknapp] that day and he made me stay behind and do a bit of extra running.
โThe flight was taking off at 1.30pm and all the lads had gone and they were all waiting on the plane for me. I was trying to get my running done and I was like I have to go I have to go and he made me finish.
โI finished at 12.45 and I was 45 mins away so they all had to wait for me on the plane. Harry was not impressed when he found out.โ
โIn the old days, thatโs the way it used to be. Even the press guys and players would go out for a beer. There was not this us against them mentality. That exists with players, press, fans.
โItโs like someone is always waiting for you to say something or theyโre looking to get something out of you.
โYou listen to an interview and close your eyes and youโll think all the players and managers are the same person. โTaking each game as it comesโ, itโs the same.
โItโs not the players, they go away and have a great personality but you just feel like youโre going to get shafted. You now have to put up a barrier and thatโs whatโs happened to protect yourself or if you donโt you get shafted.โ
Disillusioned and disenchanted, Bentley lost his way. He desperately searched for a spark to ignite his faltering career. Firstly in Russia with FC Rostov and then a brief spell with Birmingham City. It never arrived.
He announced his retirement on Sky Sports and fought his way through tears to reveal his reasons.
โMy love for the game went a little bit and I didnโt want to carry on just for the fact of paying me money. I wanted to go in a different direction. Perhaps I didnโt have the head for professional football.โ
โBut when I go back out, I go โoh yeah I actually love doing thisโ. Iโll never lose that love, I mean kicking the ball is the best thing Iโve ever done. When I go out there, I go fucking hell I love this.
โOnce I cross that white line it becomes fun again. I do miss certain elements, being with the lads because there is good people in football but the players arenโt allowed to flourish and theyโre restricted.
โIt really frustrates me. You wonโt to be able to express yourself. Anything I do in life I try to do that, itโs the way Iโve been brought up. Iโm not losing a minute, go out to enjoy yourself and if Iโm not allowed to do that then Iโm not going to do it.
โItโs like anything if youโre not allowed to enjoy yourself then why do it? If your missus just lays there youโre never going to enjoy it, you want her to be involved as well because youโre not going to do it otherwise.
โIf youโre scared of doing it. Scared of missing, fucking up youโre going to play within yourself and thatโs what happens with players.
โScared to make a mistake, because you get criticised for it. Players playing side to side and the simple ball. Players used to play it with the outside of their boot, remember that?โ
Later today, two of Bentleyโs former clubs go head-to-head in a north London derby which is being labelled as the most significant meeting of the rivals in some time.
While he admits he doesnโt get to watch much football these days, he believes Tottenham will be too strong for the Gunners this afternoon.
โArsenal will certainly be hurting more because to lose to Swansea at home just isnโt good enough if you want to challenge for the title particularly after a poor performance at Old Trafford last weekend.
โSaturdayโs game will be tense and for me itโs either a draw or a Spurs win. I just donโt see Arsenal doing it on current form.โ
Heโll watch it with a vested interest from afar but regardless of the result heโll return to living a thousand miles away from it all, content in his bubble away from the spotlight.
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You could watch that goal 100 times and want to see it again.
The power on it is unreal, Iโve played amateur football for years but had I ever attempted that I would require hip surgery and the ball still wouldnโt have landed.
Absolute cracker, some technique to do that and to beat it will take some doing.. Great cross too.
nearly a carbon copy technique of zidane v leverkusen cl final. the balance off his right foot is ridic