ONE game, one defeat, one sending off. That’s Jonjo Shelvey for you.
And he’s hurting.
The controversial Newcastle United midfielder told the Daily Mail: “When stuff happens it’s the ban that kills you.
“The fines you can take and what people say you can live with. But it’s the bans that hurt you inside.”
Former Charlton, Liverpool and Swansea – not to mention England – midfielder Shelvey saw red for stamping on Tottenham’s Dele Alli in Sunday’s 2-0 home loss.
And that despite seeking psychological help for his short fuse after being sent off against Nottingham Forest last season.
Revealed Shelvey: “I text my agent saying I needed to sort this out.
“I said, ‘I need to see someone who can help me, a psychologist’.
“The game was still going on but I knew I had to act. The lad had given me a dig and he only did it because I was running the game.
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“But I just kicked out at him and it was childish.”
That red at Forest was rescinded. Treading on England ace Alli’s ankle will not be treated so lightly. A three-game ban is the punishment.
Shelvey, the first Swansea player to start for England when he was man of the match in a 6-0 Euro 2016 qualifier against San Marino, was speaking just before the Premier League campaign.
He knows he has a problem and is trying to fix it.
He said: “Look, sometimes I just need to reign in it in. I need to just shut up and stuff, walk away.
“But sometimes I can’t help it. It’s like any walk of life. If you are driving and someone cuts you up you are gonna want to start shouting.
“It’s probably normal but it’s something I need to nip in the bud. So after Forest I started to see a psychologist and it’s been really good so far.
“But it’s an ongoing process. I want to be competitive but I need to smooth some off the edges or I will be the one who suffers.
“Sometimes I can lose my head and it can’t keep happening can it?
“When stuff happens it’s the ban that kills you. Knowing that you can’t help your team and that you can’t play football.”
Shelvey was born with alopecia, the condition which prevents his hair growing properly. He’s taken a lot of stick – and downright abuse – over the years, including “you bald c**t”.
And he’s certainly had his troubles with the verbals.
Last December, Shelvey was found guilty by an FA commission of racially abusing Wolves midfielder Romain Saiss.
He told the Mail: “I didn’t say what they claimed I said but that stain will be there until I finish playing.
“I have to live with it. We played Leeds last season and when I went out to warm up it was, ‘Shelvey you racist’.
‘We played Wigan at home and a lad in their team came straight through me in the first minute, straight down the back of my calf.
“Then he has slapped me on the head as I got up and called me a ‘Bald racist c**t’. Then he ran off’.”
Shelvey calls Newcastle "home" but still visits his old haunts in Harold Hill, London, where he coaches kids at the social club run by his dad.
Given his Premier League style and huge wage packet, he definitely realises how far he has gone in life.
Two Christmas Eves ago he visited a local pub. He explained: "We walked in and I looked across at the TV and there was a bullet hole in it. I was, like, 'Jesus'.
"We still stayed in there for a while but I was counting down the minutes to get out."
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Shelvey wants to do some damage himself - to Premier League scorelines. But first he must learn how to remain on the pitch.
He wants to mellow so that he goes into a game in a calm frame of mind and not looking to punch walls.
As he readily admits, it's work in progress.
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