Method

The following section will highlight the methods that were utilised in the development of stage one of the research.

5.1.1 Sampling and Recruitment

The study used a purposive sampling strategy which is often utilised in idiographic research when the study is seeking to recruit individuals who share the experience being investigated (Langdridge, 2007). To meet the main criteria of the study it was decided that would aim to recruit professional footballers who were, at the time of the interviews, experiencing either the possibility of career transition or within career transition. Therefore, if a professional footballer was out of contract and thus unattached from a football club, then they would be classed as being within the experience of career transition. What is more, if a player was still under contract but their current contracts were coming to an end (and not being renewed), yet they were still pursuing a career in the game, they were classed as facing the possibility of career transition. The majority of the players recruited for the focus group were, at the time, facing the possibility of career transition while the remainder of the players had been in this process for a short period. In this sense, I was able to capture the lifeworld of professional footballers within different situations and, in particular, what it was like to experience the immediacy (or possibility) and early stages of career transition.

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The participants were accessed via the Professional Footballers Association (PFA), the players’ union for professional football in the United Kingdom. Consent was obtained, via a personal contact at the PFA, to approach a group of professional footballers who were attending the organisation’s annual ‘Making the Transition’ programme. This programme aims to help professional footballers during career transition by helping them to plan for and develop second career pathways.

Annually, the PFA programme targets professional footballers whose contracts are ending and who are potentially leaving the game as well as players who are in career transition. As part of the PFA’s recruitment plan, that year, over 150 emails were sent out to professional footballers inviting them to take part in the programme and from this, only a small fraction attended. In consideration, it is assumed that the population that took part in the programme and the study were of a minority of professional footballers who were willing to address and discuss their experiences around career transition. I will discuss the possible implications of this within the findings later on in the chapter.

All the players met the criteria of the study because they were currently ‘unattached’ to a professional football team at the time and, therefore, experiencing career

transition. However, the majority of the players were at the time still hoping to get an offer of a contract from a professional club. In total, all nine players that attended the programme were approached via my contact at the PFA as these players met the criteria of the study. All the players were given information packs (see Appendix 1.1) that informed them of the nature of the study and their potential role within it. A consent form was included in the information pack and of the nine players that were invited eight agreed to participate.

5.1.2 Participants

The participants were all former professional footballers between the ages of 29-39, who had over a decade of experience and had played between 100 and 400+ games. What is more, Andrew and Tim had represented their country at

international level on several occasions. At the time of the interviews, the majority of the participants (Tim, Chris, Noel, Rich, Liam and Alex) were in the early stages of career transition, having been unattached from their last club only a few months previously. The other two (John and Andrew) had been out of the professional game

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for over a year and had, therefore, been experiencing career transition for some time.

In cooperation with and in line with the agenda of the PFA programme, each player was allocated a particular group depending upon their obligations on the day. Due to this, FG1 took place in the morning and was constituted of players who had

commitments (one-to-one sessions to develop CV’s and second career interests) in the afternoon. FG2 took place in the afternoon and constituted of those players who had programme commitments in the morning.

FG1 consisted of Chris (37), Andrew (37), John (37), Rich (29), Alex (35) and Ian (age). Ian was a current employee of the PFA, and he participated in both focus group discussions. It was agreed that Ian would be involved in both groups so that he could monitor the players’ responses, something that would assist him in his role at the PFA, as well as contribute to the discussions as an ex-professional footballer. In terms of ethical consideration, the players agreed that Ian could sit in the

interviews and, as a counsellor and former footballer it was felt that this would be beneficial in terms of his input and supporting skills. In addition, Andrew had been out of the professional game for one year and was thus, within career transition and considering a second career pathway.

Focus group two (FG2) consisted of Liam (36), Noel (34), Tim (39) and Ian. All participants were in the same situation as the majority of players in focus group one (i.e. facing the possibility of career transition), except for Tim who had been in career transition for one year.

5.1.3 Development of the topic guide

A topic guide for the interview was devised (see appendix 2.1.1), by considering prior research in the area of career transition, which focused on understanding issues such as sporting identity, support and pre-planning for retirement. In addition, the topic guide was influenced by my own experiences as a professional footballer whilst at the same time reflecting on my understanding of the current research on career transition. What is more, the structure of focus group interviews allows for the exploration of other issues that are important to the participant to be established. Therefore, whilst the above issues were anticipated to be important to professional

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footballers during career transition, I also gave space for further important issues to be discussed.

5.1.4 Procedure

The interviews took place on the final day of the PFA programme, with the first focus group (FG1) interview taking place in the morning and the second (FG2) in the afternoon. The players were approached by myself the night before the interviews and were offered an information pack. In total, eight players approached me the following morning with their signed consent forms and therefore agreed to partake in the research. Both interviews were recorded using an audio recording device and were between 40mins and 1 hour in duration. At the start of each interview the players were asked to introduce themselves, as it was felt that this would be a good way of getting the players to feel comfortable within the group. What is more, as the facilitator of both interviews I was mindful of players who were not participating as much as others and, therefore, I could draw them out with appropriate questions where necessary. What is more, at the beginning and the end of the interviews the player were briefed and debriefed.

5.1.5 Ethical Issues

During all the stages of the recruitment and data collection, the ethical guidelines of the BPS (2010) were followed. Thus, each player gave informed consent to

participate in the research and all were informed that they could withdraw from the study at any time without reason. Because of the players’ situation (i.e. facing career transition), a counsellor from the PFA (Ian) was present to assist and support any player who may have become distressed during the interviews. What is more, all the players were briefed prior to the interview regarding the nature of the study and their role within it. In addition, the players were informed that they could take a break from the interview at any time without reason. Once the interviews had taken place, the groups were debriefed and special consideration was given to the players’ welfare and state of mind. In terms of the latter, a list of supporting organisations was distributed to ensure that the players were signposted to help and support where necessary.

[80] 5.1.6 Analysis

The transcripts from the focus group interviews were analysed using the standard principles of IPA (Smith, 2004). In particular, a two-stage analysis of the group discussions was utilised, where the researcher looked, initially, for group patterns within the data before returning to explore the individual experiences of the players. The first stage of the analysis looked to develop interpretive themes from within all the players’ experiences. Once this had been established, I then clustered these themes into commonalties across both groups. Once these group patterns were established, I then looked to establish superordinate themes through a bottom down approach. A section of a coded transcript from the focus group interviews can be found in Appendix 2.1.2 and 2.1.3.