For most, Christmas is a period of rest, family time and indulgence but for Premier League footballers, it could hardly be more different: it’s intense and gruelling, both physically and mentally. Captain Jordan Henderson sat down with The Athletic to talk about life in England’s top-flight at this time of year.
“In this position, you don’t really think about Christmas at all, to be honest,” he says. “The most important thing in my mind is preparing for the Boxing Day game in the best possible way. It’s such a crucial period, with three league games in the space of week. There are a lot of points up for grabs and it can have a big impact on where you are as a team going into the new year.”
“I think the manager has changed a little bit in dealing with this time of year, in terms of recovery days and when to give people a rest. Bringing in doing treatment and recovery stuff at home during a really intensive period has worked really well. It helps the freshness of the players and it’ll be nice to have a bit of extra time with my family.
“I think they’re used to me being away a lot. They know that their dad playing football means I have to do a lot of travelling and it keeps me out of the house quite a lot. I use FaceTime a bit when I’m away but sometimes, it’s not a good idea: either they can’t be bothered to do it and talk to me or it just reminds them that I’m away and that can be difficult. I tend to just do it when they want to do it.
“It’s not nice leaving them but I think they understand that this is my work and what it involves. Being so young, they don’t go to the night games but they come along to the early kick-offs at Anfield and they enjoy that. It’s always special going home and seeing them waiting for me.”
As for Christmas shopping, Henderson got it done online during downtime in Qatar during last week’s Club World Cup. “I haven’t had time to go to a single shop,” he says. What about writing the cards and wrapping up presents for the kids? “I tend to leave that side of things to the missus,” he admits.
And what’s on the Christmas list of the European Cup-winning skipper?
“Nothing, really. I expect I’ll just get the usual: aftershave and underpants, nothing very exciting,” he says. “My family always say I’m a difficult person to buy stuff for. To be honest, I’ll be happy with anything.”