Voices: Jack Grealish is an anti-role model – we need more celebrities like him

You don’t really get celebrities like Jack Grealish anymore.

Don’t get me wrong, I’m sure there are still a ton of athletes and actors who aren’t afraid to get wild. I’m sure Hollywood still regularly hosts events of such Bacchanalian excess that they would turn the average person’s brain the jelly and their liver to ash. After all, what’s the point of having all that money if you aren’t going to use it to transcend the limits of mortal men and women? To do anything less would be a waste.

What Grealish brings to the table, though, is something that you don’t really see often in the age of dehydration diets and Instagram filters: he isn’t shy about his behaviour. He isn’t coy about the fact that he likes to have fun. Crucially, he doesn’t try to make his definition of “fun” conform to some accepted standard.

That was extremely clear this past week, when Grealish went on the bender to end all benders to celebrate Manchester City winning the treble in Istanbul on Saturday. Highlights included Grealish almost falling off the team’s bus, having vodka poured down his throat by fellow Man City player Kalvin Phillips while announcing to a cheering crowd “I’m a turkey and the turkey needs feeding” and, according to Grealish himself, not sleeping for 24 straight hours.

Honestly, good for Grealish. If that sounds excessive to you, maybe you just had a really boring freshers week, but if I’d just made sporting history I’d probably have done the same and worse. Grealish is in his twenties, he’s rich, and he’s in better physical condition than any person I’ve interacted with in real life, so if he wants to tell people he’s a turkey and be fed booze by a colleague then all I can say is: good luck to him. He’s just won the treble, he can be any kind of bird he wants.

That being said, there’s also been the usual expected backlash from some corners of the UK media and internet comment sections, condemning Grealish for his antics and fretting over the former Aston Villa star’s responsibilities as a supposed role model. What could be a story about a talented young athlete being charming has been warped into a puritanical screed about the dangers of drinking too much, and discussions of Grealish’s supposed past transgressions. Some of us seem determined to turn a potentially uplifting story into a “very special episode” of Saved By The Bell.

Here’s the thing: Jack Grealish isn’t a role model. Or rather, he shouldn’t have to be a role model. We don’t have to elevate every single sporting personality to the level of sainthood and declare them moral arbiters for the soul of the nation. To quote Ted Lasso’s Danny Rojas, “sometimes football is just football”. If you’re surprised by a footballer partying too hard after a big win, maybe football isn’t for you. I hear curling is having a really good season this year.

I’m writing this from my mum’s house in Manchester. There’s a garden gnome sat right behind me, wearing a City shirt and holding up a banner that says “Etihad Stadium”. I still can’t tell if she genuinely supports them, or if she just started doing it to annoy my dad’s side of the family because they’re all United fans. In any case, I’ve grown up around enough Manchester-based footie to know this: if Grealish’s behaviour makes him a role model to anybody, it’s football fans. Hell, when it comes to celebrating to excess after your team wins a match, he’d probably be outclassed the second he stepped into the average pub in Salford. I’ve seen people get punched in the mouth over 0-0 exhibition matches at Old Trafford.

Let Grealish have his fun. In a world where celebrities pretend to be flawless beings of pure energy to avoid losing out on sponsorship deals, he’s a rare breed. He’s authentic. He’s messy. That’s why people like him. He reminds them of themselves.

He isn’t a role model, and that’s fine. We’ve got enough role models. Let him enjoy his win. He’s earned it.