Oxford united FC
Oxford United’s Vaulks takes funding to three football clubs
Vaulks spoke at a ‘Can We Talk?’ workshop held at the Kassam Stadium on Tuesday evening, offering mental health training for 150 attendees and encouraging further discussion.
Speaking personally about his experience with suicide through both of his grandfathers, the 32-year-old was joined by Mike McCarthy, founder of the charity ‘Baton of Hope’ of which Vaulks does a lot of work with, and its clinical director, Ben Wilson.
The charity offers training and a pledge which workplaces can commit to.
“As a footballer, I feel really strongly that every football club should have this,” Vaulks said before the evening.
“Every football club should sign the gold pledge.
“I’m in communication with the PFA, I have been over the last year. I’m very grateful that they’ve also given me some funding and I will be taking that into at least three more football clubs.
“It’s kind of my mission now from the work I’ve seen that young men who are susceptible to so much pressure, so much exposure, that they need support.
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“If you make your workplace a psychologically safe place that talks about suicide and is aware of it, then, in turn, that will make your team also more productive on the pitch, I really believe that.”
The former Wales international was awarded the FIFPRO Player Voice Award last November which included a prize fund that covered the cost of the event and provided free suicide awareness training.
Vaulks has also received an additional £10,000 from the PFA to support the expansion and delivery of his project across football clubs.
“We need money as a charity to fund these things. I’m very grateful to FIFPRO for that and I’m very proud that I’m able to put something back in and I know that I’ll leave Oxfordshire, or at least some of our supporters, with more toolkits to help their mental health.
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“Without being too morbid, the outcome is that we save lives and improve lives.
“I really feel that if my grandfathers had been at something like this and understood that the support was out there or being aware of their mental health, they may well still be here today. That’s the aim.
“And to help as many people as we can to go out into the community and become peer-to-peer support people who can notice signs. The NHS is so overwhelmed that we need to something within the community about it.”
The U’s are looking to strengthen after their relegation from the Championship last season, with a new striker wanted by supporters after the return of fan favourite Will Lankshear to his parent club Tottenham Hotspur.
Chaplin spent last season on loan at boyhood club Portsmouth as the club survived in the second tier, the 29-year-old scoring twice and managing one assist in 40 appearances.
Meanwhile, his parent club Ipswich secured promotion to the Premier League by finishing second in the league only behind runaway champions Coventry City.
The Englishman was key in the Tractor Boys’ League One promotion-winning season where they finished second, Chaplin scoring 26 goals that year to win the division’s Golden Boot award, joint with Peterborough United’s Jonson Clarke-Harris.
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He was also awarded Ipswich’s Player of the Season award and included in the League One Team of the Season.
Chaplin then struck 13 goals in the Championship as the Suffolk side were promoted again, before suffering relegation from the Premier League the year after.
The attacking midfielder was released by Ipswich last month following their return to the top flight and SportsBoom are reporting that Oxford have ‘expressed an interest’ in signing the free agent.
With experience in the top tiers of English football and proof of goal scoring prowess in League One, Chaplin would be a sensible addition to the U’s ranks.
Tottenham Hotspur want £20 million for 21-year-old Will Lankshear and have turned down multiple bids for him, according to Hayters.
The ex-U’s striker, who was the club’s top scorer last term with 12 goals in all competitions, is highly rated by his parent side who narrowly avoided relegation from the Premier League last season finishing two points above the drop zone.
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However, they haven’t ruled out selling him if the right offer comes in with Portuguese side Sporting CP reportedly interested.
In addition Spurs is also considering another loan move for Lankshear to a Championship club, although the London team is looking to fund a summer spending spree that has already seen a £52 million bid for defender Jan Paul Van Hecke accepted by Brighton.
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Lankshear has made three Premier League appearances for Spurs as well as scoring one goal in three Europa League features.
In a breakout season in men’s football, the England youth international became a fan favourite in OX4 for his tenacity and goal scoring success in a struggling Championship team.
The 21-year-old’s attitude off the pitch also endeared the fans to his name, with the player crediting the club as the place where it all began ahead of a hopefully successful career.
The U’s will play host to the Tractor Boys on Saturday, August 1, with kick-off scheduled for 12:00PM.
The fixture is the fourth pre-season friendly confirmed by the club and the first from a division higher than League One, where Oxford will compete next term.
United will face National League side Aldershot Town (Tuesday, July 21) and League Two club Barnet (Saturday, July 25) away from home before the welcoming of another fourth-tier outfit Crawley Town (Tuesday, July 28).
The U’s have also confirmed that tickets for the trip to Aldershot are now on sale.
Oxford played Ipswich twice in the Championship last season as Matt Bloomfield’s side suffered relegation whilst the Suffolk club were promoted to the Premier League, finishing second.
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Under former head coach Gary Rowett, the Yellows pulled off a shock 2-1 victory against Kieran McKenna’s men in OX4 in late November, Mark Harris and Przemyslaw Placheta scoring the goals.
They were defeated 2-1, however, in the second fixture, Will Lankshear scoring the only goal for the U’s at Portman Road.
The Tractor Boys are currently on the hunt for a new manager after McKenna stepped down last week in order to take a break from football management.
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