You know the drill.
It is never quite the same for a footballer once they hang their boots up.
What ever they go on to do next they can never replace the buzz of playing in big games like the Old Firm derby and a play-off final, or the dressing room banter.
Some cope better than others. Adam Virgo, once of Albion, Celtic and Bristol Rovers, now of Channel Five, BT and Eurosport, is coping rather well.
So well, in fact, than he offers a surprising response when asked to compare the thrill of playing with standing in front of a camera in a television studio or sitting behind a microphone.
"If I'm being 100 per cent honest I actually prefer my new career," Virgo said. "I live in Brighton now. You are travelling a lot but the family are more settled.
"I enjoy watching football and the good thing is I'm watching such a wide range. And the people I meet now.
"I've worked with Ian Wright, Steve McMamaman, Owen Hargreaves, Michael Owen, all players that played at the highest level.
"I really enjoy that, I respect the business I'm in and I am starting again.
"At certain stages of my career, probably from an early age and when I came back to Brighton, I enjoyed that, it was a real high. But when I ended up going to Bristol Rovers and you are going down the ladder and you know that as a player, it's not enjoyable. You lose that love a little bit.
"Now it's like I am starting playing again, when you are 18-years-old and sign that first contract, thinking 'I want to play in the Premier League, I want to do this or that'.
"You set yourself new goals. The thing that has helped me the most is I haven't kicked a ball for three years and I don't miss the game at all."
Since retiring with a knee injury, Virgo, still only 32, has thrown himself into his new career as a freelance co-commentator and pundit with customary gusto.
Virgo was like that as a player, a hard-working and wholehearted defender and, for a while during Mark McGhee's Albion reign, goalscoring striker.
We chat during a typically hectic spell of homework, preparing for Channel Five's peak Saturday evening Football League highlights show (he alternates as an expert analyser with ex-Sunderland and England utility player Michael Gray) and assorted other assignments.
Virgo also covers three to four games per month for BT's European network from Germany, Italy, France or Portugal and is a co-commentator for their coverage of the National League (formerly the Conference).
He was recently part of Eurosport's team for the under-17s World Cup in Chile as well but it is his role with Channel Five on the Football Tonight Show, alongside Kenny Dalglish's daughter Kelly Cates and George Riley, that has placed him under scutiny.
The successor to the BBC's Football League Show, presented by Manish Bhasin and aired after Match Of The Day with Steve Claridge and Leroy Rosenior as expert summarisers, has not gone down very well with fans and TV critics.
It made an inauspicious start, launching in August with a confused format which leapt from division to division in front of an audience of supporters.
Virgo said: "It's the first time I have been criticised for my work quite vocally and very quickly. I am talking about 72 League clubs now.
"The structure of the show probably got off to a bad start. People running it were still learning about what to do. I think mistakes were made on that first show and then, all of a sudden, you are there to be got at.
"Any change from the normal people don't like and I get that. Channel Five have put it on at peak time, nine o'clock. If they had sat George, Kelly and myself behind a desk people would have said 'They've just copied the BBC'.
"It's going to take time. If someone had pitched 15 years ago four guys sat behind a table on a Saturday afternoon talking about a game you can't see, what would have been your impression? Now (Sky) Soccer Saturday, everybody loves it.
"Me personally, I've had to learn very quickly in this business you've got to have a hard shell to take criticism. If you are going to go on national TV and criticise a manager or a player you then have to have the balls to believe in what you say."
Virgo's penchant for straight-talking has already landed him in trouble. He had a Twitter spat with Albion goalkeeper David Stockdale, which was resolved amicably. The wounds with a suddenly high-profile Championship manager may take longer to heal.
"I upset Steve Evans in an article I wrote for the Football League paper," Virgo explained. "When I read it back again I kind of bashed everything he did, when maybe you should say 'Don't forget he's got back-to-back promotions'.
"I have to remember I am being paid to give my opinion. As long as the people who employ me like what I do that's all that really matters to me and if the public like what I say that's an added bonus.
"With the (Channel Five) show I need a little time to find my feet, be recognised and kind of saying to the public 'This is the guy we want to use'.
"I've played in the Championship, in League One and League Two. I've been part of the squad that won League Two and League One with Brighton, I've been promoted from the play-offs, so my range of experience in the Football League is what they wanted from me.
"I've played at the majority of the grounds against the majority of the players that are still playing, where as you look at Steve Claridge and Leroy Rosenior they hadn't played against any of the players they were ever talking about.
"If I get ten tweets from people calling me a wally it's not the end of the world. My wife gets more upset than I do, because she sees how hard I work behind the scenes and want to try to be good at it.
"The trouble in football is everyone has an opinion and quite quickly. Now with social media I can finish a show, turn on my phone and I've got 40 tweet messages from people. Half of them are saying well done, half are saying you've got the personality of a toilet brush. If you read too much into it then it'll end up breaking you."
Virgo's long-term future may well be co-commentating, an avenue he came across by chance when looking for work with Sky and discovering that a school chum of his older brother, James, at Ardingly College, had become head of BT Sport.
He cut his teeth with BBC Radio Sussex, covering Albion games alongside lead commentator Johnny Cantor after John Byrne gave up the role. Another break came his way when James Beattie abandoned National League co-commentaries to become Accrington's manager.
"Luck has certainly played a massive part," Virgo admits. "I stumbled across co-comms and I absolutely love it. The BBC Sussex stuff was a massive learning curve for me. I learnt everything early on and Johnny was a great teacher for me.
"The great thing about the BT stuff is I've worked with Steve Bower every Conference game, Ian Darke, Peter Drury, Jonathan Pearce, top commentators who you hear on Match Of The Day and who you'll hear at the Euros next year and the World Cup.
"My learning curve has been quick because I've had the opportunity to work with so many different commentators with different styles. It always keeps you on your toes.
"I've absolutely worked my socks off, because I know the opportunities are there and there are other people out there who probably had a better playing career but I've been given the ball and I want to prove to people I can do it."
That includes trying to break new ground. "If you have played at the highest level you can walk into the media very easily," Virgo said. "As a player I never had the most technical ability but I had a good work ethic.
"My goal was always to move the posts a little bit and not necessarily think you had to play at the top of your game to analyse a game, even if you never played in the Premier League.
"I know TV companies will say if you stick Adam Virgo on a Premier League game people will automatically assume what is he doing on there?
"Stewart Robson is a co-commentator that played for Arsenal but didn't really have an amazing career but all of a sudden you'll hear him on a Champions League game. But there is a time process to go with that."
Virgo will be doing the hard yards and, one way or another, he will not be going quietly.
Original article
It is never quite the same for a footballer once they hang their boots up.
What ever they go on to do next they can never replace the buzz of playing in big games like the Old Firm derby and a play-off final, or the dressing room banter.
Some cope better than others. Adam Virgo, once of Albion, Celtic and Bristol Rovers, now of Channel Five, BT and Eurosport, is coping rather well.
So well, in fact, than he offers a surprising response when asked to compare the thrill of playing with standing in front of a camera in a television studio or sitting behind a microphone.
"If I'm being 100 per cent honest I actually prefer my new career," Virgo said. "I live in Brighton now. You are travelling a lot but the family are more settled.
"I enjoy watching football and the good thing is I'm watching such a wide range. And the people I meet now.
"I've worked with Ian Wright, Steve McMamaman, Owen Hargreaves, Michael Owen, all players that played at the highest level.
"I really enjoy that, I respect the business I'm in and I am starting again.
"At certain stages of my career, probably from an early age and when I came back to Brighton, I enjoyed that, it was a real high. But when I ended up going to Bristol Rovers and you are going down the ladder and you know that as a player, it's not enjoyable. You lose that love a little bit.
"Now it's like I am starting playing again, when you are 18-years-old and sign that first contract, thinking 'I want to play in the Premier League, I want to do this or that'.
"You set yourself new goals. The thing that has helped me the most is I haven't kicked a ball for three years and I don't miss the game at all."
Since retiring with a knee injury, Virgo, still only 32, has thrown himself into his new career as a freelance co-commentator and pundit with customary gusto.
Virgo was like that as a player, a hard-working and wholehearted defender and, for a while during Mark McGhee's Albion reign, goalscoring striker.
We chat during a typically hectic spell of homework, preparing for Channel Five's peak Saturday evening Football League highlights show (he alternates as an expert analyser with ex-Sunderland and England utility player Michael Gray) and assorted other assignments.
Virgo also covers three to four games per month for BT's European network from Germany, Italy, France or Portugal and is a co-commentator for their coverage of the National League (formerly the Conference).
He was recently part of Eurosport's team for the under-17s World Cup in Chile as well but it is his role with Channel Five on the Football Tonight Show, alongside Kenny Dalglish's daughter Kelly Cates and George Riley, that has placed him under scutiny.
The successor to the BBC's Football League Show, presented by Manish Bhasin and aired after Match Of The Day with Steve Claridge and Leroy Rosenior as expert summarisers, has not gone down very well with fans and TV critics.
It made an inauspicious start, launching in August with a confused format which leapt from division to division in front of an audience of supporters.
Virgo said: "It's the first time I have been criticised for my work quite vocally and very quickly. I am talking about 72 League clubs now.
"The structure of the show probably got off to a bad start. People running it were still learning about what to do. I think mistakes were made on that first show and then, all of a sudden, you are there to be got at.
"Any change from the normal people don't like and I get that. Channel Five have put it on at peak time, nine o'clock. If they had sat George, Kelly and myself behind a desk people would have said 'They've just copied the BBC'.
"It's going to take time. If someone had pitched 15 years ago four guys sat behind a table on a Saturday afternoon talking about a game you can't see, what would have been your impression? Now (Sky) Soccer Saturday, everybody loves it.
"Me personally, I've had to learn very quickly in this business you've got to have a hard shell to take criticism. If you are going to go on national TV and criticise a manager or a player you then have to have the balls to believe in what you say."
Virgo's penchant for straight-talking has already landed him in trouble. He had a Twitter spat with Albion goalkeeper David Stockdale, which was resolved amicably. The wounds with a suddenly high-profile Championship manager may take longer to heal.
"I upset Steve Evans in an article I wrote for the Football League paper," Virgo explained. "When I read it back again I kind of bashed everything he did, when maybe you should say 'Don't forget he's got back-to-back promotions'.
"I have to remember I am being paid to give my opinion. As long as the people who employ me like what I do that's all that really matters to me and if the public like what I say that's an added bonus.
"With the (Channel Five) show I need a little time to find my feet, be recognised and kind of saying to the public 'This is the guy we want to use'.
"I've played in the Championship, in League One and League Two. I've been part of the squad that won League Two and League One with Brighton, I've been promoted from the play-offs, so my range of experience in the Football League is what they wanted from me.
"I've played at the majority of the grounds against the majority of the players that are still playing, where as you look at Steve Claridge and Leroy Rosenior they hadn't played against any of the players they were ever talking about.
"If I get ten tweets from people calling me a wally it's not the end of the world. My wife gets more upset than I do, because she sees how hard I work behind the scenes and want to try to be good at it.
"The trouble in football is everyone has an opinion and quite quickly. Now with social media I can finish a show, turn on my phone and I've got 40 tweet messages from people. Half of them are saying well done, half are saying you've got the personality of a toilet brush. If you read too much into it then it'll end up breaking you."
Virgo's long-term future may well be co-commentating, an avenue he came across by chance when looking for work with Sky and discovering that a school chum of his older brother, James, at Ardingly College, had become head of BT Sport.
He cut his teeth with BBC Radio Sussex, covering Albion games alongside lead commentator Johnny Cantor after John Byrne gave up the role. Another break came his way when James Beattie abandoned National League co-commentaries to become Accrington's manager.
"Luck has certainly played a massive part," Virgo admits. "I stumbled across co-comms and I absolutely love it. The BBC Sussex stuff was a massive learning curve for me. I learnt everything early on and Johnny was a great teacher for me.
"The great thing about the BT stuff is I've worked with Steve Bower every Conference game, Ian Darke, Peter Drury, Jonathan Pearce, top commentators who you hear on Match Of The Day and who you'll hear at the Euros next year and the World Cup.
"My learning curve has been quick because I've had the opportunity to work with so many different commentators with different styles. It always keeps you on your toes.
"I've absolutely worked my socks off, because I know the opportunities are there and there are other people out there who probably had a better playing career but I've been given the ball and I want to prove to people I can do it."
That includes trying to break new ground. "If you have played at the highest level you can walk into the media very easily," Virgo said. "As a player I never had the most technical ability but I had a good work ethic.
"My goal was always to move the posts a little bit and not necessarily think you had to play at the top of your game to analyse a game, even if you never played in the Premier League.
"I know TV companies will say if you stick Adam Virgo on a Premier League game people will automatically assume what is he doing on there?
"Stewart Robson is a co-commentator that played for Arsenal but didn't really have an amazing career but all of a sudden you'll hear him on a Champions League game. But there is a time process to go with that."
Virgo will be doing the hard yards and, one way or another, he will not be going quietly.
Original article