I've been retired from football for 15 months now and I'm still to receive a call from my union, the Professional Footballers' Association, to ask how I'm getting on.
here's been radio silence.
Even though I've hung up my boots, I'm a member for life.
They are supposed to be an organisation that takes great pride in looking after their members.
But I haven't heard a peep and so therefore I wasn't surprised to hear families of those suffering from dementia have hit back at the PFA for failing in their duty of care. The PFA want people to believe they look out for their members with dementia, but it appears that isn't the truth and I think that is a massive failing on their part.
Dementia in football is obviously the hot topic at present with so many ex-players being diagnosed with the debilitating disease and the discussions surrounding heading the ball being a contributing factor.
I was at West Brom when the Astle family were campaigning for Baggies great Jeff, who sadly died from dementia and when the doctors looked at his brain they compared it to a heavyweight boxer who had taken a continuous number of blows to the head.
However, advancement has been made on that and as my fellow Sunday Life Sport columnist Liam Beckett alluded to last week, technology has improved the weight of the balls considerably and made them so much lighter than ever before.
When I was growing up, if you got hit on the legs with some of the old footballs it would have stung for days. That's not the case now. Don't get me wrong, if you head the ball incorrectly it can still hurt, but that's where a focus on technique comes in.
But I want to see the multi-million pound PFA be pro-active with members rather than reactive. They are an organisation with the money behind them who can help the ex-players who need support which can't be offered by their family. That to me is something that needs to be sorted out quickly.
As for reducing heading in the game, I wouldn't be for that at all. It's part and parcel of the game we love and even though I'm aware of the risks, I wouldn't change how I played.
The goal I scored for Northern Ireland against Ukraine in the Euros was a header and I wouldn't change that for the world.
Also, I didn't actually head the ball that much, even though I was a centre-back. In training, the ball remained on the ground and it was about movement, technique and tactics. I know the likes of David Beckham and Cristiano Ronaldo remained after training to practice free-kicks, but I certainly didn't stay behind to work on my heading.
In a game I could head the ball five or six times, sometimes not even that.
In under-age football, which I've been involved with for some time now, heading is actually very rare. All the technical coaching is done with the ball on the grass.
Football has given dementia a platform to raise its concerns and I'm pleased more research could come out of this.
Dementia is a terrible disease but it is one that could affect anyone in society. My granny sadly had it and never headed a ball in her life. My wife's granny has it and similarly never headed a ball in her life.
Like cancer, dementia can strike any of us down.
Developments have been made in terms of the football, but that doesn't help those ex-players who have dementia and should be receiving PFA support.
Indeed, in these troubling times, the PFA need to take the lead rather than waiting to be called upon.
'Flaws' did nothing to mar Diego's brilliance
Ever since the great Diego Maradona's death last week, I've constantly heard him referred to as a 'flawed genius'.
If only he saw the errors of his ways, he may have lived longer.
What nonsense.
Maradona had 60 years of the best life and lived it to the full. It may not have been conventional but that only added to the mystic of the great man.
He was adored and idolised wherever he went on the planet, especially in his native Argentina and in Naples where he single handedly made Napoli a European giant.
He was mad at times but surely that was his coping mechanism for a life which was totally surreal.
As a kid, Maradona was the player I really wanted in my Panini stickerbook.
He was just an incredible player and I know English fans will never forgive him for the 'Hand of God' and don't give him the kudos he deserves, but what many overlook is that Maradona also scored possibly the greatest goal of all time during that World Cup match in 1986.
His strength, speed, vision, ability and finishing were just sublime.
It's obviously difficult to compare generations but for me the fact that Maradona was able to drag an average Argentina side to the World Cup Final in 1986 and then win it puts him above Lionel Messi in terms of greatness.
He nearly did it again four years later but of course the Germans got their own back.
In a similar fashion, Cristiano Ronaldo did the same with Portugal when he led and inspired his country to Euro 2016 success and so he also gets the nod over Messi for me.
Maradona, of course, courted controversy but just like George Best, who died 15 years ago on the same date as the great Argentinian, we should all remember him for the football.
Heal just get better
It may have been overshadowed because of the excitement and drama of the Big Two battle last Tuesday night, but many congratulations to my old team-mate David Healy on reaching 250 games as manager of Linfield.
David, when appointed in 2015, had no experience in managing a club before, but he has thrived on the pressure and expectation at Windsor Park and, apart from the odd blip like yesterday, he has returned the Blues to the Irish League force they were during the days of David Jeffrey.
David deserves immense credit for his hard work, dedication and the results and trophies he has produced for the Blues under his stewardship. I'm confident he will continue to grow stronger as a manager over the years and Linfield will reap the rewards.
Our women can go Far it
Northern Ireland women have done the hard bit, but the job is far from complete.
They secured a superb victory over Belarus on Friday night at Seaview to put themselves only 90 minutes away from a deserved place in the Euro 2022 Play-Offs.
The women in green, despite missing key players, should comfortably despatch the Faroe Islands, who they hammered 6-0 in the away leg, on Tuesday evening at Seaview.
Keep your focus, play to your strengths and deliver a professional performance and that will be enough to secure the biggest ties in Northern Ireland women's history.
I'll certainly be cheering you on.
