It used to be called going out, out. Now it is the full Grealish. And, for the man himself, it is easy to feel life will never be the same again. The first part of it is that Jack Peter Grealish from Solihull is a treble winner, a member of the Manchester City squad that has touched immortality. It was this that enabled the second bit – the one that has gilded the legend; some would say created it.
Grealish was hardly alone on the three‑night benderin three countries that kicked off on the Saturday before last after City’s Champions League victory against Internazionale in Istanbul. As the City midfielder Kalvin Phillips put it: “Everyone was the same, everyone was enjoying it as much as Jack.”
Phillips would make another fair point. “When Man United won the treble [in 1999], I dread to think what they were doing.” No camera phones then. Or social media. Yet everybody knows which City player was the symbol of the celebrations, who was central to the most Instagram clips, who made the most headlines.
“Having Treble, Jack?” wrote the Sun on its front page last Tuesday, alongside a photograph of Grealish being helped by his teammate Kyle Walker into a people carrier for Ibiza airport the previous morning.
Yes, Ibiza. Keep up. Most of the City players had headed there on the Sunday night for Part II of the Trilogy – dinner then party at Pacha until sunrise. Part I had been at the team hotel in Istanbul. The last leg was the open-top bus parade in Manchester on Monday evening, after a flight back from Ibiza, followed by another party at the Mayfield Depot in Piccadilly.
“For the last 24 hours, I’ve had the best day and night,” Grealish said at the parade. “I don’t think I’ve had any sleep.” He went on to say that he was a turkey and “the turkey needs feeding”, before glugging down more booze, poured into his mouth by Phillips.
Grealish is simply the largest-living and most quotable City player. One of the funniest, too. It is why he came to transcend the celebrations. The Sun had a point when it said Grealish’s hangover must have been bad if Walker had to prop him up. They also reported that Ibiza airport staff had brought him a wheelchair because he was struggling to walk, which they offered as transportation to the plane. Grealish was able to make it up the steps himself.
All of which, it is fair to say, was not the ideal preparation for Grealish’s involvement with England in their atrociously timed Euro 2024 qualifiers away to Malta last Friday and at Old Trafford against North Macedonia on Monday.
Grealish and City’s other England players – Walker, John Stones, Phillips and Phil Foden – had to report to St George’s Park last Tuesday night. “I was a bit hungover but I weren’t drunk or anything,” Grealish says and if there is one line to capture the no-regrets outlook, the out‑there authenticity, it is this. There are others.
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“I would never sit here and lie to you, and say: ‘Yeah, I don’t drink and I don’t party’ because I do,” Grealish says. “There’s so many people that will come here and say to you: ‘I don’t do this, I don’t do that,’ when they do.
“I’m just truthful because [otherwise] when you see me doing anything, you’d be like: ‘Oh, hold on. He said a few weeks ago that he didn’t do that.’ I just enjoy myself. I’m living my dream of playing for the best club in the world and we’ve just won the treble.
“It’s something that will never happen again. So I went and enjoyed myself and I weren’t the only one. A lot of the time you’ll see everyone recording me. I could show you all this stuff of other people where they were the same. We all enjoyed ourselves. Other people enjoy themselves where the cameras weren’t.”
It is rare to see a top footballer who does not hide his love of a drink and a party but it is all a part of Grealish’s appeal. He is not only living his dream but that of many others and he is doing it as they would like to believe they would. When he came on as a substitute against North Macedonia, there were huge cheers and a chant that will surely be heard again. “Jack Grealish, he’s still on the piss.”
Grealish’s popularity knows no bounds but it is valid to ask whether Gareth Southgate has been as enamoured of him over the past week or so. Grealish says he knew he would not feature in the Malta tie but would he have started against North Macedonia if he had not reported for duty with a hangover? Southgate had him in the XI for the big game of the previous international window – the win over Italy in Naples. Against North Macedonia, he preferred Marcus Rashford, who was excellent.
It was easy to feel that Southgate was miffed with Grealish, at the very least, when quizzed about him on the night before the Malta game. The England manager did not say whether he felt Grealish had crossed a line. Equally, he did not say that he was fine with his partying – and he had ample opportunity to do so.
“Listen, I get on with him [Southgate] … I have a great relationship with him, honestly,” Grealish says. “I came into camp with the other [City] guys, we slept, then woke up and we trained Wednesday, Thursday. I trained well on Saturday and then on Sunday I thought it was going to be a toss-up with who plays – me, Phil [Foden] or Rashy.
“It was Rashy and you can’t complain. He’s one of the most in-form players in the world. I came on and I’m just happy. I’ve had the most successful season of my life and there is a time now where I can just sit and relax.”
Which is certainly another way of putting it …
