On the surface, life of a footballer is a happy one. You get loads of money, you play the most popular sport in the world and you are famous. But under the surface injuries, alcohol, drugs, social media hate, and financial ruin are lurking. Today they are recognized as problems, but back in the happy eighties, some of those things, like alcohol, were considered normal, a ‘part of the game’ if you like. So, when future Arsenal legend Tony Adams went out and publicly labeled himself as an ‘alcoholic’, many were shocked, and his teammates the most. Because, they were drinking with him.Our story begins when Arsenal boss George Graham gives his squad Wednesdays off.Tuesday nights quickly descend into “relentless drinking”.After an all-day piss up at a BBQ, captain Tony Adams crashes his Ford Sierra into a garden wall at 70mph.He’s jailed for 56 days. pic.twitter.com/QPQssdpUCr— The Upshot (@UpshotTowers) February 16, 2023 Adams interrupted a pep-talk by the club’s new stand-in boss Pat Rice in 1996 saying: “I want to say a few words.” He went on to speak about his personal problems and his teammate Nigel Winterburn was shocked.”We weren’t really aware of it, because we were all drinking at the time and that was the culture in football. When Tony initially came out and revealed he was an alcoholic, I think there was a bit of disbelief because everyone liked to go for a drink and I’d never discussed it with him directly. We just accepted it and knew we’d be without him for a while. But we also knew we’d have an unbelievable player returning to our squad once he got out” Winterburn told FourFourTwo.Henry: ‘Crying was impossible, I cried alone, and struggled not to break down’The former Arsenal and England captain, was jailed for drink driving in 1990 and spent 57 days inside after crashing his car into a wall when he was more than four times the legal drink-drive limit. He came back strong and took his side in Arsenal’s starting 11 again, and even went on to win seven trophies over the course of the next 11 seasons of his career, including two Premier League titles, three FA Cups, a League Cup and the 1994 European Cup Winners’ Cup.’Quality, ability, talent, spirit, commitment. I’m not arrogant but I think we simply had everything!’But, he didn’t stop drinking immediately afterwards. What was worse, he continued to drink and drive.”For 12 years I was drinking, and for 11 and a half I didn’t want to stop. The denial was really strong, and the consequences too, but even a spell in Chelmsford prison down the road didn’t stop me drinking. I came out of prison and drunk and drove again. The denial was still in me and I wasn’t ready” he told ESPNcricinfo in 2019.##NAJAVA_MECA_7353136##
