Kenny Sansom sleeping on a park bench

Fallen on hard times, battling a gambling and drink problem. Says he drinks 7 bottles of wine a day!

http://www.standard.co.uk/news/london/former-england-and-arsenal-star-kenny-sansom-living-rough-and-fighting-alcoholism-8741422.html

Same sort of thing with Alan Hudson, living in a hostel.

Blamed everybody else except himself, he was interviewed in a pub!

As for Gazza!

The article says arsenal are helping him so hopefully they can arrange therapy rather than handouts which probably won't do any good.

I guess he just missed the really big money in football but he was a regular sky pundit after he retired.

Boredom must set in quickly when footballers retire. There's only so much golf you can play.

86 England caps though is right at the pinnacle of the game and he must have won a few trophies under George Graham.

Sad to see, as is Gazza and all the others who go this way. These guys have so much they could be passing on to youngsters and coaching others.

Only so many ex players can get coaching roles I suppose but just think what Sansom could pass onto Andre Blackman?

And 99% of other full backs Jock.
He was a cracking player.

Always makes me laugh when they talk of missing big money in the bad old days. Never heard of a back hander payment in a brown envelope. It is wrong to say that comparably they didn't earn much more than the average bloke in the streets. It's what they did with it that has caused the problems not being badly paid. The only difference between him and a few thousand others is that he was famous but all professions have a percentage of people like this with addictions. Why should football be any different. I feel sorry for anyone who has an addictive nature and blows their life away whoever they are. Most other sports come from an educated background which means they often have something to fall back on. Football is the one sport in particular where a kid from the back streets of nowhere can make it big. There is no fall back when the fame is over.

for some reason i always feel more sorry for ex- footy players who hit the bottle . as myself has been there and done it (addiction wise), i shouldnt feel sorry for them, but it does show that alcohol,drugs can touch anyone, whatever your so called standing in the world.
hopefully he will accept the help offered.
bloody good player as well

He would be on around £170,000 a year now if we go on inflation. In 1985, the average wage in London was just over £10,000, Samsom was on £62,000ish a year back then. He wasn't on the lunacy-wages of today where even an average Premier League player earns just over £20,000 a week but he's unlikely to have been poor.

I read the Jock Morrison autobiography and some of the signing on fees were truly mental - he was on a £2-3,000 a week contract but the signing on fees were £20-30,000. Samson was reportedly on £1,200 a week but that would include a load of add ons, sponsorship, free car (Tynan had a Yugo remember), housing via the club, expenses, free meals out from the local restaraunter etc. etc.

It's a sad story but it happens to people every day.

imagine the wedge Sir Thomas of Tynan could get nowadays..
the steve claridge autobiography is pretty good, loads of massive signing on fees