Merson checks in to share addiction horrors

14th December 2023

Former footballer and TV pundit Paul Merson visited Molineux and Compton Park this week to share his struggles with gambling and addiction with Wolves’ first-team and under-21 players.

The former England international struggled with both gambling and addiction demons for 35 years but is now reaching out to today’s footballers hoping his experiences can have a positive effect on others.

Merson, now a popular pundit on Sky Sports, sat down with Gary O’Neil’s first-team squad on Tuesday in a no holds barred question and answer session, where he spoke with honesty about his worst of times when battling against gambling and addiction.

He then spoke with the club’s women's first-team and under-21 squad on similar topics, hoping his advice and stories can avoid current footballers facing struggles of their own, and providing coping mechanisms for those who face similar challenges.

Merson said: “I’m hoping people don’t have to go through the life that I lived with my addiction – they can see and understand what addiction is and how cunning, baffling and vicious gambling, drink and drugs are.

“Gambling is very easily hidden, people can gamble and others wouldn’t know until it’s too late and they’ve spiralled out of control with too much debt. More people take their lives through gambling than any other addiction – it’s a silent killer.

“I just want to come and get my message across that they have the best job in the world, the ultimate job, that every fan who comes to Molineux would swap – don’t throw it away for a bet. With the rules now, you’re going to get a ten month ban and there’s a lot of lads where clubs would get rid of them because they couldn’t afford them.”

Skip gallery content

Merson had his first bet at 16, as a youth player at Arsenal, starting a long-standing disorder with gambling, alcohol and drugs which has scarred his life. The 53-year-old won two league titles and three cups with the Gunners, as well as earning 21 caps for England.

Having hit great heights on the pitch, Merson explains how he tried to replicate it off it, when the full-time whistle had been blown.

He said: “With football, it’s such a buzz. You’re playing the best sport in the world in front of 30-40,000 people week in, week out. That adrenaline, the high, you come off the pitch, and for some people, they want to keep that high and the only way is to have a bet.

“That’s the thing with football. There’s a lot of time on your hands, the lads can’t go out and drink socially because there’s people filming them, so they stay indoors and the easiest thing to do is gamble. It’s hidden, you don’t know if someone’s just dropped £100,000 or just lost their house. You only find out when it’s out of control and they’ve come to the end, and the end might to be too late.”

Now, he’s raising the topic with today’s Premier League players and O’Neil’s squad at Compton Park, where he hopes he had an impact, whether it was helping individuals, their family or friends.

“All you ask is that people sit and listen. I thought I got their attention and they listened. They seem good lads and they gave me their time. The seed will be planted, hopefully it’s none of the players, it might be their family, but hopefully they’ll understand the addiction a lot more now than what they did.”