Aaron Connolly F Millwall b.2000

[Fixer82]

He’s the perfect example of not having the right attitude.
He could do very well for a championship team but, as mentioned above, his attitude and history will turn managers off.
Talented boy. Bad attitude. Next!

[seanfhear]

Any chance he could get in to the ~ Male modelling business ? !

[Jolly Red Giant]

He’s the perfect example of not having the right attitude.
He could do very well for a championship team but, as mentioned above, his attitude and history will turn managers off.
Talented boy. Bad attitude. Next!
More of a talented boy who didn't receive the right mentoring. PL football academies chew up and spit out hundreds of talented boys on a yearly basis - the emphasis is on who can they make a profit from, not how can they nurture and develop talent while helping the kid to become a well rounded individual. While Brighton are one of the better run academies in terms of developing players, they are still part of the 'system' and Connolly was only 14 when he joined Brighton. He was fast-tracked into the U23 side and made his debut for the first team when he was 17. By 19 he had a three and a half year contract worth something like £8k a week. Now - Connolly clearly wasn't able to handle the money and the 'fame' of being a PL footballer - he was a kid who clearly lacked the maturity and the support to be able to handle what he was dealing with. Football doesn't develop human beings, it develops lines on a balance sheet - and on the balance sheet Connolly probably panned out as break even or a slight loss for Brighton - for Connolly, his talent is probably wasted at this stage and at 24 years of age he clearly still lacks the maturity needed to handle the environment in which he operates.

There are so many talented kids who are chewed up and spat out by football clubs that end up so disillusioned that they stop playing altogether by the time they are in their mid-20s - and it is an absolute shame to think what they could have contributed to the game.

[seanfhear]

More of a talented boy who didn't receive the right mentoring. PL football academies chew up and spit out hundreds of talented boys on a yearly basis - the emphasis is on who can they make a profit from, not how can they nurture and develop talent while helping the kid to become a well rounded individual. While Brighton are one of the better run academies in terms of developing players, they are still part of the 'system' and Connolly was only 14 when he joined Brighton. He was fast-tracked into the U23 side and made his debut for the first team when he was 17. By 19 he had a three and a half year contract worth something like £8k a week. Now - Connolly clearly wasn't able to handle the money and the 'fame' of being a PL footballer - he was a kid who clearly lacked the maturity and the support to be able to handle what he was dealing with. Football doesn't develop human beings, it develops lines on a balance sheet - and on the balance sheet Connolly probably panned out as break even or a slight loss for Brighton - for Connolly, his talent is probably wasted at this stage and at 24 years of age he clearly still lacks the maturity needed to handle the environment in which he operates.

There are so many talented kids who are chewed up and spat out by football clubs that end up so disillusioned that they stop playing altogether by the time they are in their mid-20s - and it is an absolute shame to think what they could have contributed to the game.
What if you just can't get some of these guys to " handle it " ~ ~ No matter what you do ? !

For instance that Man Utd wonder kid ( his name escapes me for now ~ Marvel something or other )

Maybe some of them just will never be able to handle it ~ ~ After-all , handling it is a huge part of it !

[JR89]

What if you just can't get some of these guys to " handle it " ~ ~ No matter what you do ? !

For instance that Man Utd wonder kid ( his name escapes me for now ~ Marvel something or other )

Maybe some of them just will never be able to handle it ~ ~ After-all , handling it is a huge part of it !

Ravel Morrison?

[seanfhear]

Ravel Morrison?
Un-believable talent ~ Just not cut out to be a professional footballer at a big club.

[Jolly Red Giant]

What if you just can't get some of these guys to " handle it " ~ ~ No matter what you do ? !

For instance that Man Utd wonder kid ( his name escapes me for now ~ Marvel something or other )

Maybe some of them just will never be able to handle it ~ ~ After-all , handling it is a huge part of it !

Some will never handle it - for a variety of reasons - but the overriding issue is the structure of football and how it treats kids - not the kids themselves. They are put through a meat grinder.

Liam Brady pointed out on numerous occasions that when he, Stapleton and O'Leary went to Arsenal, Johnny Moloney was part of the quartet. Brady said that Moloney was by far the most talented of the four of them - but he couldn't handle living in London and the treatment dished out by the coaches - he was back in Dublin within a year. In Dublin, with his family for support, Moloney went on to have a very good rugby career - but he couldn't handle being a kid at Arsenal, no matter what.

I don't know what the stats are for PL footballers - but the statistics for NFL and NBA players is horrific. Four out of every five NFL players and three out of five NBA players go bankrupt within five years of retirement. The more a sport becomes about the money rather than the players and the fans, the more it impacts on negative outcomes.

N.B. - just found an article from the Daily Mail (I know, pinch of salt) - that says 40% of PL footballers go bankrupt within five years of retirement and an even bigger percentage struggle financially in later life - that is the scale of those who succeed as footballers not being able to handle what happens to them.

FIFPRO - the world players union - says that 38% of active players experience symptoms of depression and 5% have experienced suicidal ideation. Many others are addicted to painkillers and/or sleeping pills (a much higher percentage than in the general population). Gambling is also a massive problem for professional footballers - it replaces the high they get from scoring a goal or winning a game.

[Olé Olé]

More of a talented boy who didn't receive the right mentoring. PL football academies chew up and spit out hundreds of talented boys on a yearly basis - the emphasis is on who can they make a profit from, not how can they nurture and develop talent while helping the kid to become a well rounded individual. While Brighton are one of the better run academies in terms of developing players, they are still part of the 'system' and Connolly was only 14 when he joined Brighton. He was fast-tracked into the U23 side and made his debut for the first team when he was 17. By 19 he had a three and a half year contract worth something like £8k a week. Now - Connolly clearly wasn't able to handle the money and the 'fame' of being a PL footballer - he was a kid who clearly lacked the maturity and the support to be able to handle what he was dealing with. Football doesn't develop human beings, it develops lines on a balance sheet - and on the balance sheet Connolly probably panned out as break even or a slight loss for Brighton - for Connolly, his talent is probably wasted at this stage and at 24 years of age he clearly still lacks the maturity needed to handle the environment in which he operates.

There are so many talented kids who are chewed up and spat out by football clubs that end up so disillusioned that they stop playing altogether by the time they are in their mid-20s - and it is an absolute shame to think what they could have contributed to the game.

You must know the lad well to he able to opine so definitively on his lack of maturity.

I don't know enough to be able to speak confidently. But neither do you I would guess.

He was going very well last season until an unfortunate injury. He has left Hull with the manager and plenty others.

[seanfhear]

Some will never handle it - for a variety of reasons - but the overriding issue is the structure of football and how it treats kids - not the kids themselves. They are put through a meat grinder.

Liam Brady pointed out on numerous occasions that when he, Stapleton and O'Leary went to Arsenal, Johnny Moloney was part of the quartet. Brady said that Moloney was by far the most talented of the four of them - but he couldn't handle living in London and the treatment dished out by the coaches - he was back in Dublin within a year. In Dublin, with his family for support, Moloney went on to have a very good rugby career - but he couldn't handle being a kid at Arsenal, no matter what.

I don't know what the stats are for PL footballers - but the statistics for NFL and NBA players is horrific. Four out of every five NFL players and three out of five NBA players go bankrupt within five years of retirement. The more a sport becomes about the money rather than the players and the fans, the more it impacts on negative outcomes.

N.B. - just found an article from the Daily Mail (I know, pinch of salt) - that says 40% of PL footballers go bankrupt within five years of retirement and an even bigger percentage struggle financially in later life - that is the scale of those who succeed as footballers not being able to handle what happens to them.

FIFPRO - the world players union - says that 38% of active players experience symptoms of depression and 5% have experienced suicidal ideation. Many others are addicted to painkillers and/or sleeping pills (a much higher percentage than in the general population). Gambling is also a massive problem for professional footballers - it replaces the high they get from scoring a goal or winning a game.
Put you off being a fan of soccer to be honest when you get to know about that sort of reality.

I can remember Johnny Maloney playing for Ireland in the rugby ~ ~ Excellent scrum-half.

[Jolly Red Giant]

You must know the lad well to he able to opine so definitively on his lack of maturity.

Seriously - you don't have to be a therapist to recognise a lack of maturity in relation to Connolly.

Now - he seemed to have turned the corner a bit at Hull - clearly Rosenior knew how to handle him - but I am worried that not getting a new contract there will impact him and Rosenior hasn't got a new job yet (Plymouth for some reason went for Rooney instead). I wish Connolly all the best and hope he can get a proper grip on things - he is a talented footballer who could have a good career if his head is in the right place.

[seanfhear]

Seriously - you don't have to be a therapist to recognise a lack of maturity in relation to Connolly.

Now - he seemed to have turned the corner a bit at Hull - clearly Rosenior knew how to handle him - but I am worried that not getting a new contract there will impact him and Rosenior hasn't got a new job yet (Plymouth for some reason went for Rooney instead). I wish Connolly all the best and hope he can get a proper grip on things - he is a talented footballer who could have a good career if his head is in the right place.
I wouldn't put a lot of money on Rooney lasting too long at Plymouth ~ ~ Heading for last chance saloon for Rooney in management if he doesn't produce something soon.

[Jolly Red Giant]

I wouldn't put a lot of money on Rooney lasting too long at Plymouth ~ ~ Heading for last chance saloon for Rooney in management if he doesn't produce something soon.
I am far more interested to see where Rosenior lands - don't understand why he was sacked by Hull - and should have been on the FAI's radar for the Ireland job.

[JR89]

I am far more interested to see where Rosenior lands - don't understand why he was sacked by Hull - and should have been on the FAI's radar for the Ireland job.

1814640496331137071

Well he's being linked with the Strasbourg job.

[JR89]

1816477823319597348

Hope Connolly dusted off the French phrases book just in case he gets a phone call.

Strasbourg are apart of the Chelsea ownership group so would imagine Connolly wouldn't be a player they'd be really pushed on signing unless Rosenior really wanted him.

Probably get a one year contract like at Hull if the move were to come about. Sort of long term trial to try earn a longer contract.

[CraftyToePoke]

Hope Connolly dusted off the French phrases book just in case he gets a phone call.

Tray de la jagerbombs.

Por favor

[Fixer82]

He's the new Anthony Stokes. Bags of potential from a young age but bad attitude and too much of a Big-Time Charlie.
Prove me wrong Aaron!

[Eirambler]

Linked with Celtic in the Scottish media today. Now that would be...interesting.

[Razors left peg]

Linked with Celtic in the Scottish media today. Now that would be...interesting.
As a Celtic fan I don't want that fella anywhere near the dressing room.

As a pure footballer, at his best he'd walk into the Celtic team, but Aaron the footballer is a distant memory. I'm sure all the nightclubs in Glasgow are hoping for the move though

[SkStu]

Not even a year ago, he was on track for a 15 goals season in the championship (I remember defending his outlook to Pineapple Stu) but a stubbed toe later and his comeback from that tells you all you need to know at this point about his character/mentality. He wont go to Celtic because they wouldn't have him.

[Eirambler]

You say that, but they took Anthony Stokes (and he actually did well there for a while). And his character and mentality were absolutely terrible. Connolly is Irish, he's free and the Celtic biscuit tin mentality seems to be alive and well. Someone is going to throw him a one year contract in the next few weeks. I wouldn't completely rule out it being Celtic.

[Razors left peg]

You say that, but they took Anthony Stokes (and he actually did well there for a while). And his character and mentality were absolutely terrible. Connolly is Irish, he's free and the Celtic biscuit tin mentality seems to be alive and well. Someone is going to throw him a one year contract in the next few weeks. I wouldn't completely rule out it being Celtic.

I may be wrong on this, but I dont think we quite knew the extent of Stokes "character issues" before he went there. Probably because it was the early days of Social media where we didnt know everything about players, but also it was deemed a good signing for Celtic given how well Stokes had done the season previously at Hibs.

Connolly is different, we are now at the end of a summer window that he has been available the entire time with no takers.

[SkStu]

You say that, but they took Anthony Stokes (and he actually did well there for a while). And his character and mentality were absolutely terrible. Connolly is Irish, he's free and the Celtic biscuit tin mentality seems to be alive and well. Someone is going to throw him a one year contract in the next few weeks. I wouldn't completely rule out it being Celtic.

OK...but thats about 15 years ago... if they have a track record since then of signing players who are hitting rock bottom on a professional and personal level, I'm all ears.

[JR89]

OK...but thats about 15 years ago... if they have a track record since then of signing players who are hitting rock bottom on a professional and personal level, I'm all ears.

Well they gave Neil Lennon a job recently. To me signing someone like Connolly is nothing compared to hiring a manager that's a walking time bomb and a known drunk.

[tetsujin1979]

It's not really comparable with Stokes' move. Celtic had a long term interest in him, he was set to join in January 2007 before Roy Keane stepped in and he signed for Sunderland instead. When he eventually did sign, it was after two seasons at Hibs, scoring a goal every other game in Scotland.

[SkStu]

Well they gave Neil Lennon a job recently. To me signing someone like Connolly is nothing compared to hiring a manager that's a walking time bomb and a known drunk.

Even though Lennon was hired as a manager, lets roll with that. Thats two in 14 years, the last example (a manager) from over 5 years ago... what else is there? Of course, the signing may happen and, yes, I can see that there is a chance (small it must be said) to win big on it as a gamble to nothing - but I just dont see how it fits with the specific signing profile that Celtic are now known for.

[Buckett]

Is it true that Connolly's representative approached Shamrock Rovers about a move but Rovers declined?

[Acornvilla]

Is it true that Connolly's representative approached Shamrock Rovers about a move but Rovers declined?
I'm hardly an authority but it's the first I heard of it ;)

[Eirambler]

Sounds like he's going to land on his feet at Sunderland.

[pineapple stu]

That's unexpected (if not unwelcome)

I presume there's a pay cut there. Maybe a bit early yet for a pay as you play deal?

[Acornvilla]

That's unexpected (if not unwelcome)

I presume there's a pay cut there. Maybe a bit early yet for a pay as you play deal?
The dole must be higher than I remember it :D


All things considered, this is a very good opportunity for him.

[Razors left peg]

I'm disappointed he's got another chance this big, all season in L2 is what he deserves and might have been good for him

[liamoo11]

That's unexpected (if not unwelcome)

I presume there's a pay cut there. Maybe a bit early yet for a pay as you play deal?

Fair play to him must have impressed in training great to see him recovering from that bad head injury. Not that i know anything about it but sunderland seem light in the central attacking area with no obvious outstanding player so hopefully he can get minutes and if he does he will get goals like at hull I think

[Rayzor]

Great signing for Sunderland, next season of Sunderland till I die should be very interesting, as footballer though, not too sure.

[Stuttgart88]

The owner of the Glass Spider will be happy.

[Eirambler]

Officially confirmed now, signed until the end of the season.

Eight months to save his career? Or maybe someone else will give him another go next season if this one doesn't work out.

Will be interesting to see what kind of shape he's in. The PFA were running training sessions all summer to help keep out of contract players fit, but I didn't see any mention of Aaron ever showing up to them.

Interesting comments from Sunderland - looks like they're going into this with their eyes open anyway.

“Aaron needs an opportunity to re-establish himself and to reset the perception of him as a professional athlete. It wasn’t long ago that he was scoring goals in the Premier League and playing for his national team, but he has suffered some setbacks. We all handle challenges differently and when it comes to responding, sometimes we don’t get it right immediately. At Sunderland, he’ll have the environment and support to perform and an opportunity to showcase his ability. It’s an important 17-game period following the next international break and we believe Aaron can add value to our squad during that period. We look forward to helping him settle and supporting him in that process.”

[Razors left peg]

Officially confirmed now, signed until the end of the season.

Eight months to save his career? Or maybe someone else will give him another go next season if this one doesn't work out.

Will be interesting to see what kind of shape he's in. The PFA were running training sessions all summer to help keep out of contract players fit, but I didn't see any mention of Aaron ever showing up to them.

Interesting comments from Sunderland - looks like they're going into this with their eyes open anyway.

“Aaron needs an opportunity to re-establish himself and to reset the perception of him as a professional athlete. It wasn’t long ago that he was scoring goals in the Premier League and playing for his national team, but he has suffered some setbacks. We all handle challenges differently and when it comes to responding, sometimes we don’t get it right immediately. At Sunderland, he’ll have the environment and support to perform and an opportunity to showcase his ability. It’s an important 17-game period following the next international break and we believe Aaron can add value to our squad during that period. We look forward to helping him settle and supporting him in that process.”

Ive never seen a statement like that from a club signing a player, pretty extraordinary to call him out like that, even if its completely justifiable.

Bottom line is, the best version of Aaron that we seen all too briefly is a Premiership quality striker. Between fitness and attitude Im not sure hes even a L2 striker at the moment so its a huge few months for him to see does he actually care enough to have a good career.... or will he be sitting on a bar stool in 30 years pointing to his tattoo and talking about how he scored a couple of Premiership goals back in the day.

[Buckett]

On the bench tonight at home against Leeds

[backstothewall]

Ive never seen a statement like that from a club signing a player, pretty extraordinary to call him out like that, even if its completely justifiable.

Bottom line is, the best version of Aaron that we seen all too briefly is a Premiership quality striker. Between fitness and attitude Im not sure hes even a L2 striker at the moment so its a huge few months for him to see does he actually care enough to have a good career.... or will he be sitting on a bar stool in 30 years pointing to his tattoo and talking about how he scored a couple of Premiership goals back in the day.

Ross Barkley played for Villa in a victory against Bayern Munich in the Champions League the other night, so it's not impossible. He needs to decide for himself if he wants to be remembered as the Irish version of that, or the Irish Ravel Morrison. People can change and he has more time on his side than Barkley. Sunderland is a potentially a great club and he could be back playing the the premier league this time next year if he gets his head down.

[tetsujin1979]

Scores for Sunderland's U21s tonight against Derby
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[Razors left peg]

R-sCyob8k2c

Hopefully someone can embed this. Connolly with a good interview about him having addiction issues. Delighted hes acknowledging it now while he still has time to fix his career and life

[Eirambler]

Will be interesting to see what kind of shape he's in. The PFA were running training sessions all summer to help keep out of contract players fit, but I didn't see any mention of Aaron ever showing up to them.



Well, now we know why he wasn't at those PFA training camps - he was on the PFA addiction rehab course instead.

It's well worth watching the full interview. It's clear he has a major alcohol problem, sounds like it runs in his family. Which means he'll need to give it up completely to have any chance of making it back to where he was.

I'll give him credit for facing up to this at 24. Plenty of footballers do it at 34 when it's too late, but it's rare to see a 24 year old give an interview like that. A fully fit, tee-total Connolly could still be a huge asset to Sunderland and Ireland. It was noticeable that he had a completely different body shape in his Sunderland signing photos than he had playing for Hull last year - in a good way. The beer belly was gone.

But at the same time you never cure alcoholism, so there's always going to be the risk or a relapse. I hope it all works out for him.

[elatedscum]

It’s a very good interview and it’s good that he realises the issues at hand and he’s owning up things and seeing what a lot of people have seen. And going to the treatment centre is clearly a good thing. Plenty of people overcome things like this and I hope he can.

He gave a good interview when he signed for Venezia and everyone was impressed by it and he talked about not working right and knuckling down yet he continued to step backwards rather than forwards.

I think I mentioned on here that after the Israel u21 away game one of the players showed me their phone and the WhatsApp group and he ended up spending something like £18k (can’t remember the exact amount) buying drinks for himself and everyone and champagne for whoever he was chatting up after the game - and then paid the tab and the next morning he tried to claw the money back from the other players by texting saying “everyone owes me £750 each” (or whatever it was) and no one paid because they felt he was just offering people drinks and they weren’t going to cover a tab that they had no control over and he was earning a tonne more than all of them.

Genuinely, it’s possible he’s absolutely broke at this stage - and really needs to get his **** together.

The horror story was on this journey is Anto Stokes. You look at his life now, everything about it and you want to run away from it.

It’s a short career and even with those 4 years of ****ing around, Aaron still has enough natural talent and ability to reach a level that 99.99% couldn’t. He could still go on to be a premier league attacker and still have a really good career

[Eirambler]

There are definitely parallels with Stokes alright. It's entirely possible that we'll be talking about Connolly being flat broke, turning to crime and ending up in prison 10 years from now, or sooner. But it's also possible that he can still turn it around, have a really good football career and retire to a comfortable lifestyle in 10 years, like Stokes should be doing now instead of splitting his time between the north inner city and prison. There's also a third possibility which is that he does turn things around, has a good career, and still ends up flat broke at the end of it. It's all still in his own hands so hopefully this is the turning point - it may or may not be.

[ifk101]

He is broke (and likely in deep debt as of now). He did say the PFA paid for his rehab. And from elatedscum’s U21 story, sounds like €18K was an average night out for Aaron the past 5 or so years – imagine what the bill would have been if the U21s had actually qualified!

The sceptic in me says he is being used by “family club” Sunderland as a PR puppet (the unusual nature of his signing press release + publishing his interview) but they have given him an opportunity to get his life back on track. Very early days in his recovery so hoping he now realises his good fortune and wish him luck on the long road ahead.

[Olé Olé]

It’s a very good interview and it’s good that he realises the issues at hand and he’s owning up things and seeing what a lot of people have seen. And going to the treatment centre is clearly a good thing. Plenty of people overcome things like this and I hope he can.

He gave a good interview when he signed for Venezia and everyone was impressed by it and he talked about not working right and knuckling down yet he continued to step backwards rather than forwards.

I think I mentioned on here that after the Israel u21 away game one of the players showed me their phone and the WhatsApp group and he ended up spending something like £18k (can’t remember the exact amount) buying drinks for himself and everyone and champagne for whoever he was chatting up after the game - and then paid the tab and the next morning he tried to claw the money back from the other players by texting saying “everyone owes me £750 each” (or whatever it was) and no one paid because they felt he was just offering people drinks and they weren’t going to cover a tab that they had no control over and he was earning a tonne more than all of them.

Genuinely, it’s possible he’s absolutely broke at this stage - and really needs to get his **** together.

The horror story was on this journey is Anto Stokes. You look at his life now, everything about it and you want to run away from it.

It’s a short career and even with those 4 years of ****ing around, Aaron still has enough natural talent and ability to reach a level that 99.99% couldn’t. He could still go on to be a premier league attacker and still have a really good career

What is mad is that he looked to be flying at Hull last season and he didn't look very fit but he looked very effective when he got scoring.

The hope now is that he is fit - mentally and physically - and doing the right things. If all that is right then he could be better and more consistently better than he was at Hull - and that is a really dangerous player.

He has lost a few important years but there is still plenty hope he can kick on and have a chunk of the career that he might have had.

One issue is that we have heard this kind of talk from him before. The talk was never to this extent though.

[SkStu]

Had a chance to watch the interview last night and I agree with Ole above that it was to a different degree and depth and does provide some hope that he can get his career back on track. It reminds me of what Dele Alli is going through at the moment. An incredibly promising player who reached the top of the top followed by a long period where his career was slipping out of control due to his addiction issues. Some failed attempts at rehabilitation followed by a full public disclosure of the demons that were tormenting him and now he seems to be on a more promising trajectory - albeit a long road back to mental health and, ultimately, game time. In terms of what IFK101 mentions, I think that might be a little cynical. I think you'd have to assume that all parties would want to build in some public and self-accountability into Aaron's words - which, in a way, we've heard before. I see it as more of an insurance policy for Sunderland that they were likely all to happy to sign up for, rather than an exercise in PR.

Also agree with Ole that its interesting to think how good he could be - given how his form never really dropped off a cliff even when he was, assumption here, at his low ebb.

[Razors left peg]

I think its a bit unfair to say we've heard this kind of talk from him before. Yes he did say that he needed to get his career back on track and he said all the right things when going to Italy, but the lad has now faced up to addiction issues and went to rehab so I do think this is completely different. The way he spoke about his parents in particular was incredibly genuine and you could see in him how much its hurt him to disappoint them.

I've been a massive critic of him because I thought he was pi$$ing his career away. He had so much talent and I thought he was going to end up as the guy on the bar stool in 20 years talking about what might have been. Whatever it was that brought him to the realization that he needed to change his life is irrelevant, the important thing is that he did. Hes still young enough that he can have 10 years of a good career ahead of him, and he does still have the talent to be an excellent player.

That interview took massive balls to do. He came across incredibly well and he would make you want to see him do well after it. Im sure we've all seen people in our lives wasting away due to addiction issues and never face up to it. He deserves a lot of credit for trying to get a hold of this now and I hope that its a new beginning for him.

[Acornvilla]

It's very brave to do the interview, and a huge step, but it's only a step, he'll have a long way to go to get a handle on his life, and doing it while under the pressure that comes with being a high level footballer, he may have a lifetime of ups and downs ahead of him, can only wish him luck, probably best we're not overly harsh on what comes of his footballing performances for the next while.

[SkStu]

I think its a bit unfair to say we've heard this kind of talk from him before. Yes he did say that he needed to get his career back on track and he said all the right things when going to Italy, but the lad has now faced up to addiction issues and went to rehab so I do think this is completely different. The way he spoke about his parents in particular was incredibly genuine and you could see in him how much its hurt him to disappoint them.

I did intentionally say "in a way" in my post.

[rebelmusic]

I think the interview is a huge step with his recovery. Coming out so publicly as an addict is also pretty much drawing a line that this is his last chance. If he goes back to his old ways then he's unlikely to ever be trusted by a half decent club again - not to mind all those wishing him well today.

There's a series of choices that falling off the wagon entails and he's added an extra layer of consequence to falling off the wagon again.

Very impressed by him and very brave. For every few tales of people's lives being destroyed by addiction, there's one that's inspirational. Wishing him all the best that he remains in the latter.

Coming down from my soapbox now :)