No home... no money: Troubled Sansom sleeps rough on park bench but PFA step in to help
Kenny Sansom was on Thursday night in the care of the Professional Footballers’ Association after revelations that he was homeless, penniless and losing the fight against his addictions to gambling and alcohol.
Sansom had confessed to sleeping rough on a park bench but has been taken to hotel accommodation, funded by the players’ union, where he is being professionally counselled under the guidance of the PFA’s head of player welfare, Michael Bennett.
Sansom won 86 England caps and cost Arsenal more than £1million when he moved from Crystal Palace in 1980. But, since retiring almost 20 years ago, the former left back has had long battles with alcohol and gambling.
The 54-year-old had been temporarily lodging with his sister Mary, but moved on and was picked up by the PFA after his family sounded the alarm. Sansom’s pension pays him £1,200 a month but he says half of this goes to his ex-wife Elaine.
‘I’m in a bad way, ‘I’ve been living homeless for 10 days. That’s because I’ve got no money. I’m a drunk, I’m feeling not very well and I’m a gambler. I’ve been living on the street.’
He opened his heart about his troubled life in his autobiography, To Cap It All, published five years ago. In it, he told how he went missing for four days and was found surrounded by empty bottles in a hotel room by daughters Natalie and Katie, who feared he had taken his own life.
On another occasion, Natalie found him drunk and alone in a pub.
‘I was completely unaware of either of these incidents until my family told me about them later,’ he wrote. ‘Big shot Kenny Sansom, the Arsenal legend and stalwart of the England team who still got asked for his autograph, had let down himself and his family, and hurt his children more than he could ever have imagined. I cried and cried when they told me what I’d done.’
Sansom explained how he went into ‘free-fall’ as he left Arsenal and his career dwindled. His marriage fell apart and his health was damaged.
‘My body was failing,’ he wrote. ‘Blood tests revealed my insides were beginning to resemble poor old George Best’s. My old mate had passed away at the age of 59.
‘At this point in my life I was hurtling towards the same tragic premature death as that footballing genius, a terrifying thought as I was still in my 40s. The reality was I wasn’t far off dying.’
It is not the first time the PFA have come to Sansom’s rescue. They have helped him for many years as he tried to cope with the extreme issues he has faced since retirement, paying for his rehab treatment and at times his lodgings.
‘We’ve been looking after Kenny not for two weeks or two months but for several years regarding his rehab,’ said PFA deputy chief executive Bobby Barnes.
‘He has been constantly in a programme where he is counselled and looked after by our psychologists from the Sporting Chance clinic on an out-patient basis. We have been paying for his accommodation for quite a time and one thing Kenny knows is we will never turn our backs on him.
‘We are in contact with his family and working with Social Services to try to find him somewhere permanent.
‘Kenny is a great lad. I’ve known him for many years and it’s important people remember he doesn’t choose to live his life this way. It’s an illness and we acknowledge it as such. We all want the same thing, to see him live a happy life.
‘He made a great contribution to the game over many years and, like a lot of our members, did not get the rewards which are on offer to some today.’
Sadly, it is hardly a unique story among some of Britain’s most talented footballers. Best died in 2005 and Paul Gascoigne has suffered addiction problems since retirement.
Sansom has tried to tackle his demons but with limited success. Still, the latest episode came as a jolt to those who worked with him as a player, including former Arsenal boss George Graham.
‘It is very sad to hear,’ said Graham. ‘He was a fantastic player and a model professional. It seems some people can handle success and some people can’t.There will be a lot of people, myself included, willing to help him.’
The PFA were already on the case, as were Arsenal, who remain in contact through their ex-players’ association. He has worked on Arsenal’s in-house television channel and, up to a month ago, as one of the legends who regularly lead tours of the Emirates Stadium.
‘We have been providing him with ongoing support and guidance,’ said an Arsenal spokesman.
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sport/football/article-2382749/Kenny-Sansom-helped-Professional-Footballers-Association-left-homeless.html
