Kenny Sansom sleeping on a park bench...

Fortune 82nd Minute

Sorry the link is from the Mail - http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2382402/Former-footballer-Kenny-Sansom-admits-hes-homeless-alcoholic-sleeps-park-bench.html - but Kenny Sansom - one of England's stalwarts in the 1980s - is a in a bad way.

Blew his fortune on booze and betting apparently.

Don't know what to think. Sad, because he was a great player and its pitiful to think of him ending up like this, or serves you right for being such an idiot.

SELR_addicks

Arsenal said they're going to help him out I think.

LenGlover

There but for the grace of God go any of us.

Life has many different types of problem and pressures, regardless of economic status, which some people find easier to handle than others.

One hopes that it is not too late for him to turn it round with the right support.

Lincsaddick

another one bites the dust .. it wasn't so long ago that Sansom was a regular pundit on the radio (talksport) .. a real pity, BUT, these boys earn a fortune during their careers (even though Kenny probably missed out on the really big cash days) and should have been more careful with their money.
Sansom has always had a bit of a name as a serious drinker.

red_murph

LenGlover said:

There but for the grace of God go any of us.

Life has many different types of problem and pressures, regardless of economic status, which some people find easier to handle than others.

One hopes that it is not too late for him to turn it round with the right support.

Well said Len, hope he sorts himself out.

BlackForestReds

He was always a big gambler - I heard way back that his signing on fee when he moved to Arsenal from Palace was circa £80k and that went on clearing gambling debts.

Mendonca In Asdas

Loved Sansom & Pearce playing for England growing up as a kid , sad to hear , hope he can get himself back on track, hope this generation of footballers are guided in the right direction, but i'm sure with addiction there will always be plenty of ex footballers like this , they need help , even though they are the 'lucky ones'.

suzisausage

He used to live in the flat next door or below my mum. She knew his older brother better though I think. sad news.

Covered End

I recall seeing Sansom in The Bugle on a match day about 10 years ago.

He was feeding the fruit machine.

Footballers are paid too much & have too much time on their hands.

MrOneLung

great throw in - no run up either.

HandG

I stood next to him at a fruit machine in the Brewers Fayre in Sidcup about 10 years ago. Very nice bloke but obviously got some serious demons.

Hope it gets better for him but he's clearly had the same issues for a long time...............

Absurdistan

Rose.................lol

Ormiston_Addick

Poor bastard, nobody should be reduced to drinking Rose.

Addickted

I see he's still wearing a Rolex though.

Leroy Ambrose

Addickted said:

I see he's still wearing a Rolex though.

I'm guessing that's an old photo... Doesn't look much like a bloke who's sleeping on a park bench...

uie2

sad to hear this hope gunners do give him a hand

uie2

pretty sure thats not a Rolex maybe a tag heuer or even a fake tag or a normal cheap watch

Ormiston_Addick

Leroy Ambrose said:

Addickted said:

I see he's still wearing a Rolex though.

I'm guessing that's an old photo... Doesn't look much like a bloke who's sleeping on a park bench...

Yep, that's an old photo - I doubt you look like that if you are drinking seven bottles of wine per day, I certainly don't.

AFKABartram

Local lad, cousin of a good friend, and by all accounts always been a nice guy.

Really hope he comes out the other side ok.

kings hill addick

He was a 'hero' back when I was young enough to have heroes (for England mainly, but also at Arsenal) and to see him struggling is shocking.

Having said that there are many people that never had the chances (or the potential financial security) that he had and have fallen on bad times, so I do wonder if he is more deserving than a young couple that have a terminally in child and need money to be able to take time off to spend with her, for example.

AFKABartram

Seriously, what the .... Are you talking about ? He's had a bad time and hopefully will come through it. What the .... Has 'deserving" got to do with it ????

kings hill addick

I was referring the the suggestion that Arsenal were going to help him with his problems. Rather like Gazza, there seems to be a lot of public interest in former footballers falling on hard times as though they are more deserving in help to overcome their issues than those that never had fame or excessive wealth.

My wife's sister spent weeks alone in hospital (without her parents) from the age of six right up until she died at eleven because her mum and dad needed to work as they needed the money, yet it would seem that Arsenal are going to help out this former employee because he has drunk and gambled his 'fortune' away.

Maybe the fact that my wife brought this up recently (and doesn't talk about it fondly) influenced me to make the link but I was making the point that even though he was a player I liked back in the day I can't help but think that there are others that have problems worse than his that they had no influence over.

buckshee

The thing is whenever he's been interviewed in the last few years he's been only too happy to rattle on about the "good old days" of the Arsenal drinking club.

Sad really.

paulbaconsarnie

Back in the mid eighties saw Sansom and billy Gilbert literally drink the Greenwich borough club dry.
Wasn't a problem, they just crossed the road to the grey.

ShootersHillGuru

Sad to see any fellow human in such dire straights. I guess it's just a little more shocking when it's a former highly paid well known celebrity although they have just as many pressures and problems as the rest of us. Good luck Kenny and everyone else in your situation.

se9addick

Samson was a bit before my time but I'm aware of his career. would guys like him have been on decent money ? Should the money they earned have set them up for life ?

ShootersHillGuru

se9addick said:

Samson was a bit before my time but I'm aware of his career. would guys like him have been on decent money ? Should the money they earned have set them up for life ?

I guess by today's standards it was peanuts but with the correct advice he should have been as you put it set up for life. Kenny also did a fair amount of football punditry after his career ended but I suppose he had other issues that drained away his money.

se9addick

ShootersHillGuru said:

se9addick said:

Samson was a bit before my time but I'm aware of his career. would guys like him have been on decent money ? Should the money they earned have set them up for life ?

I guess by today's standards it was peanuts but with the correct advice he should have been as you put it set up for life. Kenny also did a fair amount of football punditry after his career ended but I suppose he had other issues that drained away his money.

Got ya - thanks.

Always sad to see someone in this state. Alcohol addiction, particularly amongst blokes, always strikes me as often following a similar pattern. You start off and it's just you being someone that's known that's likes a drink-a proper lad, and you revel in it and enjoy the notoriety. Perhaps it's a way of performing publicly that particularly attracts former pros. Then all of a sudden you can't stop and it isn't just you being a lad but it's now a massive problem and you don't know what to do, especially as none of your friends really take you seriously anymore.

ShootersHillGuru

I think Kenny was of the last era of pro footballers that still had a drinking culture. Young man with money to burn. Lots of time on his hands and possibly a few of his fellow senior players as role models who liked a sherbet. Some of us can take it or leave it and some of us can't.

Covered End

se9addick said:

Samson was a bit before my time but I'm aware of his career. would guys like him have been on decent money ? Should the money they earned have set them up for life ?

The article said in the early 80's he was earning £1200 per week & living in a £1M residence.

By comparison I think I earnt about £100 per week, which was possibly average.

As I said earlier, many footballers earn too much & have too much time on their hands.

ColinTat

Hopefully replaces his addictions with something positive. Won the lottery as well in the mid 90's if I recall. If he does sort himself out, the PFA pension is unbelievably generous so hopefully in older life will be very comfortbal if he manages to find healthy interests.