'You'll be dead in three years' Arsenal legend Kenny Sansom appears on Jeremy Kyle
Posted Sunday, January 24, 2016 by Dailystar.co.uk
KENNY Sansom, who played for Arsenal and England, has gambling and alcohol addictions.
TROUBLED: Kenny now and in his Arsenal days
Fans were shocked when Kenny Sansom, the football legend who played for England 86 times, appeared on Jeremy Kyle.
Last year Sansom was pictured drinking in a park, he admitted he wanted to take his own life.
"If someone who had given me a tablet I would have taken it there and then," he said.
Sansom has had an amazing career. He was recruited for Milwall aged just ten, signed for Crystal Palace at 16 and moved to Arsenal in 1980.
He was on £50,000 a year at Arsenal, "serious money" in 1980.
But he doesn't have much left from his glory days — he sold his England caps to buy drink and gamble. The only cap he has left is one from 1980.
He revealed he first placed a bet at age 16.
Sansom now drinks up to nine bottles of wines a day, Kyle said: "You'll be dead in five years, probably three."
ICON: Kenny was earning £50k a week
Fellow guest Tom found Kenny lying in the grass in a park and took him to hospital.
Tom is a former addict and said Kenny would recover with support.
Viewers were shocked to see the icon fall from glory.
"Hope he gets the help he clearly needs and puts the effort in himself to get out of the mess he is in," one viewer posted.
GETTING HELP: Kenny opens up to Kyle
"Just watching Kenny Sansom on Jeremy Kyle. It's heartbreaking that a man with so much going for him has sunk so low," another said.
The show's therapist Graham urged him to go to rehab and at first he was reluctant to go, saying he is unlikely to drink again.
"I just can't get in that car. I just don't want to," he said.
"Do you want to die?" Kyle said.
NOTHING LEFT: Kenny's last remaining cap from his football glory days
But he still refused to go.
"I've done my best Kenny Sansom," he said.
He took three days to reconsider and he then decided to give rehab a go. He stayed there for more than three months and didn't have a drink.
"I wanna live a happy life and I know if I drink and gamble again it won't be that," he said.
"I've learned a lot about my addiction and I've learned a lot about myself."
REHAB REFUSAL: Kenny didn't want to go to rehab
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