adminLONDON. — Troubled former footballer Kenny Sansom told his supporters on Monday that “battling alcoholism is a game of two halves” after he was allegedly found drunk face-down in an alleyway.
The 57-year-old ex-England defender and alcoholic was said to have been discovered on a pavement in Bromley, south-east London, drinking from a bottle of wine.
And he tweeted: “Today’s a new day. Thanks for the continued support, battling alcoholism is a game of two halves. Just want to get working. Sorry that everyone who has supported me had to see those stories in the paper, I didn’t want to let any of you down. I will bounce back.” Sansom had been hoping to watch his former club Arsenal on Saturday afternoon, but photographs showed him drinking from a bottle in a betting shop before collapsing in a nearby alley.
Sansom then stumbled around a supermarket wine section before drinking a bottle while sitting on a wall outside, reported The Sun. He later said: “I’m scared of my thoughts. I need help.”
An onlooker told the newspaper’s reporter Ben Leo: “It’s sad to see Kenny in the gutter. I couldn’t believe it when I saw him slumped in the alley. He looked a mess.”
The witness added that father-of-three Sansom — who won 86 caps for his country — had claimed all his possessions were in the two bags he was holding and he had nowhere to sleep.
It comes three months after Jeremy Kyle staged a dramatic ‘celebrity intervention’ on his chat show with Sansom, as it was revealed he nearly died after his mother’s funeral.
Sansom appeared on the programme in January following a long decline into alcoholism that has lasted more than three decades and left him homeless.
And his emotional sister Mary revealed on the ITV chat show that he had turned up drunk at his mother’s funeral last year, before later collapsing and having a fit.
Grandfather Sansom told the show: “I’m here to first of all tell people that I’ve let down to say sorry. I’m going to try and do something for them, but I’m sorry I’ve let a lot of people down.”
The London-born footballer, who has also gambled away his fortune, added: “All I wanted to do was lay down drink as much as I could and fall asleep forever. I didn’t want to be around.”
Sansom, who has spent time sleeping in a park after drinking seven bottles of wine a day, said: “I enjoy getting drunk to forget about the problems because I’m a coward and I’m scared of life.” — Mailonline.
Online Reporter