Gambling with your life

Steve Paterson’s admission to his betting habits puts him alongside the likes of George Best and Paul Gascoigne

By Joanna Skailes

Published:

Steve Paterson, who checked himself into rehab this week

Tony Adams, who has recovered from his alcoholism, at the launch of his controversial autobiography, Addicted

Paul Merson, left, and Paul Gascoigne, who both suffered from drink problems during their playing careers

Andy McLaren, who wrote about fighting his addictions

Former football manager Steve Paterson’s check-in to rehab makes him the latest in a long line of sports stars and celebrities who have hit the headlines because of their addictions to drugs, alcohol or gambling.

The ex-Aberdeen and Peterhead manager’s admission that he has blown £1million on bets puts him alongside giants of the game like George Best and Paul Gascoigne and modern-day superstar Wayne Rooney.

Mr Paterson is now being treated at the Sporting Chance Clinic in Hampshire, which provides a specialist addiction and recovery facility for sportsmen and women. It was set up in 2000 by Arsenal and England captain Tony Adams, a recovering alcoholic.

Adams's former Arsenal and England team-mate, Paul Merson, himself a former patient and recovering alcoholic, is also now a patron of the charity. The clinic is supported by the Professional Footballers Association.

Sporting Chance was unable to comment on Mr Paterson’s problems yesterday, but in an open letter on the clinic’s website, chief executive Peter Kay says: “What we find so often is that there is not a distinct problem apparent but that players were unaware of the physical and psychological ramifications of excessive alcohol use.

“Gambling has also become a consistent problem for many players where previously we did not see this. Scotland is no different to England, Ireland, Northern Ireland or Wales and deserves the same support.”

Former Dundee United player Andy McLaren wrote about his struggle to overcome drugs and alcohol abuse in his autobiography Tormented: The Andy McLaren Story.

While playing for Reading in 2000, he failed a random drugs test and was immediately banned from football. He was forced to admit to being an alcoholic and a cocaine user, and checked in to the Priory clinic in Glasgow.

Yesterday, a north-east addiction specialist said gambling habits were common in football.

Mark Hepburn, part-owner and counsellor at the residential Alexander Clinic at Oldmeldrum, said: “In the past, I have worked with professional footballers. They tell me that there is a culture of gambling in footballers’ circles and that it is usual to find a copy of The Racing Post in the dressing rooms.

“If you look to the past, many footballers have had difficulties with gambling.” He pointed to the examples of Newcastle United’s Michael Owen, who admitting blowing a fortune betting on horses, and Manchester United striker Rooney, who has also been troubled by gambling difficulties.

He added: “Gambling addiction can be extremely debilitating. It is one which really destroys people and can kill people. Most people addicted to gambling end their lives by means of suicide. They can’t see a way out. It is a very serious addiction.”

He added that addiction was complex and that nobody was 100% sure why some people become addicted and others do not.

Mr Hepburn added: “Addiction means that you don’t have control. It is a loss of control over the alcohol, or substance or behaviour.

“For most adults it is about controlling the way you feel. You drink to make yourself feel better or normal, to relax or for any number of reasons. All addictions are about that, whether it is about drugs excess, sex, drink, gambling or chocolate.”

He said staff focused on changing behaviour at the Alexander Clinic. “We ask them to learn from the mistakes they have made, change their behaviour and accept personal responsibility for the situation that they are in.”

Their treatment was similar to the Sporting Chance clinic which used an abstinence-based approach, he said.

Mr Hepburn added that admitting you have a problem, as Steve Paterson has done, was one of the biggest steps to take.

He said that Mr Paterson had previously had problems with alcohol and that many people are addicted to more than one substance or form of behaviour.

Sandy Kelman, who works with the Aberdeen City Joint Alcohol and Drug Action Team (Jadat), said they focused on “wraparound care”, examining what influenced different people.

“We try to help people holistically, help them deal with the other issues in their lives. Addiction might stem from low esteem or low educational attainment.”

He added it was also important to try to remove the public stigma around addiction.

He said: “If I was labelled a junkie tomorrow I would lose my job. It just makes everything that much worse. We should be trying to help these people. Addiction is an illness.”

Harry Miller, general manager of Alcohol Support in Aberdeen, said that increasing alcoholism in the city was part and parcel of Aberdeen’s “vibrant night-time economy”. He said: “As a society in the north-east we are only drinking more. It is an insidious creep of alcohol becoming normalised.”

Emphasising that they were not “anti-alcohol” but simply vouching for moderation, he pointed to the old adage, “a good servant but a bad master”.

“The relationship is now out of kilter,” he said.

Senga MacDonald, general manager of Aberdeen’s Drugs Action, said: “These issues such as drugs, alcohol and gambling, are not always problematic. People can have a drink, they can gamble now and again and it doesn’t always cause a problem. It is recognising that it has become a problem.

She said it was difficult for people to admit they had a problem but that the Drugs Action needle exchange meant that a relationship had already been established in most cases, which made it easier for people to ask for help.

Helplines: Drugs Action, Aberdeen: 01224 594700; Gamblers Anonymous UK (Glasgow): 08700 50 88 81; Alcohol Support Ltd, Aberdeen (offering advice, counselling and specialist services): 01224 573887