Arsenal icon Paul Merson is in a battle to avoid elimination as Strictly Come Dancing returns to TV screens this weekend.
The former Premier League star narrowly avoided the axe in Week 3 as Toyah Wilcox was instead shown the exit. Merson and partner Karen Hauer lived to dance another day, but there’s a sense it may only be a matter of time before his number is up.
The Soccer Saturday pundit on Sky Sports has overcome adversity in the past, with his toughest battles coming away from the football pitch. Two-time First Division champion Merson has been honest about his struggles with addiction and how they’ve affected his mental health over the years.
There’s rarely been a dull moment in the rollercoaster life and times of the man who scored 99 goals in 423 appearances for Arsenal. And Mirror Sport has examined the Premier League icon’s past as he encounters a date with destiny come Sunday.
Net worth
There’s no telling how much Merson might have earned as a footballer in the current climate given how footballer wages have escalated over the past 20 years or so. However, the retired playmaker has revealed in the past that he blew some £7million of his career earnings on betting, booze and drugs.
Thankfully for Merson, he has fashioned a fine career for himself as a pundit and features as a regular on Soccer Saturday. According to Jive Dash, the 56-year-old’s net worth currently stands at around £12m, with his TV appearances and book sales likely accounting for the large majority of that fortune.
Merson spent the last two years of his playing career at Walsall, taking over as player-manager before leaving the club in early 2006. That proved to be the beginning and end of his coaching journey, and save for several sparse appearances in amateur competitions, the former top-flight favourite has stayed retired.
Dating history and eight children
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@Corey77kate/Twitter)
Merson wed childhood sweetheart Lorraine Costin while at Arsenal, and the couple had three sons – Charlie, Ben and Sam – during their 10-year marriage. However, their relationship came to an end in 2001 when Lorraine discovered the true extent of his betting patterns.
His second marriage to Louise Bache is understood to have ended in similar circumstances after they tied the knot and welcomed twin daughters Mollie and Maisie. Gambling once again played a role as the couple split in 2013.
It was another three years before Merson married for the third time, this time to current wife Kate, with whom he has another three children: a son, Freddie, and daughters Sienna and Sadie. The couple celebrated their eight-year wedding anniversary this summer, and their relationship appears to be thriving with Paul on an ‘allowance’ monitored by his spouse.
Drug addiction
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Merson revealed in a tearful 1994 press conference that he was addicted to cocaine, among other things. The Football Association intervened and sent Merson to a rehabilitation centre after he admitted his problems, which were affecting the way he played and trained.
“I started going to an all-night pub in Smithfield Market. Drinking on my own and snorting in the toilets,” he once wrote for the Daily Mail. “I’d hail a black cab at 8am to take me up to training and even have a couple of big hits sitting in the back. I had bookies chasing me, dealers chasing me. I settled one cocaine debt by handing over my Arsenal blazer and reporting it stolen. Paranoia took over.”
Merson was successful in overcoming his issues with both alcohol and drugs, getting his career back on track in the process. However, the other vice in his life proved more difficult to discard.
Gambling
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ITV)
Gambling is a common issue in football circles, with many current and former pros falling victim to addiction. And Merson was in the prime of his career when it first came to light just how far his case had progressed.
The football was successful in kicking his problems with both drink and drugs. However, it’s gambling that has taken the biggest toll, with Merson once admitting: “Every day it would go through my head about committing suicide.”
Having first encountered issues as a player, it wasn’t long ago that Merson revealed his struggles can persist, gambling away a £160,000 family house deposit on table tennis during Covid-19 lockdown. The problem has been so bad in the past that the former Gunner confessed he has wanted to break his own fingers in order to beat the habit.
“The only time I felt relieved was when I had nothing left,” he once told talkSPORT. “When I got to zero I was like, ‘I don’t have to do this any more.’ How mad is that? I was playing at Aston Villa playing away at Charlton. No one ever shared a room with me because I was gambling and never slept in the afternoon and I wanted to break my fingers so I couldn’t pick the phone up – that’s how bad the compulsion was.”
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