Sunderland’s Aaron Connolly has revealed his struggles with alcohol habit after bursting onto the scene with Brighton as a teen.
Connolly scored twice in his first Premier League begin towards Tottenham as a 19-year-old, however subsequently fell into habit.
The 24-year-old, signed by Sunderland as a free agent in September after his Hull contract expired, sought assist over the summer season and has now opened up about his struggles.
“My phone was blowing up [after the Spurs game],” Connolly instructed Sunderland’s web site. “It was one of the best days of my life but also one of the worst because the following five years came from that.
“I finished working, stopped doing the issues that I ought to have stored doing. I began to imagine the hype and I did not flip into an excellent particular person after that. I used to be robust to be round, nobody might inform me something. I did not know the best way to cope with it, to be sincere.
“I didn’t feel like I had that authoritative figure to keep me grounded. I always say to my parents that I started to live the life of a footballer without the football side of it and that was the hardest bit to admit at the time – that I wasn’t doing all the things that had got myself in that position. It hurts to look back at it and speak it.
“I had issues off the pitch and it was highlighted rather a lot. I misplaced monitor of myself, misplaced monitor of why I used to be taking part in soccer, chasing issues that I used to be by no means chasing earlier than that Tottenham aim.
“It was obvious I had a problem with alcohol. I had my parents who never drank and would always advise me whenever I went out to stay away from it because of addiction to alcohol in my family.
“I did not pay attention, it obtained me in a whole lot of hassle. It grew to become one thing I relied on. My buzz used to come back from soccer, scoring objectives, profitable video games.
“It got to a point where the buzz was more from drinking alcohol. I used to look forward to the games finishing so I could have time to go and get drunk.
“I made a decision on the finish of July that it was an excessive amount of, I could not do it, dwell the best way I used to be doing. It was killing the individuals round me, household and associates. Primarily it was killing me. I had considered one of my finest seasons at Hull final season however off the pitch my life was a multitude.”
The Republic of Eire worldwide says rehab was ‘the most effective and worst month of my life’
Connolly scored eight objectives for Hull final season, greater than he has in every other marketing campaign, however his life off the pitch was unravelling, and it led to him going to rehab.
He says it was “the best and worst month of my life”.
“There’s no price tag or there’s no amount of money in the world that can cure it, it’s a disease, it’s an illness and I never thought of it like that until I decided that I needed to go to the clinic,” he added.
“I learned so much stuff because I always thought when I was going in there – and I decided to go in there in the two weeks leading up to it – am I being dramatic, do I really have a problem?
“I am not going to enter element in regards to the tales and the stuff like that, that is stuff that I do not want to enter element about, but when individuals knew the tales they’d perceive why I went in there as a result of it was getting to a degree the place it was only a darkish, darkish place if I am being fully sincere and I did not know the place else to show other than skilled assist.”
