Former Manchester United goalkeeper Roy Carroll has admitted alcohol abuse would have eventually killed him if he hadn't got sober.
Carroll, 43, who won 45 caps for Northern Ireland, played for United for four seasons between 2001-05 and also featured for the likes of Wigan, Rangers and Derby.
His addiction and mental health issues started when he suffered a back injury while at West Ham, and speaking in an interview with the Daily Mail he looked back on what went wrong, reports the Mirror.
"I'd never had a long injury before and slowly but surely I was getting into a deeper hole," Carroll said. "I wasn't mentally prepared for it.
Roy Carroll played for Manchester United for four seasons (Image: GETTY)
"I was just in a dark room and drinking heavily. I had no outside help. Nobody knew what was wrong with me because I never spoke about it.
"Everybody thought I was the happiest guy in the world but I would go home, shut the door and bang my head against the wall, have a few drinks to try and forget.
"For me, it was getting rid of the depression. You'd have loads to drink and forget about it. The next day it got worse and you're back on the drink. It doesn't work.
"I went into rehab because others wanted me to: my wife, my agent and my friends. I didn't see there was anything wrong with me, that was my biggest problem."
Carroll has now been sober for ten years, but admits that he may not be here today if he had not managed to quit sooner.
"I was never at that stage where I would have killed myself," he continued. "I was quite lucky I wasn't that far ahead. But I would have died from the drink.
Carroll has bravely spoken of his battle with addiction (Image: GETTY)
"The stuff I was drinking and the way I was drinking it, I wouldn't have woken up one morning. I don't care about alcohol any more. The first four or five years were very difficult but now I don't need it. I'm mad enough without the drink!
"But the depression will come back once in a while. I'm never going to get rid of it.
"A lot of footballers will be going through it, but they don't come out and say it until they retire. They try to keep it in because it's their livelihood."
