Hero and Villain, Paul Merson with Ian Ridley (Ex Lib) (Signed)
Condition: GOOD (Signed Ex library copy)
Edition/Year: 1999
Publisher: Collins Willow
Pages: 255
Format: Hardback
Paul Merson has been in recovery from gabling, alcohol, and drug abuse for five years ever since becoming the first footballer to admit publicly his addictions and enter a rehabilitation clinic. How has life changed since then? How has he coped with abstinence in the high-octane world of Premiership football? Have his club, Aston Villa, been sympathetic to his needs?
In Hero and Villain, Merson recalls a remarkable year which began with his surprise inclusion in the England squad for France '98, while his friend and Middlesbrough colleague, Paul Gascoigne, was being sent home from the Spanish training camp by the then England coach Glenn Hoddle.
Subsequently , Merson went on to play in the memorable England match against Argentina and kept a day-by-day diary of his World Cup. Once back home for the start of the 1998/1999 season, Merson found himself unable to adjust to the drinking and gambling culture, as he perceived it, at Middlesbrough, and there followed an acrimonious transfer to Aston Villa.
Merson reveals his true feelings about Bryan Robson during that period, along with many other dressing room tales. He tells how he helped Gascoigne into recovery from alcoholism and of the secret visits to the treatment centre. He explains how close he was to going off the rails himself after several relapses into gambling and drinking, and of his turbulent relationship with manager John Gregory. He describes too, Aston Villa's eventful season and the unsettling effect of Stan Collymore on the club..
