Former England World Cup star Kenny Sansom is sleeping on London park benches as he fights alcoholism and a gambling addiction, it was reported today.
The ex-Arsenal captain, 54, keeps disappearing from his family to live rough, his sister said.
Sansom, who was born in Southwark, earned £1,200 a week in the Eighties and lived in a £1 million house. He told The Sun: “I’ve been living homeless for 10 days. That’s because I’ve got no money, I’m a drunk, I’m feeling not very well and I’m a gambler.
“I’ve been living on the street. It’s not good living on a bench. I drink as much as I can get. I’m in a bad way. Arsenal are trying to help me, but I’ve got to try and help myself.”
He told the newspaper that his only possessions were a pay-as-you-go phone and Oyster card and £20 cash, plus the T-shirt and shorts he was wearing. He is said to drink seven bottles of wine a day.
Sansom was capped 86 times at left-back for England. He played in the World Cup in Spain in 1982 and Mexico in 1986.
His sister, Mary, 61, said: “He’s breaking my heart. I wish he would just tell us where he is.”
