Paul Merson: The former footballer looking for success on Strictly after rollercoaster career

Paul Merson is competing on Strictly this 12 months, making him solely the fifth footballer to ever seem on the hit BBC present.

Merson, a 56-year-old father of eight, will comply with within the footsteps of fellow footballers John Barnes, Robbie Savage, Alex Scott and his ex-Arsenal teammate Tony Adams when he places on his dancing footwear for the twenty second season of the long-running BBC present.

Merson started his soccer profession in 1984 when he signed for Arsenal as an apprentice and ultimately made his debut for the Gunners in a 3-0 win over Manchester Metropolis on 22 November 1986.

Through the 1988/89 season, Merson grew to become an everyday fixture of the staff’s proper wing and was an integral a part of the squad that famously gained the First Division title on the final day at Anfield. Success on the soccer area continued to come back thick and quick with one other league title within the 1990/91 season, an FA Cup and League Cup double within the 1992/93 season. A 12 months later he helped Arsenal safe their first European trophy in 24 years as they defeated Parma to say the European Cup Winners Cup.

Merson had change into an everyday participant within the England squad throughout this era, making his debut towards Germany in September 1991 after being referred to as up by supervisor Graham Taylor. He participated in Euro 1992 in Sweden and was additionally a part of England’s failed qualifying marketing campaign for the 1994 World Cup in america.

Simply months after Arsenal’s Cup Winners Cup triumph Merson opened up publicly about his dependancy to alcohol, medicine and playing, points which have blighted his profession over a few years.

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Merson continued to be an everyday characteristic in Arsenal’s first staff till 1997 however on the finish of the 1996/97 season was offered to relegated Middlesbrough for £4.5m, a then-record switch charge for a non-Premier League membership. Regardless of dropping a division his talents solely continued to flourish at Middlesbrough the place he helped them again to the Premier League on the first time of asking.

His kind noticed new England supervisor Glenn Hoddle name him as much as the 1998 World Cup squad, the place he featured within the well-known 2-2 draw with Argentina within the second spherical, scoring a penalty within the shoot-out. This could be his final motion for England, bringing his worldwide profession to an finish at 21 caps and three targets.

Merson went on to play for Aston Villa, Portsmouth and Walsall, the latter of which noticed him change into the West Midland’s facet’s supervisor. His time on the Saddler’s was blighted by extra dependancy points and a rift along with his then spouse. Merson ultimately introduced his retirement from soccer in March 2006, following a quick stint at non-league facet Tamworth.

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New subscribers solely. £8.99/mo. after free trial. Plan auto-renews till cancelled

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Merson’s foremost line of labor now could be as a pundit and he has been an everyday a part of Sky Sports activities’ Soccer Saturday since 2006.

In more moderen years, he has spoken extra brazenly about his struggles with dependancy, writing a number of books on the topic, the latest being 2021’s Hooked: Habit and the Lengthy Highway to Restoration, which documented his 30-year battle with dependancy and psychological well being points.