” REALITY”: My finest football was played when I was drinking and eating buckets of chicken at Newcastle.
Former Newcastle United winger Keith Gillespie has never hidden his addiction to gambling. Although he may have had issues with it, he has said that after a night on the city’s Quayside, he played BETTER.
It’s common knowledge that the top football teams in the world employ the greatest chefs and nutritionists to provide their players with the nourishment and physical health they need to perform at their best on the field. The former star of the Northern Ireland national team, who turns 49 on Sunday, has drawn attention to the temptations of junk food on evenings out on the city’s Quayside, even before games.
In his 2013 autobiography, “How Not To Be A Football Millionaire,” Gillespie acknowledged that, despite his lifestyle, he regularly misled the club’s medical personnel about his diet and his inability to gain weight. He stated: “Club doctors always thought I was a freak.”They were perplexed by my failure to gain weight regardless of my lifestyle and tormented their less fortunate teammates. I recall Mike Hooper, Newcastle’s reserve keeper, returning for pre-season with a 17-stone weight.
“Every Friday, the club would weigh us, so Mike would spend the early hours of the morning in the sauna before rushing to training to drop the weight.
“We used to stop for chicken and chips on the way home from away games, and he would sit there staring at it and wanting it but knowing it was bad. I could overindulge in food and discover the next day that I had shed a pound.”
Gillespie was fond of more than junk food, though. Drinks after the game were also OK, but just like a bucket of chicken, they never made him feel overweight. “Beer is a similar story,” he went on. It goes without saying that I’ve always enjoyed a good night out. Oddly enough, I was at my finest playing football when I was drinking the most.
“I was drinking as much, if not more, than the typical guy my age when I went out three times a week in Newcastle. Not a smart choice for a public figure, in retrospect. Back when I was younger, it resulted in arguments, negative press, and eventually, unskilled psychologists concluded that I had a drinking problem.
“Erroneous. Let us clarify it right away. Although I didn’t drink much at home and didn’t need it to get out of bed in the morning, I won’t be drinking in the future, even though it was the spark for trouble in town.
“I’ve read what alcoholism did to footballers like George and Paul McGrath, and I’m grateful to have avoided the affliction of that terrible disease.”