Newcastle stars had gambling problems too
THERE was a card school at Newcastle, too. We flew to most away games so we gambled on the plane. The amounts weren’t as big as they were with England, but there was one game that finished as a stand-off between Craig Bellamy and Laurent Robert that ended up with about £40k on the table. Michael Chopra (right), who went on to develop a serious gambling problem, blamed that Newcastle card school for his issues, which began when he was a teenager at the club. He mentioned me and Craig and Titus Bramble as the main players in the school. He said his gambling debts had led to him being threatened by underworld figures.