EXCLUSIVE DRUNK
FORMER England star Paul Stewart has revealed he didn’t enjoy his greatest moments in the game due to abuse he suffered as a child.
His ordeal at the hands of youth coach Frank Roper has haunted his life and left him with an “empty soul”.
Paul, 56, told the Mirror: “Even at the very top, playing in a cup final, for England – I did not enjoy it.
“I was troubled all the way through my career. I tell young players I have a 1991 FA Cup winner’s medal in the house. But I don’t put it on show.
“It represents the pain and heartache I endured – I don’t even display the England caps. I had some highs in my career. I never enjoyed them because I had this empty soul.”
Roper, who died in 2005, groomed Paul before the youngster joined his Nova side in Manchester at age 11.
The ex-Man City, Spurs and Liverpool star tells a BBC documentary how he was abused every day for four years. The dad of three turned to booze and drugs to bury the memories.
His revealed his secret to the Mirror in November 2016 after keeping it from his family. Paul adds: “I tell young players now to talk to someone if they have a problem.
“I was always angry, disturbed. I was the master of playing a role, looking like I was happy but I was a nightmare.
“You get to 24 and you are next to Lineker, Rush and Barnes. It is an embarrassing thing to say by then. You keep the secret, but all the while there is the devastating impact on family.”
He warned that paedophile coaches leave children isolated, adding: “When Roper said he would kill my brothers and parents, I believed him.”
By the time he signed for Liverpool in 1992 he was taking cocaine every day. “I was in self-destruct mode,” he said. “Playing for my country was all I ever wanted. Yet I was drunk for that first England team meeting.”
He breaks down as he recalls telling mum Joyce and dad Bert about Roper.
“I was 52,” he said. “It was tearing me apart.” Joyce, 81, who brought up Paul and his two brothers in Manchester, said: “Roper took us all in.”
Paul now works with the Football League giving safeguarding advice to young players, coaches and families.
Former Crewe player Andy Woodward revealed his abuse at the hands of soccer paedophile Barry Bennell just before Paul went public in 2016.
Hundreds of other abused players then contacted the NSPCC. Woodward tells the BBC: “It is a dirty secret. A lot of people take it to the grave.”
Football’s Darkest Secret begins on March 22 at 9pm on BBC1. The series will then be available on iPlayer.