Booze nearly wrecked my life, Sky’s Jim White reveals
SKY Sports presenter Jim White has told how a battle with alcohol threatened to ruin his career.
The Scots broadcaster said his drinking spiralled out of control and caused great damage to his personal life.
He boozed to excess when meeting contacts and celebrating big stories as a sports journalist.
The 62-year-old former STV star gave up drinking nine years ago after Sky bosses and colleagues – including Scotland and Liverpool legend Graeme Souness – warned that he was overdoing it.
Speaking on the Blethered podcast with Sean McDonald, he said: ‘I had this ridiculous theory that if ever I got a big story or if I ever got a decent interview I would always celebrate by going on the p**s.
‘It was not great and I kept on doing that. I came down to London to join Sky and I was still drinking a fair bit.
‘I remember having a conversation with Graeme Souness when we were doing a game together.
‘He said: “Listen, just a little word of advice, a little bird’s told me you’re drinking too much”. He looked at me and said: “If it takes a friend to tell you then hopefully it will make a difference”.
‘So, obviously, it was being publicly seen that I was overdoing it.
‘Of course the last person to know was me. I used to love it, I thought it was brilliant. But it’s silly. It took me a while to realise I had done a lot of damage to my personal life and relationships, for which I’m eternally sorry.
‘I (quit) it virtually overnight. I decided I wasn’t going to have another relationship that was going to be affected by it. I wasn’t going to put the next person through it as I had done.
‘I didn’t want my job to be affected either, and it was beginning to be affected. There was a whole bunch of component parts that made it quite clear to me that I have got to stop doing this.’
White was fined £750 and banned from driving for a year in 2005 after refusing a breath test.
When taken to a police station in Glasgow he told officers: ‘I’m providing f ****** zero.’
The former Scotsport host, who joined Sky in 1998 and also presents a daily radio show on talkSPORT, urged others struggling with alcohol addiction to try total abstinence, saying: ‘Believe me, the rewards are fantastic.
‘I now look at pubs and see people buying rounds and I think “Thank God that’s not me”.
‘I will never go back to it. My personal life is great now.’
‘Takes a friend to tell you’