Retirement led to depression, Quinn reveals
FORMER Sunderland striker Niall Quinn has revealed he fell into a state of drinking depression after hanging up his boots.
The former Black Cats hero said he was drinking to excess, felt like an ‘outcast’ when he appeared on television as a pundit, and was ‘bitter and twisted’ about reviews he received as a player.
The Republic of Ireland striker retired from playing in 2003, aged 37 and over the years has been both manager and chairman of the Black Cats as well as a television pundit.
But he said that after ending his on-field career, he struggled to figure out what to do next.
Speaking in a new documentary, Quinn said: “The routine is gone, the pat on the back is gone, you’re not in the papers any more.
“A million and one things I could point to that I just didn’t understand and I became very introverted for a long time and even stopped playing golf with people. I would go to the driving range on my own.”
Quinn made a number of appearances on Sky Sports but struggled at the time and was “set against football”.
He said: “I was so set against football, I was anti-football at that time. I felt the game had spat me out and I’d allowed it to and did not see it coming.
“I was going into Naas near where we lived, there were a couple of pubs there I would go to most nights, and I just found myself on this feelingsorry-for-myself routine for months and months and months.
“I was drinking far more than I would have.”
Quinn said he would try to sneak into the studios so to avoid attention. He said: “I felt an outcast. I just didn’t feel I belonged to football.”
Once Quinn hung up his boots he revealed he would become “bitter and twisted” with journalists who had written ‘one bad thing’ about him “when they probably said 100 good things”.
Quinn has paid tribute to his wife Gillian and says their marriage has stood the test of time despite his selfishness at the time.
He said: “You get yourself in this warped, feeling sorry-foryourself world. And I got into it and of course those who take the brunt of it most are your family.
“The last thing my family needed was for me to turn into this wreck feeling sorry for himself.
“In fairness Gillian recognised it. She obviously had a circle of friends and they were all going through the same issues, the same problems.
“Our marriage stood the test of it thankfully but lots of our friends didn’t.”
The striker said that he thinks more support is needed to help players adapt to life after football and pointed to rugby as an example of a sport doing a better job of easing the transition.
Quinn added: “Gillian started to look at it, she went back to college and did a psychology degree, and she’s now doing a doctorate on the sports career transition of footballers and why three-quarters of their marriages are gone within three to five years of finishing.
“I’m not looking for sympathy here but I know other players where the lot goes. Marriage goes, income goes, reason for living goes and a bitterness creeps in with people and it leads to suicides.
“It’s a bit of a taboo subject because football clubs don’t like to prepare players for finishing, they want to think they can keep going forever.”
I was anti-football at that time. I felt the game had spat me out and I’d allowed it to and did not see it coming Niall Quinn