PRO LIFE WAS NO FANTASY
Kitman tells of gambling woes
SAM PERRIN thought he was living the dream amidst the professional set-up at Notts County but it wasn’t long before it turned into a nightmare.
It ended up with the former Magpies kitman breaking down in front of his dad having gambled away thousands of pounds.
The money, given by his parents, should have allowed the 31-year-old to step onto the property ladder and settle down in Nottingham, 100 miles away from his Hertfordshire home.
Yet instead, the father of two was “sitting in the Kop Stand, breaking down” as he explained to his dad how his life had been torn apart.
While Perrin had only ever made it as a semi-pro, he constantly desired the luxury items associated with the professional game.
“Even though you’re not a player – coming from working in the Championship or when QPR were in the Premier League – you see everyone with that high lifestyle. Trainers are £300 and sometimes more; watches aren’t cheap.
“When you start to win big, like five, six, seven thousand pounds, you can go and get a couple of pairs of trainers, a nice watch and then go and do it again.
“One week I’d win three or four thousand pounds and I’d spend it in the shops,” Perrin continued.
“The next week I’d go ‘f*** it, I can do that again’ and put my wages on. Two days later I’ve won nothing and lost it all.
“I had no wage for the rest of the month so I had to try and win that money back. I was always playing catch up. I was losing tens of thousands of pounds because I couldn’t stop. I just wanted to get it back.”
Players and club officials are banned from betting on football fixtures in which they are involved; however, Perrin’s addiction was formed through winning money on other sports.
What started as an occasional bet for the former Magpies kit-manager escalated to a £500 bet on the Kazakhstan cricket team and then a loss of £1,500 on one single bet.
It was not long before Perrin had blown the thousands of pounds gifted to him as a deposit for a home; but how could he reveal the extent of the damage to his parents?
“I never said anything,” he said, “but after almost two years of doing it I was in such a hole that I had to break out. I spoke to the manager at the time, Kevin Nolan, and, to be fair, he put his arm around me and took me in.”
Speaking out
A fast-track course with the NHS declared that Perrin’s addiction stemmed from seeing one of his childhood friends killed in a traffic accident.
Perrin explained: “They said that ever since then I’ve wanted to be the best and be the person who people look at to say ‘look at Sam. Everything he’s been through and he’s doing well’.
“The pressures of people wanting me to achieve pushed me over the edge. You don’t realise it until you look back. It doesn’t start with a simple bet; you realise it when connecting the dots.”
Perrin hasn’t bet for almost two years and currently works for Premier League Wolves as a kitman. Having gone through the experience, he desperately hopes no-one finds themselves as low, or even worse, as he was.
“I don’t even look to bet anymore; I don’t think I ever will again,” he added. “I know it’s helped me by speaking out.
“As long as there is a big enough pool to help people, then people will come over the boundary and be helped. No matter the size of the problem – people should not be embarrassed.”