Author Topic: Chris Kirkland  (Read 8698 times)

Offline ScouserAtHeart

  • RAWK Supporter
  • Legacy Fan
  • ******
  • Posts: 12,355
  • Pissing Manc "fans" off since 1999.
Chris Kirkland
« on: October 12, 2017, 04:44:17 am »
Chris Kirkland: ‘I didn’t want to wake up in the morning. It just starts again’

The former Coventry, Liverpool and Wigan goalkeeper talks about dealing with depression, leaving the game and why players should not suffer in silence



Chris Kirkland felt trapped, paralysed, desperate. But the former England and Liverpool goalkeeper was terrified that he might have further to fall. “What happened to Gary Speed was the thing that really worried me,” Kirkland says, with reference to the Wales midfielder’s death in 2011. “I didn’t know how far away I was from that. Hopefully, a long, long way.

“I always ask myself: ‘Would I have done something to myself? Would I have harmed myself? I like to think I wouldn’t have done. I certainly didn’t sit there one night, thinking, right, I’ve got to … you know. But you think about it. You do, yeah. Because you don’t want to wake up.

“I said to my wife, Leeona, that I couldn’t wait to go to sleep at night and just be clear. But then, I didn’t want to wake up in the morning because it just starts again. I’d never have done it because of Leeona and our daughter, Lucy. But I was worried how close I was to the next step. That’s why I said: ‘I need to stop playing football.’”

It was August last year and Kirkland was mired in a battle against depression – the insidious illness that he says started to creep up on him in 2012, after his departure from Wigan Athletic, a club he loved and did not want to leave. Kirkland had signed a one-year contract at Bury in June 2016 but he came to feel overwhelmed. He simply could not continue.

Bury were hugely supportive and the club’s manager, Dave Flitcroft, showed why he is cut out to be a leader of men. Flitcroft told him to get away, take his time, seek help but, Kirkland being Kirkland, he decided to give it one more try.

“I restarted training but, on the third day, I was in a five-a-side game, there were shots coming in and I just wasn’t diving,” Kirkland says. “I was thinking: ‘I don’t want to be here any more.’ I walked off, I went straight up to Dave and I said: ‘I can’t do it anymore. I need you to rip my contract up.’ That’s when the statement came out.”

In his statement Kirkland talked about how he needed “time and space away from the game”; that he was retiring at 35 after a 17-season professional career in order to put his “family’s future and well-being first”. It did not disclose the specifics of the depression. “It was because I was ashamed,” Kirkland says. “I wasn’t getting any help at that point. Nobody knew. But it was straight after that when I said to Leeona: ‘I have to do something here’.”

It is sometimes referred to as the lightbulb moment; when it finally becomes clear that there is a fundamental problem. Kirkland reached out to Michael Bennett, the head of player welfare at the Professional Footballers’ Association, and the path to recovery would be illuminated.

Kirkland is no longer ashamed or embarrassed and he wants to tell his harrowing story so that others who are suffering in silence might feel the confidence to seek help. He is scheduled to speak at the PFA’s mental health and emotional wellbeing conference on Thursday at St George’s Park.

“It’s easy for me to talk about it now because I’ve seen a way out of it,” Kirkland says. “That is the biggest thing and I want other people and other players to know that you’ve just got to talk. I never saw a way out of it until I started to talk about it. There was a fear. But as soon as you talk, that’s when you’re helping yourself and your family.”



Kirkland sits in the lounge of his home in Aughton, to the north of Liverpool. Leeona is there, too, and so is the family dog, Sam. The veneer of comfort is inscrutable. Footballers have got it all, haven’t they? But depression is no respecter of reputation and it spreads furiously beneath the surface.

Kirkland remembers “crying my eyes out” when he said his goodbyes at Wigan after six years – he had fallen from favour under Roberto Martínez – and, although he would be the No1 at Sheffield Wednesday for the next two seasons, he could feel “things starting to slip”.

“As strange as it sounds, I managed to block it out during matches,” Kirkland adds. “I don’t know how. But the anxiousness was getting the better of me – with the travelling, for example. If I had to stay over in Sheffield, I was panicking.” Kirkland lost his place in the Wednesday team to Keiren Westwood in 2014-15 and he describes that season as “when it started to show; when I just wanted to shut down completely”.

Wednesday would still offer him a new contract for the following season but he did not sign it. “I was going to,” Kirkland says. “It was the first day of pre-season, I was in the gym and I was going to go up and sign my contract in the next 10 minutes. But something just said: ‘I can’t stay.’

“I went in and said that I’d got problems. I didn’t tell them what they were. I just said I needed to be nearer to home because of the anxiety of the travelling over there and being away. Would I get stuck in traffic? Would I have to stay over? They were all gobsmacked, even if they knew that something was not quite right.”

Kirkland signed a one-year deal at Preston North End but the downward spiral continued. He lost a dear friend to cancer at the beginning of 2016 while his dog, Max, died in the same week. Each was a shattering blow to his increasingly fragile psyche.

Kirkland has never been a big socialiser and was always uncomfortable with his position in the public eye. As the depression tightened its grip, he became reclusive. “It’s a big knock-on thing and, eventually, you don’t want to go out,” Kirkland says. “You don’t want to talk to people. You put your phone on silent and you don’t reply to anyone. I couldn’t wait to come home. It’s a vicious circle and you just can’t get yourself out of it.

“I couldn’t think properly. I couldn’t see a way of functioning. I didn’t want to get out of bed. I didn’t want to do the stuff that I’d always done. I just didn’t want to do anything. I wanted to shut myself off.”

Leeona says that it was like losing her husband for four years. Kirkland nods. “I wasn’t the person she married,” he says. “Leeona’s family are in Scotland, mine are in Leicester, we’re tight-knit and I’ve always taken it upon myself to be the man of the house. I was embarrassed that I couldn’t look after the family properly.

“I didn’t know what was happening. Obviously, you read stuff and I had a feeling it was depression but I wasn’t diagnosed, at the time, because I never said anything to anyone.”

Kirkland felt he had coped with what came his way at the start of his career, when his uncommon mixture of height, agility and bravery marked him out for stardom. He became the most expensive goalkeeper in English football when Liverpool paid Coventry City £8m for him in 2001 – he was 20 years of age – while hyperbole tracked him.

David Platt, the England Under-21 manager, called him the “best young goalkeeper in the world” while Sven-Göran Eriksson, the England manager, described him as the “future of English goalkeeping”. Kirkland would win his one and only senior cap as a second-half substitute against Greece in August 2006.

However, Kirkland has since learned that it might have been impossible for him to compartmentalise the various demands and stresses. As Leeona puts it, they “pile up on top of each other before you get to a point where it all just explodes”.

Kirkland’s injuries are a key part of his story and the perception of him. He suffered terribly at Liverpool and during a season-long loan at West Bromwich Albion in 2005-06, when one of his lay-offs was caused by a laceration to the kidney that left him urinating blood.

The injuries themselves, to quote Kirkland, “knocked the stuffing out of me” but so, too, did the view of him as a serial crock. Post-2006 he had an excellent fitness record. “That’s one of the things that has griped at me – that people say I was always injured, when I wasn’t,” Kirkland says.

Kirkland’s other regret is linked to the injuries that held him back at Liverpool. “I always wonder, and I can’t help it, where I would have got to if I had been injury-free,” he says. “My career could have been a lot better. When people say Chris Kirkland, they say: ‘Always injured.’ It’s not like: ‘Chris Kirkland; he won the Champions League.’ Like the top players. That’s just another factor that has piled up.”

Kirkland might have won the Champions League with Liverpool in 2004-05 but, having started in four of their group phase ties, including the decisive 3-1 home win over Olympiakos, he was ruled out by injury for the remainder of the campaign. He was in the stands, together with Leeona, for the penalty shoot-out victory over Milan in the final and, to add to the insult, the team flight headed back from Istanbul without them.

“They didn’t wait for us,” Kirkland says. “We got left and we missed the parade. Apparently, my medal was given to somebody else. We watched the parade on TV but only for a bit. We had to turn it off. So, that was a bit of a kick.”


Kirkland reflects, too, on how he was only ever one error from being “crucified in the papers” – a goalkeeper’s lot is thankless – while he came to be more aware of the excruciating pressure in matches once he got to Wigan and relegation was a part of the equation. Then, there was the incident in October 2012 when, playing for Wednesday, he was blindsided by a pitch-invading Leeds United fan and punched in the face.

Kirkland carries plenty of scars but they are beginning to heal. These days he will get out of the house and do something if he does not feel great instead of locking the doors. He has set up the Chris Kirkland Goalkeeper Academy for young hopefuls while he also coaches his daughter’s under-11s team. She is a goalkeeper too.

Kirkland says that he would like to get into counselling to help those affected by mental health problems and there is no doubt that his own sessions with a woman in south Manchester – facilitated by Bennett and the PFA – have changed his life.

“She has worked wonders,” Kirkland says. “I saw her at least once a week at first and now, I’m at once every two or three weeks. She’s given me coping mechanisms, such as breathing techniques, because I struggle a lot with anxiety; I still do. It’s an ongoing process but I now know that I can and will get through it.”

In the UK the Samaritans can be contacted on 116 123.In the US, the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline is 1-800-273-8255. In Australia, the crisis support service Lifeline is on 13 11 14. Other international suicide helplines can be found at www.befrienders.org. PFA members can contact the confidential wellbeing helpline on 07500 000777

https://www.theguardian.com/football/2017/oct/11/chris-kirkland-depression-interview#comments
« Last Edit: October 12, 2017, 04:46:32 am by ScouserAtHeart »
"Jürgen Klopp is bringing Liverpool's 'fuck you' back. And I can't wait."

Offline classycarra

  • The Left Disonourable Chuntering Member For Scousepool.
  • RAWK Supporter
  • Legacy Fan
  • ******
  • Posts: 30,364
Re: Chris Kirkland
« Reply #1 on: October 12, 2017, 10:23:18 am »
Thanks for sharing that. Really great of him to put his message out there. Important not just for footballers, but all sorts of people who need to feel that there's no shame in discussing mental health.

Everyone has mental health and needing help with it sometimes should have no stigma, in the same way there's no stigma in seeking help for a physical health concern.

Always liked Kirkland, glad to see he's passing on his experience - as a player and a person - to future keepers. He was so good as a 20 year old, but a reminder too that nothing is ever certain.

So shit about Istanbul. I wouldn't have remembered he played as many as four games in the CL that season. Most importantly, I do hope Salif Diao had a seat on the Istanbul flight

Offline planet-terror

  • RAWK Supporter
  • Legacy Fan
  • ******
  • Posts: 13,249
Re: Chris Kirkland
« Reply #2 on: October 12, 2017, 10:54:06 am »
read that yesterday,,a touching story,,
good luck to him
bollocks

Offline El Lobo

  • Chief Suck Up. Feel his breath on your face. Toxic, pathetic, arse-faced, weaselling slimeball. RAWK Maths Genius 2022.
  • RAWK Supporter
  • Legacy Fan
  • ******
  • Posts: 54,990
  • Pretty, pretty, pretty pretty good
Re: Chris Kirkland
« Reply #3 on: October 12, 2017, 12:36:45 pm »
Kinda think we should make sure he gets a winners medal, kept a couple of clean sheets in that group phase.
If he's being asked to head the ball too frequently - which isn't exactly his specialty - it could affect his ear and cause an infection. Especially if the ball hits him on the ear directly.

Offline classycarra

  • The Left Disonourable Chuntering Member For Scousepool.
  • RAWK Supporter
  • Legacy Fan
  • ******
  • Posts: 30,364
Re: Chris Kirkland
« Reply #4 on: October 12, 2017, 01:02:31 pm »
Kinda think we should make sure he gets a winners medal, kept a couple of clean sheets in that group phase.

I took it to mean at the time he missed that, not that he permanently missed the medal. Might be wrong though

Offline Dench57

  • Self-confessed tit. Can't sit still. She's got the hippy hippy crack.
  • RAWK Supporter
  • Legacy Fan
  • ******
  • Posts: 6,808
Re: Chris Kirkland
« Reply #5 on: October 12, 2017, 01:13:48 pm »
Good read that. Some shameful shit from the Club after the final, YNWA indeed...
Loving Everton's business this summer. Here's an early call - they finish above Liverpool this season.
- Richard Keys (@richardajkeys) July 9, 2017

Offline Keith Lard

  • RAWK Supporter
  • Legacy Fan
  • ******
  • Posts: 6,281
Re: Chris Kirkland
« Reply #6 on: October 13, 2017, 10:20:05 am »
Always liked Chris Kirkland - top lad and an excellent keeper on his day. Happy to see he is in a better place
Pour yourself a drink and enjoy watching a genius in red - John Barnes || https://youtu.be/XEJfzUSH4e4

Offline fowlermagic

  • Ilittarate
  • Legacy Fan
  • ******
  • Posts: 13,477
Re: Chris Kirkland
« Reply #7 on: October 13, 2017, 04:49:40 pm »
Sad to hear the lad has suffered and how scary it must be to contemplate ending it all. Glad he was able to identify it himself but that's not right either and hopefully clubs have someway of putting two n two together with the amount of $$$ in the game to help those who need it. Of course its a disease you just cant spot in a medical and with Kirkland coming out with his story it should help others say something. The amount of shyte we throw as the likes of Mignolet you know it has to affect some players.
I have a simple philosophy: Fill what's empty. Empty what's full. Scratch where it itches. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Zi5-V75v-6I

Offline dirkster

  • Legacy Fan
  • ******
  • Posts: 1,362
  • Dirk Kuyt. Working Class hero
Re: Chris Kirkland
« Reply #8 on: December 30, 2017, 12:51:56 pm »
Interview with him right now on football focus.  Can't help but feel desperately sorry for him. Poor lad

Offline Andy Hunter

  • Rip Van Walford. Committed Iron Pumper! Full of hot air. Due to weighty issues, currently seeking a new hobby.....
  • Legacy Fan
  • ******
  • Posts: 2,015
Re: Chris Kirkland
« Reply #9 on: December 30, 2017, 11:13:48 pm »
Indeed. Heard his story on a Midlands bulletin a few months back.

It just shows how vulnerable people in the spotlight can be. No amount of money can compensate for that.
Did Shevchenko score his rebound?
Why was there an ambulance behind the goal for Tommason's Penalty?
HOW DID GUDJOHNSEN MISS??

Offline rafathegaffa83

  • Legacy Fan
  • ******
  • Posts: 41,917
  • Dutch Class
Re: Chris Kirkland
« Reply #10 on: February 16, 2018, 05:34:37 pm »
Kinda think we should make sure he gets a winners medal, kept a couple of clean sheets in that group phase.

Only just read this. Hope he did or does get his medal

Offline ollyfrom.tv

  • RAWK Supporter
  • Legacy Fan
  • ******
  • Posts: 5,802
  • We all Live in a Red and White Kop
Re: Chris Kirkland
« Reply #11 on: July 4, 2018, 03:34:16 pm »
Just saw Chris being interviewed on Sky. He was wearing Liverpool training kit. Has he joined the back room staff, or is he just training with us?

Offline PhaseOfPlay

  • Well red.Tom Jones Lover. AKA Debbie McGee. Apparently.
  • Legacy Fan
  • ******
  • Posts: 28,289
  • Under 7s Coaching Manual Owner.
Re: Chris Kirkland
« Reply #12 on: July 4, 2018, 05:08:33 pm »
Just saw Chris being interviewed on Sky. He was wearing Liverpool training kit. Has he joined the back room staff, or is he just training with us?

He hasn't taken it off since his last game. I bet he goes to sleep in it. Crazy goalkeeper
Better looking than Samie.

Offline mc_red22

  • Legacy Fan
  • ******
  • Posts: 7,655
  • We all Live in a Red and White Kop
Re: Chris Kirkland
« Reply #13 on: July 4, 2018, 08:14:34 pm »
Just saw Chris being interviewed on Sky. He was wearing Liverpool training kit. Has he joined the back room staff, or is he just training with us?

One things for sure, he's taking some strong stuff these days. £30m for Pickford is apparently a bargain.

Offline rob1966

  • YORKIE bar-munching, hedgehog-squashing (well-)articulated road-hog-litter-bug. Sleeping With The Enemy. Has felt the wind and shed his anger..... did you know I drive a Jag? Cucking funt!
  • RAWK Supporter
  • Legacy Fan
  • ******
  • Posts: 46,116
Re: Chris Kirkland
« Reply #14 on: July 9, 2018, 06:23:53 pm »
Just saw Chris being interviewed on Sky. He was wearing Liverpool training kit. Has he joined the back room staff, or is he just training with us?

Don't know about that, but he is working with some company doing keeper training for kids. Mates lad went to the taster they held at the local powerzone, Kirkland was there with a few other keeper coaches, my mates lad was in his group and got his autograph and stuff. Apparently, he turns up to coach about every 6 weeks.
Jurgen, you made us laugh, you made us cry, you made Liverpool a bastion of invincibilty, now leave us on a high - YNWA

Offline Alan B'Stard

  • Wistfully recalling maternal tongue.
  • Legacy Fan
  • ******
  • Posts: 2,705
  • Never rub another mans rhubarb!
Re: Chris Kirkland
« Reply #15 on: July 9, 2018, 07:11:42 pm »
I remember bumping into Kirkland back in my home town at the local night club when he played for Coventry. It was the weekend after we thumped Cov 4-1 and he received MOTM for preventing the score being double figures.

Houllier singled him out for praise and I asked him what he thought about the match and the comments by Gerard. He said that he was a huge reds fan and that he used to go to the games with his dad and having praise from a Liverpool manager was a dream come true. I must say, I thought he was a decent fella even though I was pissed and probably came across as an annoying football fan (I was respectful though) he wished me all the best.

It was a shame he didn’t have a good career with us as i’d Imagine that was his dream move come true.
“If you don't stand for something you will fall for anything”

🏆 🏆 🏆 🏆 🏆 🏆
77 78  81 84 05 19

Offline Broad Spectrum

  • Antibiotic
  • Legacy Fan
  • ******
  • Posts: 4,633
Re: Chris Kirkland
« Reply #16 on: July 21, 2018, 10:18:13 pm »
Back as the goalkeeper coach for the ladies team.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/amp/football/44911344?__twitter_impression=true

Offline Advil

  • The Pain in Houllier's Arse.
  • Legacy Fan
  • ******
  • Posts: 1,152
  • Kopite Family
Re: Chris Kirkland
« Reply #17 on: July 22, 2018, 03:05:04 pm »
Back as the goalkeeper coach for the ladies team.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/amp/football/44911344?__twitter_impression=true

All the best Chris. Always liked him. Really thought that he will be our first choice keeper for a decade.
None but a noble man treats women in an honorable manner, and none but an ignorant man treats women disgracefully.
-Prophet Muhammad (PBUH)

Offline mc_red22

  • Legacy Fan
  • ******
  • Posts: 7,655
  • We all Live in a Red and White Kop
Re: Chris Kirkland
« Reply #18 on: July 22, 2018, 04:35:19 pm »

Offline Keith Lard

  • RAWK Supporter
  • Legacy Fan
  • ******
  • Posts: 6,281
Re: Chris Kirkland
« Reply #19 on: July 25, 2018, 12:48:06 am »
Back as the goalkeeper coach for the ladies team.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/amp/football/44911344?__twitter_impression=true

Good luck to him. Always seems a very nice fella
Pour yourself a drink and enjoy watching a genius in red - John Barnes || https://youtu.be/XEJfzUSH4e4

Offline Dim Glas

  • Die Nullfünfer.
  • RAWK Supporter
  • Legacy Fan
  • ******
  • Posts: 39,183
  • Michael Sheen is the actual Prince of 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁷󠁬󠁳󠁿
Re: Chris Kirkland
« Reply #20 on: July 23, 2019, 11:04:18 pm »
A tweet from Chris Kirkland today:

I don’t want sympathy with this tweet,the reason I’m sharing this is for people to know ,it’s OK to ask for HELP ,I’m 1 week into my rehabilitation @Parkland_Place what a wonderful place ,the staff do a fantastic job in every way possible,I’m feeling great but long way to go.

https://twitter.com/ChrisKirkland43/status/1153655502196355074?s=20

Good that he's getting help, and very brave of him to speak out.

Offline sms1986

  • RAWK Supporter
  • Legacy Fan
  • ******
  • Posts: 24,644
Re: Chris Kirkland
« Reply #21 on: July 23, 2019, 11:23:31 pm »
Good luck to him!

Online [new username under construction]

  • Poster formerly know as shadowbane. Never lost his head whilst others panicked. Fucking kopite!
  • Legacy Fan
  • ******
  • Posts: 12,247
  • Insert something awesome here!
Re: Chris Kirkland
« Reply #22 on: July 25, 2019, 10:33:24 am »
for what?

Offline sms1986

  • RAWK Supporter
  • Legacy Fan
  • ******
  • Posts: 24,644
Re: Chris Kirkland
« Reply #23 on: July 25, 2019, 10:40:38 am »

Online [new username under construction]

  • Poster formerly know as shadowbane. Never lost his head whilst others panicked. Fucking kopite!
  • Legacy Fan
  • ******
  • Posts: 12,247
  • Insert something awesome here!
Re: Chris Kirkland
« Reply #24 on: July 25, 2019, 09:01:45 pm »
With his rehabilitation.

lol no i mean what's he in for?

Of course good luck :D

Offline sms1986

  • RAWK Supporter
  • Legacy Fan
  • ******
  • Posts: 24,644
Re: Chris Kirkland
« Reply #25 on: July 25, 2019, 09:18:15 pm »
lol no i mean what's he in for?

Of course good luck :D
Whoops!  ;D

He seems to be there for his depression and anxiety.

Online [new username under construction]

  • Poster formerly know as shadowbane. Never lost his head whilst others panicked. Fucking kopite!
  • Legacy Fan
  • ******
  • Posts: 12,247
  • Insert something awesome here!
Re: Chris Kirkland
« Reply #26 on: July 25, 2019, 10:45:32 pm »
Whoops!  ;D

He seems to be there for his depression and anxiety.

Ugh poor lad, hopefully can work through it

* That one's on me for not reading first post lol
« Last Edit: July 26, 2019, 09:26:12 am by [new username under construction] »

Offline zabadoh

  • RAWK Supporter
  • Legacy Fan
  • ******
  • Posts: 3,504
  • Walk on with hope in your heart
Re: Chris Kirkland
« Reply #27 on: July 31, 2019, 04:28:19 pm »
He's been dealing with crippling anxiety depression for years.

https://www.bbc.com/sport/football/41599714
“It's impossible,” said Pride.  “It's risky,” said Experience.  “It's pointless,” said Reason.

“Give it a try,” whispered the Heart. - Ken-Obi

Offline Kenny's Jacket

  • Kenny's Vegan Jacket Potato. Talks more sense than me.
  • RAWK Supporter
  • Legacy Fan
  • ******
  • Posts: 12,380
  • We all Live in a Red and White Kop
Re: Chris Kirkland
« Reply #28 on: July 11, 2021, 10:11:50 am »
https://www.liverpoolecho.co.uk/sport/football/football-news/liverpool-everton-30m-transfer-21022950


is this an indication that people now actually rate Pickford?

very strange article, especially considering who our current goalie is,
As I've said before, the Full English is just the base upon which the Scots/Welsh/NI have improved upon. Sorry but the Full English is the worst of the British breakfasts.

Offline Tobez

  • Kopite
  • *****
  • Posts: 966
  • We all Live r pool
Re: Chris Kirkland
« Reply #29 on: July 21, 2022, 09:21:42 am »
https://www.theguardian.com/football/2022/jul/21/chris-kirkland-painkillers-addiction-goalkeeper-liverpool

An update on how he is doing after rehab and relapse: Good to see he has a lot of support around him.

Offline filopastry

  • seldom posts but often delivers
  • RAWK Supporter
  • Legacy Fan
  • ******
  • Posts: 14,747
  • Let me tell you a story.........
Re: Chris Kirkland
« Reply #30 on: July 4, 2023, 09:37:29 pm »
https://twitter.com/ChrisKirkland43/status/1676321002442182656

Sad to hear that he is still struggling with mental health issues, just glad to hear that he is talking about it and getting the help and support he needs.


Offline JerseyKloppite

  • HE'S THE DADDY!!! Staff Room Gimp. Very excited, but cheapened, mail order scam victim with bling headphones. Lovespuds. Jaqen H'ghar, the Mod without a Face.
  • RAWK Staff
  • Legacy Fan
  • ******
  • Posts: 17,423
  • Exiled to Formby
Re: Chris Kirkland
« Reply #31 on: July 4, 2023, 09:44:14 pm »
Poor bloke. Brave of him to put that out there and hope he starts to feel better soon.

Online jillcwhomever

  • Finding Brian hard to swallow. Definitely not Paula Nancy MIllstone Jennings of 37 Wasp Villas, Greenbridge, Essex, GB10 1LL. Or maybe. Who knows.....Finds it hard to choose between Jürgen's wurst and Fat Sam's sausage.
  • Lead Matchday Commentator
  • Legacy Fan
  • ******
  • Posts: 76,473
  • "I'm surprised they didn't charge me rent"
Re: Chris Kirkland
« Reply #32 on: July 4, 2023, 10:08:56 pm »
Brave indeed, as others have said it's great to see he has support to help him through it. The best of luck Chris, I hope you manages to put this behind you, eventually.
"He's trying to get right away from football. I believe he went to Everton"

Offline Son of Spion

  • "No, I said I was WORKING from home! Me ma's reading this, ya bastids!" Supporter of The Unbrarables. Worratit.
  • RAWK Betazoid
  • Legacy Fan
  • ******
  • Posts: 24,844
  • BAGs. 28 Years..What Would The Bullens Wall Say?
Re: Chris Kirkland
« Reply #33 on: July 8, 2023, 06:26:14 pm »
Brave indeed, as others have said it's great to see he has support to help him through it. The best of luck Chris, I hope you manages to put this behind you, eventually.
He's also helping others with their own mental health issues. My brother was talking with him just this week via the Liverpool Foundation.

All the best to Chris on his personal battle and respect to him for using his own experience to help others too.
The light that burns twice as bright, burns half as long, and you've burned so very, very brightly, Jürgen.