Paul Merson

Really respect Merse for coming out and being honest about his addiction and mental health.

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Got his book Rock Bottom years ago when it came out. To bad he couldn’t capitalise on that and sadly he fell of the wagon again. I hope he manages to stay sober and help others.

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The football show is really good tbh. One of the best shows sky have ever done even counting normal times.

Great way to pass a few hours with some much needed football chat even passing on serious stuff like for example mental health.

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Is Merson still sober these days ?

He said on the video posted above he’s been sober since January 2019

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What a talent Merson was . That boy had everything to be a world class flair player .
I can’t remember who it was against but Merson scored the perfect hat-trick
Left foot , right foot and a headed goal .
Merson’s problems aren’t well documented but those who aren’t old enough to remember him , fuck me what a player He could have been .

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April 11th 1992 v Palace

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Smith and Merson were my two favourite players.
Merson was one of the top midfielders in the league and, if it weren’t for his off the field problems, would have had a longer career with us and a lot more England caps.
Wenger made a point when he sold him but kept hold of Parlour and Adams.
They were both drinkers, as were a lot of professional footballers back then, but Merson had a drug problem as well, which was too much for Wenger.

He was a natural footballer who had skill and touch and scored and made plenty of goals while being a hard working player.

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From what I’ve read we offered Merson a new contract but Middlesborough offered a longer contract

But we got 4.5 million when that was a big fee for a 29 year old back then. In the same window (and January after) we got Vieira for less and Overmars for 7 million. Great business all round

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We signed Overmars in the summer of 1997 and Vieira in summer of 1996.

Merson was sold a few day’s after Overmars was signed

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I think Merson had a few debts and Middlesborough offered him a big signing on fee and massive wages so that was one of the main reasons he went there.
He was far to good for a club like that and was still good enough to play at a higher level.

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I seem to remember Ray Parlour left for Boro for more money as he’d got divorced and could do with more money with so much now going to his ex :sweat_smile:

Have I remembered that correctly? If so Boro are a godsend for Arsenal midfielders with financial worries lol

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The Parlour divorce settlement always bothers me lol. Whenever I read it, it seems insane how much she managed to take from the marriage.

Like when Shane Mosley got divorced and his ex wife got everything to the point he ended up living in the basement of his old mansion. She even got his title belts lol

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I really don’t understand how it works when one half in a divorce gets like the majority of the other person’s shit, how does that happen.

Surely there must have been some extenuating circumstances in Mosley’s for the ruling to have been that strong?!

Without prenup she probably got half. But child support and other stuff like that are probably not part of that settlement. Hence she could get more than half. TMZ and other websites like that probably made a lot more of it than it is.

It’s worse than that, with alimony in the US you can be paying an ex a large part of your salary aswell as them potentially taking the majority of the estate.

Parlour’s wife has more PL winners medals than Gerrard

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Brilliant :joy::joy:

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I remember Merson feeling hurt when Wenger gave #10 to Bergkamp. Which in a way was a bit cuntish. Dennis could have used another number for a season and got the 10 in the next. Merson was on the decline.

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Can’t have been Wenger who did that. Bergy always wore #10.

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