Drink has ruined my career... but I still let my hair down twice a month – and play poker

REPUTATIONS are important in football. Unfortunately for Roy Carroll, he doesn't have much of one.

This is a man who had four years at Manchester United, played for Northern Ireland and recently won awards at Denmark's Odense.

Considering his position as a keeper, he should be in his prime at 33. Instead, he will head to a gym near his Essex home today in a bid to keep fit on his own as he cannot find a club.

Carroll has a reputation, all right, but one as a heavy drinker and a bit of a gambler.

He accepts most fans remember him for conceding The Goal That Never Was, a lob from Tottenham's Pedro Mendes which he fumbled a few yards over the line yet, incredibly, the strike was never given.

Managers forgive that sort of stuff. They are, however, more concerned about the rumour mill and whether a player will apply himself in a professional manner.

Yet Carroll has every right to feel aggrieved.

It seems a decision to confront his demons and check into rehab in 2006 while at West Ham for alcohol issues continues to haunt him.

Carroll feared this sudden downward spiral could have killed him so he sorted it.

He fiercely maintains these problems were addressed and have not been a major issue since.

As for the gambling, during that spell at Upton Park he did indeed play poker for money - and owed a fair amount to team-mates at one stage - but Carroll stresses booze was the main problem which needed treating.

After 18 months in Scandinavia - where he won keeper-of-the-year accolades without any stories at all of boozing and gambling while being praised for his good behaviour and attitude - Carroll now realises getting a club in this country is not as simple as he expected.

He left Derby for Odense in August 2009 where, ironically, he would be brought in above Anders Lindegaard, now the new No 2 at Old Trafford.

Carroll said: "I signed a three-year contract and planned to move my wife and two children there.

"But my son, Jordan, is dyslexic and in the end, I felt the move - with him having to learn Danish at school - would be too much for the boy.

"I really loved it in Denmark but I was only coming home twice a month and I missed my family and, to be honest, I missed English football.

"Odense understood, were brilliant and cancelled my contract during their winter break. I thought I would find another club reasonably easily.

"But that has not been the case. It has pretty much ruined my career, the drink thing. Managers keep bringing it up - drink - and it is so frustrating.

"I was never an alcoholic. It was a problem, I admit, because it was getting worse and worse.