Warren Aspinall was, in his words, a loser - in life and at the bookies. Late one night last Christmas he sat on the railway tracks near his Hampshire home and waited for a train to take all his troubles away.

“I just longed for the train to hit me. I wanted it all to end. I heard it coming, but the train driver sounded his horn,” he said. “I suddenly pictured my two lovely kids, stepchildren, mum and dad and my fiancée Karen and thought, 'What am I doing?' I just got out of the way as the train whizzed past me.”

Aspinall, 40, did not enjoy great fame or fortune, but the former England Youth midfield player did collect some impressive signing-on payments and, on two occasions, commanded record transfer fees as his career took him to Everton, Aston Villa and Portsmouth. “I've worked it out that I've done at least £1 million gambling over my career,” Aspinall said. “It makes me sick to think about it. I don't have a house or savings, but I'm working hard to earn a decent wage. But most important of all I have my life back and I have the love of my family and Karen. I haven't had a drink or a bet for ten or twelve weeks now. I feel very powerful.”

His salvation was a call to the Professional Footballers' Association, which contacted Peter Kay, the chief executive of the Sporting Chance clinic established by Tony Adams, the former England captain who overcame alcoholism himself. “I was admitted to their clinic on January 20 this year and I completed the 26-day programme,” Aspinall said. “It saved my life. I can't thank Peter, James West [the clinical director] and the others enough. Without them I'd be in a wooden box now.”

Aspinall's story is typical of modern footballers: too much money at too young an age and too much time to waste it. “There's either golf, gambling or drinking,” he said, “and it's the same today. Premier League players think they can afford to lose £30,000 on a bet, but they can't. One day it will take over their lives to an extent where they blow all their £100,000-a-week wages on gambling. You will never beat the bookies.”

Aspinall's taste for alcohol and gambling was established as a 19-year-old with Wigan Athletic. “There were a lot of Scouse lads who liked a bet,” he said. “I started with ten pence yankees, but it soon grew from there.”

Aspinall's big regret is that he ignored his father's advice. “Dad worked down the pit. He knew what real work and real life was about. He kept asking me to let him save money for me, but I ignored it. I was twice a record signing, usually the highest-paid player wherever I was, yet I've got nothing to show for it.”

The card schools on team buses were particularly dangerous. “At Portsmouth I was in a card school with some very well-known players,” Aspinall said. “It got so bad that we were playing for cars. If we couldn't afford to cover the bet, or we couldn't raise any more IOUs, we'd play for the car keys.

“It was crazy. How are you supposed to play a professional football match alongside a team-mate who has just taken your car? I can remember being on the field trying to play football, but in reality all I wanted to do was to get back on that team bus and try to win my car back.”

Aspinall is clean now and is determined to stay that way. “I know that one bet or one drink and I'm a goner,” he said. “I couldn't do that to the people who have cared for me. I think there needs to be more education for young players. They need to know the dangers. There are young lads out there now having a drink and having a bet. My advice to them is, stop now. Tell your manager or someone at the club and get some help.

“In my day, being seen in a pub was OK, but when I went into a bookies it was very visible. Today, with internet gambling, you can hide away. But you won't be able to hide when the debts are piling up. I was a horrible man. I lied about what I was doing and thought I could get away with it. The truth is, you can't.”

§Brian Alexander presents Sport Specials on BBC Radio 5 Live. Hear Warren's World tonight on 5 Live Sport from 7.00.

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