Roy Carroll has become the latest victim of West Ham’s turbulent season after it emerged that he has checked into a rehabilitation centre, admitting drink and gambling problems that left him owing a teammate £30,000.
Sportsmail can reveal that the Northern Ireland keeper admitted himself into the Capio Nightingale Hospital in Marylebone on Monday following crisis talks with Hammers manager Alan Pardew at the weekend.
It is understood that the former Manchester United star, who has been restricted to 10 first-team appearances this season, has been bitten by the betting bug — staking up to £5,000 on any given event — and has succumbed to binge drinking after weekend games.
The Capio Nightingale claims to offer ‘addiction services’ and treatment for ‘alcohol abuse’.
The £30,000-a-week keeper joins a number of high-profile Premiership players who have sought help for various addictions — Tony Adams, Paul Gascoigne and Paul Merson are among that list — in the past decade.
Carroll’s problems surfaced on the day when Icelandic biscuit tycoon Eggert Magnusson finally completed his £105million takeover of the club, but the Hammers have pledged to stand by their stricken star.
Pardew said yesterday: "We are aware that Roy has problems and we are fully supporting him in any way we can. He has gone about tackling the issues in the right way and is seeking expert help to sort him out. I understand he will leave the clinic today and will be back in training with us on Thursday."
Carroll, who has now settled his debts, has agreed to attend regular counselling but has insisted to close friends he is not an alcoholic.
He spent Monday and Tuesday with doctors at the Capio Nightingale Hospital and will take today off before returning to training tomorrow.
Worried team-mates became concerned by CarrollÂ’s increasingly erratic behaviour after he spent the second half of last season on the sidelines with a back injury. He became gripped by gambling on the long journeys to the clubÂ’s away games and would go on 48-hour drinking binges after a weekend game.
Although the players are allowed to play cards on the team bus travelling to matches, it is understood that Carrolls problems spiralled when he failed to recover from a back injury to play in the FA Cup Final against Liverpool.
Insiders claim that CarrollÂ’s injuries, coupled with boredom, are the root of his problems. Carroll, who signed for the Hammers on a free transfer from Old Trafford when they were returned to the Premiership, suffered a back injury against Fulham in January and did not make another first-team appearance until this season.
He has since suffered a recurrence of the same injury and is now second choice at the club behind Robert Green.
Pardew signed Crystal Palace keeper Gabor Kiraly on emergency loan last week and although Carroll does have a legitimate injury, he was advised to seek expert help for his problems by senior members at the club last week.
Carroll, 29, spent the weekend considering his options and, after talks with Pardew, volunteered to seek counselling at the Capio Nightingale Hospital.
It is understood that only staff and close friends at West Ham knew the scale of CarrollÂ’s problems.
The Hammers keeper continued to report for treatment at the club’s Chadwell Heath training ground last week, but his team-mates told him that there would be ‘no shame’ if he sought help from experts.
Carroll was not at training on Monday and his team-mates were told that their keeper was seeking counselling at a private clinic.
The Hammers have told Carroll to take ‘all the time he needs’ to recover, but sources at Upton Park do not expect a speedy return to first-team action.
Carroll is not the first West Ham player to have problems off the pitch this season.
Midfielder Shaun Newton was banned by the FA for eight months after he was found guilty of taking cocaine, but Pardew vowed to stand by him.
Meanwhile, West HamÂ’s new owner Magnusson has firmly denied that he has a soft spot for Tottenham. The 59-year-old president of the Iceland FA, who draped himself in a Hammers scarf as he posed with Pardew, now has undertakings from shareholders which will secure an 83 per cent stake in the club for his consortium WH Holding.
Magnusson said: "Today, who are Spurs? I’ve never heard of them. West Ham is my team now. I have followed their fortunes since the Bobby Moore era — winning the FA Cup in 1964 and then the European Cup-winners’ Cup in 1965. We want to make West Ham a successful club at home and in Europe."
Magnusson, backed by billionaire Bjorgolfur Gudmundsson, vowed to supply transfer cash in the January window which will tempt Hammers boss Pardew to rekindle his interest in Chelsea winger Shaun Wright-Phillips.
Midfielder Hayden Mullins, 27, last night gave the new regime a boost by signing a new four-year contract.
As Magnusson arrived in east London, FIFA boss Sepp Blatter was in Spain, voicing his fears about the proliferation of foreign investors in the Premier League.