Former Arsenal winger Jermaine Pennant has revealed his life was completely changed after being sent to prison, but sees the positives as he didn’t let it destroy him.

Pennant spent 30 days in prison back in 2005 for drink driving offences while he was on loan at Birmingham. If his Arsenal career was flagging by that point, that was surely the killing blow.

Now at Billericay Town, Pennant has reflected on the incident, and believes he deserves credit for recovering his career.

Asked if he still remembered his prison number in an interview with The Guardian, he said: “MX7232. I don’t think I’ll ever forget it. Prison did change me. But not many people experience that and then play in a Champions League final. I’ve got to take some credit for not letting it destroy me.”

Pennant joined Arsenal at the age of 15 and was, at the time, the most expensive teenager in English football. He made his league debut against Southampton, scoring a hat-trick in a 6-1 victory.

However, he never got the opportunities he felt he deserved in the Arsenal first team, and the frustration built up. “After the hat-trick I was on the bench the next game. I thought I would just kick on at Arsenal. But it never happened and I got more and more frustrated and lost interest. I thought: ‘This is going nowhere.’”

Such frustration reportedly played its part with Pennant smashing his Mercedes into a lamp-post, still over the limit and banned from driving. “Yeah, I went off the rails,” he admitted. “My family wasn’t around and, being so young, you make wrong decisions. The next thing I was in prison.”

Despite that, he managed to join Liverpool and play in a Champions League final, which doubtlessly a dramatic change in fortunes. Pennant’s career drifted after that, and a few years bouncing between lower league clubs saw him end up at non-league Billericay.