Former Arsenal striker John Hartson has talked about the road to recovery from his gambling addiction, and how his wife finally convinced him to take steps to end it.

Hartson played for a number of high-profile British teams through his career, including the Gunners, which left him with a lot of money to spend how he wanted. This led to an addiction to gambling, and the Welsh international had accounts with seven or eight different companies, placing bets constantly.

The former striker penned an article for the Daily Mail where he described how he finally came to his senses: “It was because of Sarah (Hartson’s wife) that I stopped in the end. She’d had enough of my walking in from trips, ignoring her and the girls, going straight to the TV and turning on a cricket match, golf tournament or horse race I had £5,000 on.

“She made a decision to pack her bags and leave me. ‘I won’t put my girls through this,’ she said. I remember those words like it was yesterday. So the penny dropped then. I ended up at Gamblers Anonymous and it’s saved me. I’ve found other ways to protect myself, too.

“I do football TV analysis work week-in, week-out, and every single penny goes into my wife’s bank account.”

Hartson revealed that now he regularly gets asked to help other players with similar problems: “I’ve had calls from six Premier League managers in the past six months, asking me to help a player with gambling problems. But I can just talk about the difference between back then and now.”

Gambling has become more and more prominent in football, with the TV adverts featuring before, during and after every game. There’s also the sponsors on players’ shirts and so on. There are many footballers who have struggled to overcome their addition to gambling, such as Matthew Etherington, while Joey Barton claimed he also had a problem with betting.

But when it comes at the expense of the rest of your life and brings you more unhappiness than excitement, the best thing to do is follow Hartson’s footsteps and seek some help to stop. Unfortunately, your average punter can’t fall back on TV work to keep themselves occupied.

For more information, go to: www.gamblersanonymous.org.uk/