Andy Grey says he thought of ending his personal life after he was fired in 2011 amid sexism scandal

Andy Grey admitted he was in a “darkish place” in a TalkTV interview with Piers Morgan on Monday, opening up about his personal suicidal ideas within the wake of his acrimonious sacking from Sky Sports activities in 2011.

Grey was axed by the broadcaster after disparaging feedback a couple of feminine linesman and revealed that whereas he was conscious of the errors he had made, he “could not calculate it”.

The previous footballer – who performed for Aston Villa and Everton – went on to confess that with out his household “I do not know what would have occurred” as he mentioned his psychological well being struggles in a wide-ranging interview.

“I used to be out of the blue in a very darkish place,” the 66-year-old advised Morgan. “I knew I had performed one thing incorrect, in fact I did, however I could not determine it out. My head was gone. If it hadn’t been for my spouse, I do not know what would have occurred.

I used to be near taking place within the backyard, I had a pond, with a bottle and a few capsules in the future. I used to be so unhealthy.

“Individuals who know me will assume I am joking… terrible [time]. I could not resolve it. For 2 weeks I couldn’t depart the home, solely surrounded by press and media. Actually bizarre – however I’ve made it now.

‘You study who your folks are when that occurs. However we’re via it now, and I am via it now!’

Morgan’s interview occurred in Doha, Qatar, in opposition to the backdrop of the continued World Cup, the place each Grey and pal Richard Keys – who resigned from Sky alongside together with his colleague – have moved.

However Grey wasn’t the one one to disclose a battle together with his psychological well being within the aftermath of the scandal, greater than a decade later.

Requested by Morgan if he was conscious of Grey’s emotions, Keys admitted: ‘Yeah, I used to be there too! Piers you don’t have any concept – he is proper, you’ll be able to’t clarify, you look again now with a transparent head and also you go ‘what you assume’!’

In January 2011, Keys, 65, and Grey, 66, resigned after each made controversial feedback about feminine referee Sian Massey-Ellis and the suitability of ladies to referee matches – for which they later apologised.

A Mail on Sunday investigation uncovered an audio tape of Keys and Grey speaking about Massey-Ellis and different feminine assistant referees on air throughout Liverpool’s 3-0 win in opposition to Wolves in January 2011.

Keys was recorded saying: ‘Somebody ought to go down and declare her (Massey) offside,’ whereas Grey replied: ‘Yeah, I do know. Are you able to consider it? Feminine lineman. Overlook what I stated – they most likely do not know the offside rule.

Keys then stated, “In fact they do not,” and Grey responded, “Why is there a feminine lineman? Someone’s huge as hell.’

Keys later known as Massey-Ellis over the weekend and apologized for his feedback.

In June 2013, the pair signed with Al Jazeera to current soccer protection from Doha, the place in addition they proceed to current their talkSport present.

However Grey requested Morgan himself if he thought the couple deserved to lose their jobs, the response he obtained was: “It is fascinating, all of it once more, it feels to me like an overreaction by everybody, since you made a fulsome apology.

“I do know Karen Brady who is among the managers at West Ham and when one among her gamers was caught kicking a cat round she stated ‘everybody deserves a second likelihood and forgiveness’.

“And but I bear in mind her response if you two acquired fired and it was a special response, and I felt like there was an actual feeding frenzy to get you into, which in hindsight now seems prefer it was over.

“Anybody who had their personal conversations leaked to the general public – I am undecided they might survive that!”

The previous Scotland striker additionally opened as much as those that have been there for him when he fell into what he calls his “darkish place”, and though he was reluctant to call names, Grey mentions the help of colleague Andy Townsend.

“I used to be sitting within the kitchen in the future, my head was in all places, and the subsequent minute the gates open and this bike rider comes down the driveway, he is acquired an additional helmet underneath his arm and he comes screaming in, and it is Andy!

“He stated ‘come on, I will get you out of right here!’ I stated ‘no I am unable to’ and he stated ‘yeah come on, put this helmet on and we’ll get to the gate and do a runner. I stated “no, I am unable to”, however that is the form of pal it was there.

“However there have been totally different those who I took care of in several methods, that I by no means heard from, and possibly by no means heard from for 20 years.”

The dialog then turned to what Morgan described as a “reevaluation” that every one “guys” have needed to undergo, to comprehend what’s applicable – a subject Keys was fast so as to add.

He stated: ‘If we’re going to discover a stability, then we have now to overbalance in a single course to get again to the center, as a result of for too lengthy males have had all the things their method.

“We’re looking for a center floor. In my view, we will need to go right here and we will have to just accept loads of the issues that annoy you (Morgan) specifically and pull them into the center.

Morgan then famous that his announcement on Twitter that he would interview the pair would probably be met with questions in regards to the objective of a dialog with “these sexist dinosaurs,” prompting a joke from Keys.

“Properly, these dinosaurs dominated the world for about 300 million years!”.

For confidential help name the Samaritans on 116123 or go to samaritans.org.