The sad story of Keith Treacy

[Paul Mellelieu]

https://www.skysports.com/football/news/11095/12359088/keith-treacy-on-the-alcohol-addiction-that-ended-his-career-at-26-and-wanting-to-help-others-avoid-his-mistakes

 

Terrible story.

[davulsukur]

1 hour ago, Paul Mellelieu said:

https://www.skysports.com/football/news/11095/12359088/keith-treacy-on-the-alcohol-addiction-that-ended-his-career-at-26-and-wanting-to-help-others-avoid-his-mistakes

 

Terrible story.

Wow, that is a terrible story.

I didn't even know his career was over at 26!

[lraC]

How very sad.

I saw alcoholism, at very close quarters, as my Ex- wife and mother to my two children, went from a caring mother, professional in the legal professional and dearly loved wife, to dead at 52. She passed just over a year ago and I don't think my children will ever get over what they saw.

It is a horrible illness.

[windymiller7]

9 minutes ago, lraC said:

How very sad.

I saw alcoholism, at very close quarters, as my Ex- wife and mother to my two children, went from a caring mother, professional in the legal professional and dearly loved wife, to dead at 52. She passed just over a year ago and I don't think my children will ever get over what they saw.

It is a horrible illness.

So sad to hear that mate. Hope your kids pull through.

I've also seen it at close quarters with my mother-in-law's ex partner. She put up with it for 17 years before she finally kicked him into touch, it was destroying her. She's had a new lease of life since.

[oldjamfan1]

22 minutes ago, lraC said:

How very sad.

I saw alcoholism, at very close quarters, as my Ex- wife and mother to my two children, went from a caring mother, professional in the legal professional and dearly loved wife, to dead at 52. She passed just over a year ago and I don't think my children will ever get over what they saw.

It is a horrible illness.

Sorry to hear this mate. My older brother was an alcoholic from being a teenager to his death at just 41. The effect on the rest of the family, not least my parents, was devastating. As you say, its a dreadful illness and may I also say a thin line that many of us tread.

[Mattyblue]

Really interesting piece. Hope he’s finding a bit of peace and contentment back home.

 

On a side note, he’s not wrong, is he :

"The higher up you go the more that gets coached into you. Don't lose the ball, don't run with the ball. Pass and move, pass and move. I was a winger who liked to run with it so that sort of stuff gets knocked out of you. You start to lose what got you there in the first place.

"Did I ever enjoy it? Not really. I never came off the pitch thinking I had really enjoyed it. It is all tactical. Even now, when you watch a game of football, it is all tactics. We keep it for 10 minutes, you keep it for 10 minutes. Very few teams go for the jugular.”

Edited July 22, 2021 by Mattyblue

[Oldgregg86]

3 hours ago, Mattyblue said:

Really interesting piece. Hope he’s finding a bit of peace and contentment back home.

 

On a side note, he’s not wrong, is he :

"The higher up you go the more that gets coached into you. Don't lose the ball, don't run with the ball. Pass and move, pass and move. I was a winger who liked to run with it so that sort of stuff gets knocked out of you. You start to lose what got you there in the first place.

"Did I ever enjoy it? Not really. I never came off the pitch thinking I had really enjoyed it. It is all tactical. Even now, when you watch a game of football, it is all tactics. We keep it for 10 minutes, you keep it for 10 minutes. Very few teams go for the jugular.”

Couldn’t agree more. I regularly watch early 90s games . They were so much more fun and entertaining. I feel like I’m watching chess down at ewood these days

[lraC]

3 hours ago, windymiller7 said:

So sad to hear that mate. Hope your kids pull through.

I've also seen it at close quarters with my mother-in-law's ex partner. She put up with it for 17 years before she finally kicked him into touch, it was destroying her. She's had a new lease of life since.

Sad to hear about your brother too. I don’t think some people understand how rife it is. Kids are grown up and have got on with their lives, but I know they are devastated.

Edited July 22, 2021 by lraC
Additional post.

[Tom]

Sad to hear and glad he’s talking about it, never warmed to him here he often looked like he couldn’t be assed and this shows that there was a lot going on there 

[Silas]

5 hours ago, lraC said:

How very sad.

I saw alcoholism, at very close quarters, as my Ex- wife and mother to my two children, went from a caring mother, professional in the legal professional and dearly loved wife, to dead at 52. She passed just over a year ago and I don't think my children will ever get over what they saw.

It is a horrible illness.

 

4 hours ago, oldjamfan1 said:

Sorry to hear this mate. My older brother was an alcoholic from being a teenager to his death at just 41. The effect on the rest of the family, not least my parents, was devastating. As you say, its a dreadful illness and may I also say a thin line that many of us tread.

Very sad tales, and condolences and RIP to both individuals. No ages for life to end.

Don't want to pry and open up wounds - (feel free to tell me to piss off) - but were spirits the main cause?

We've got quite a bit alcoholism in my family, and I like a good drink.

But mainly beer and wine. In my head that's way more manageable than the 40% proof stuff.

But I've always wondered if I'm deluding myself. 

It seems Keith's problem was the hard stuff too. 

[Tyrone Shoelaces]

My ex-wife was the same. She had to lose her husband, job, house before she finally packed it in. She’d be dead now if she’d have carried on. From what I know she hasn’t touched a drop in 30 years. She won’t even have trifle or Xmas cake in case it’s got alcohol in it.

My second wife’s dad was also on the wagon. He could tell you to the day when he’d last had a drink, how many years, months, days etc. He’d been off it for about 20 years when he died of heart trouble.

[Mike E]

Friend of the family was caught out as a alcoholic. He'd empty bottles of water and fill them with vodka. His wife had a sip on a summer holiday about 10 years ago, and he's not touched a drop through shame ever since.

Luckily he'd already retired (think he did it through boredom), and has found refuge in golf.

He's one of the lucky ones, but he'd been downing one of those 6-packs of 'water' per day!

[tomphil]

6 hours ago, Mattyblue said:

Really interesting piece. Hope he’s finding a bit of peace and contentment back home.

 

On a side note, he’s not wrong, is he :

"The higher up you go the more that gets coached into you. Don't lose the ball, don't run with the ball. Pass and move, pass and move. I was a winger who liked to run with it so that sort of stuff gets knocked out of you. You start to lose what got you there in the first place.

"Did I ever enjoy it? Not really. I never came off the pitch thinking I had really enjoyed it. It is all tactical. Even now, when you watch a game of football, it is all tactics. We keep it for 10 minutes, you keep it for 10 minutes. Very few teams go for the jugular.”

Very telling this and something that's very noticeable at our level with lively young players. Instead of enhancing the strengths first and foremost. Fitting them in the team using those strengths it's all about drill the individuality out of them and play them out of position to 'develop'.

At first team level that often doesn't help the team or player but managers like Bowyer and Mowbray just can't help themselves. Some managers just seem to want robots it's no wonder the product is going so boring. Daft names being invented for positions when you have 4 or 5 in the squad who are the same so need to fit them in somehow.

Travis although raw looked like the fiesty box to box dynamic midfielder we'd craved for years. So refreshing after years of Lowe and Evans and co but it looks like they want him just sat in front of the back line breaking up play as well. Dolan, a real bright spark seemed to be being told to pass sideways and backwards. Then there's Chapman rarely getting a look in since they made such a fuss to get him here.

Then you get 6ft plus forwards doing the donkey work up and down flanks operating as so called 'wide strikers'.  It's mind numbing and cancels out any fluidity or momentum, or balance.

[jim mk2]

Sad story, Keith Treacy. Reading the article he just wasn't cut out to be a professional footballer

He's right about the way the game's gone though. 

Watch the Rovers title-winning side of 1995, probably one of the last successful teams in the game to employ two old-fashioned wingers who banged in crosses for big strikers to get on the end of.

Just doesn't happen now and the game's less exciting as a result. The odd game apart, statisticians and tactical coaches have spoilt it as a spectacle. 

[JacknOry]

7 hours ago, Silas said:

 

Very sad tales, and condolences and RIP to both individuals. No ages for life to end.

Don't want to pry and open up wounds - (feel free to tell me to piss off) - but were spirits the main cause?

We've got quite a bit alcoholism in my family, and I like a good drink.

But mainly beer and wine. In my head that's way more manageable than the 40% proof stuff.

But I've always wondered if I'm deluding myself. 

It seems Keith's problem was the hard stuff too. 

Nope, my mother was an alcoholic that died at the age of 46. Her vice was white wine and beer/cider.

My father left her, me (12) and my brother (10) and she turned to drink a couple years later. I would come home from school and she was passed out with bottles all around her. We spoke to all the off licenses and supermarkets in the area to ask them to stop serving her. Some did, but she was still able to get her hands on it somehow. 

It was the toughest time of my life. I lost all discipline as my father was not there and my mother was pissed 24/7. From doing well at school, I was now hanging around with the wrong crowd smoking weed and drinking myself at 14. My brother just stopped going to school all together and locked himself in his room all day. My dad didn't even have the balls to leave while I was there - I was on scout camp ffs, I came home to find my mother in pieces on the stairs.

I went from scout to drug dealer within the space of a few years. I hit rock bottom at 18, arrested for an armed robbery - tried to rob a local Spar with a knife. At that point a friends mum forced me to get help and i was diagnosed with severe depression and put on anti-depressants (seroxat). Fortunately, with her help, the courts were sympathetic to my case due to the circumstances around my life at the time. I got a two-year suspended sentence and 200 hours community service.

She even took me in to live with her and her family for about a year after. She was a godsend and I still speak to her today. Barbara, wonderful woman who volunteered to work for free for the Citizens Advice Bureau for most of her working life. She constantly tried to help my mother too, but there was no hope. She eventually sold the house and started renting somewhere we couldn't find her, until I got a call when i was 21  that she was in hospital - by the time me and my brother got there, she had passed away with liver disease.

Barbara continued to help me through. I went to college to take a 2-year Btec in IT and I also self-studied to become an MCSE (Microsoft Certified Systems Engineer). Seriously, without her, I don't know where I would be today. I wouldn't have had the career I have, that's for sure - more likely I would have followed the downward path and ended in a  similar situation to my mother. My brother turned out okay too. He moved in with a family member and got his life back on track as well. He is now an accountant and doing well.

Sadly, my overwhelming memory of mother was her answer to a question I asked out of anger when trying to stop her from drinking. Smashing her bottle of white wine into the wall after coming home from school, I shouted "You love drinking more than you love me and Lee, don't you?" Her "Yes" broke me.

Been a while since I have spoken about this - so apologies. Nice to get it out every now and again. 

[lraC]

9 hours ago, Silas said:

 

Very sad tales, and condolences and RIP to both individuals. No ages for life to end.

Don't want to pry and open up wounds - (feel free to tell me to piss off) - but were spirits the main cause?

We've got quite a bit alcoholism in my family, and I like a good drink.

But mainly beer and wine. In my head that's way more manageable than the 40% proof stuff.

But I've always wondered if I'm deluding myself. 

It seems Keith's problem was the hard stuff too. 

In the case of my ex-wife, it was a combination of wine and spirit. I had split up with her around 18 years before she died and although she had a drink problem, when I was with her, it got far worse after. Her second husband had it a lot worse than me and from speaking to him and my children after her passing, she would take spirits to work, in water bottles and sometimes go off drinking, instead of actual turning in for work.

She had several attempts at rehab and lots of counselling and loads of support from my children, all to no avail.

Seeing something like this with Treacy, shows how dangerous this addiction is and I still find it hard to believe how many lives it wrecks.

[arbitro]

3 hours ago, JacknOry said:

Nope, my mother was an alcoholic that died at the age of 46. Her vice was white wine and beer/cider.

My father left her, me (12) and my brother (10) and she turned to drink a couple years later. I would come home from school and she was passed out with bottles all around her. We spoke to all the off licenses and supermarkets in the area to ask them to stop serving her. Some did, but she was still able to get her hands on it somehow. 

It was the toughest time of my life. I lost all discipline as my father was not there and my mother was pissed 24/7. From doing well at school, I was now hanging around with the wrong crowd smoking weed and drinking myself at 14. My brother just stopped going to school all together and locked himself in his room all day. My dad didn't even have the balls to leave while I was there - I was on scout camp ffs, I came home to find my mother in pieces on the stairs.

I went from scout to drug dealer within the space of a few years. I hit rock bottom at 18, arrested for an armed robbery - tried to rob a local Spar with a knife. At that point a friends mum forced me to get help and i was diagnosed with severe depression and put on anti-depressants (seroxat). Fortunately, with her help, the courts were sympathetic to my case due to the circumstances around my life at the time. I got a two-year suspended sentence and 200 hours community service.

She even took me in to live with her and her family for about a year after. She was a godsend and I still speak to her today. Barbara, wonderful woman who volunteered to work for free for the Citizens Advice Bureau for most of her working life. She constantly tried to help my mother too, but there was no hope. She eventually sold the house and started renting somewhere we couldn't find her, until I got a call when i was 21  that she was in hospital - by the time me and my brother got there, she had passed away with liver disease.

Barbara continued to help me through. I went to college to take a 2-year Btec in IT and I also self-studied to become an MCSE (Microsoft Certified Systems Engineer). Seriously, without her, I don't know where I would be today. I wouldn't have had the career I have, that's for sure - more likely I would have followed the downward path and ended in a  similar situation to my mother. My brother turned out okay too. He moved in with a family member and got his life back on track as well. He is now an accountant and doing well.

Sadly, my overwhelming memory of mother was her answer to a question I asked out of anger when trying to stop her from drinking. Smashing her bottle of white wine into the wall after coming home from school, I shouted "You love drinking more than you love me and Lee, don't you?" Her "Yes" broke me.

Been a while since I have spoken about this - so apologies. Nice to get it out every now and again. 

You should be extremely proud of yourself mate. 

[JacknOry]

29 minutes ago, arbitro said:

You should be extremely proud of yourself mate. 

I am, but I wont lie that everything is all rosy. I still battle with depression on occasions linked to my early life. When I get down, it is difficult to get back up again. The pain is still there and will probably never go away. Having had to live through that as a 12 year old, watching my father walk away (not seen him since) and to then witness your mother fall apart and eventually kill herself because of it - was tough and nearly ruined my life. 

Fortunately, I have some great friends and family that always give me great support when and if I need it. Alcoholism is an illness, and it really does effect so many lives - more than just the life of the alcoholics themselves.

 

[benhben]

Feckin hell, having lived a relatively sheltered life thus far, its amazing and eye opening to read how many of us have difficult backgrounds and periods in their past. Kudos to all that have had the strength to come through.

Reading Treacys article, I can fully imagine its still a problem in our game....including our club.

 

[Silas]

3 hours ago, lraC said:

Seeing something like this with Treacy, shows how dangerous this addiction is and I still find it hard to believe how many lives it wrecks.

Thanks for sharing. Appreciate it.

4 hours ago, JacknOry said:

Been a while since I have spoken about this - so apologies. Nice to get it out every now and again. 

No apologies necessary. If it helps you getting it out, that's good, but also your story might just help others out there. 

If we don't speak about these things, we're often destined to repeat the cycles. And no-one should have to go through what you've experienced. 

Good luck man. Keep fighting the fight.

 

Keith Treacy has mainly told his story with the aim of helping professional footballers. But it's even got us plebs focusing on a very important societal issue. Just shows that being brave enough to speak out can have a positive affect. 

 

All the best to all of you Rovers out there, I wish health and happiness on you and your family and friends. Condolences for all those that departed too soon. 

[Paul Mellelieu]

The Undr the Cosh podcast is a real eyeopener to the use of alcohol in football, including many of our ex-players and the alcohol-drenched culture that is all too prevalent in this country has so many victims, including many close to us on this forum.  Booze is a dangerous drug and should be treated carefully.

[Tyrone Shoelaces]

5 hours ago, lraC said:

In the case of my ex-wife, it was a combination of wine and spirit. I had split up with her around 18 years before she died and although she had a drink problem, when I was with her, it got far worse after. Her second husband had it a lot worse than me and from speaking to him and my children after her passing, she would take spirits to work, in water bottles and sometimes go off drinking, instead of actual turning in for work.

She had several attempts at rehab and lots of counselling and loads of support from my children, all to no avail.

Seeing something like this with Treacy, shows how dangerous this addiction is and I still find it hard to believe how many lives it wrecks.

My wife had to deal with a member of her department who was in the habit of slipping off to her car for a quiet drink at break time. She had to tell her that under no circumstances was she to leave the school building after 8.30am without authorisation. I don’t think it ended well.

Edited July 23, 2021 by Tyrone Shoelaces

[Tyrone Shoelaces]

Gambling can be another bad habit to fall in to.

I heard a thing on the radio about an ex army officer who had it really bad. With the internet he was betting 24 hours a day, he was getting up in the middle of the night to bet on sports in Australia etc ! 
He lost everything in the end, wife, home, kids, jobs. He’d actually won the “ Sword of Honour” which is given to the top candidate each year at Sandhurst but he ended up selling it to get more betting money !

Edited July 23, 2021 by Tyrone Shoelaces

[lraC]

7 hours ago, JacknOry said:

Nope, my mother was an alcoholic that died at the age of 46. Her vice was white wine and beer/cider.

My father left her, me (12) and my brother (10) and she turned to drink a couple years later. I would come home from school and she was passed out with bottles all around her. We spoke to all the off licenses and supermarkets in the area to ask them to stop serving her. Some did, but she was still able to get her hands on it somehow. 

It was the toughest time of my life. I lost all discipline as my father was not there and my mother was pissed 24/7. From doing well at school, I was now hanging around with the wrong crowd smoking weed and drinking myself at 14. My brother just stopped going to school all together and locked himself in his room all day. My dad didn't even have the balls to leave while I was there - I was on scout camp ffs, I came home to find my mother in pieces on the stairs.

I went from scout to drug dealer within the space of a few years. I hit rock bottom at 18, arrested for an armed robbery - tried to rob a local Spar with a knife. At that point a friends mum forced me to get help and i was diagnosed with severe depression and put on anti-depressants (seroxat). Fortunately, with her help, the courts were sympathetic to my case due to the circumstances around my life at the time. I got a two-year suspended sentence and 200 hours community service.

She even took me in to live with her and her family for about a year after. She was a godsend and I still speak to her today. Barbara, wonderful woman who volunteered to work for free for the Citizens Advice Bureau for most of her working life. She constantly tried to help my mother too, but there was no hope. She eventually sold the house and started renting somewhere we couldn't find her, until I got a call when i was 21  that she was in hospital - by the time me and my brother got there, she had passed away with liver disease.

Barbara continued to help me through. I went to college to take a 2-year Btec in IT and I also self-studied to become an MCSE (Microsoft Certified Systems Engineer). Seriously, without her, I don't know where I would be today. I wouldn't have had the career I have, that's for sure - more likely I would have followed the downward path and ended in a  similar situation to my mother. My brother turned out okay too. He moved in with a family member and got his life back on track as well. He is now an accountant and doing well.

Sadly, my overwhelming memory of mother was her answer to a question I asked out of anger when trying to stop her from drinking. Smashing her bottle of white wine into the wall after coming home from school, I shouted "You love drinking more than you love me and Lee, don't you?" Her "Yes" broke me.

Been a while since I have spoken about this - so apologies. Nice to get it out every now and again. 

Wow, I am in tears reading that.

I can honestly say, my children (now aged 31 & 28) could so easily have ended up like that. Once I split with their Mum, I made absolutely sure I had regular contact with them and at times, almost had joint custody. To be fair, my second wife has been so fantastic and took them both under her wing and also their Mothers second husband, have both been great step parents and I have a lot to thank them both of them for.

A lot of what was going on, was hidden from me, after we split, but the things I did see and hear of helped me to protect them as much as I could and both of my kids have grown into wonderful people, so far producing a wonderful Grandson too, who is of course a Rovers fan.

[Mike E]

7 hours ago, JacknOry said:

Nope, my mother was an alcoholic that died at the age of 46. Her vice was white wine and beer/cider.

My father left her, me (12) and my brother (10) and she turned to drink a couple years later. I would come home from school and she was passed out with bottles all around her. We spoke to all the off licenses and supermarkets in the area to ask them to stop serving her. Some did, but she was still able to get her hands on it somehow. 

It was the toughest time of my life. I lost all discipline as my father was not there and my mother was pissed 24/7. From doing well at school, I was now hanging around with the wrong crowd smoking weed and drinking myself at 14. My brother just stopped going to school all together and locked himself in his room all day. My dad didn't even have the balls to leave while I was there - I was on scout camp ffs, I came home to find my mother in pieces on the stairs.

I went from scout to drug dealer within the space of a few years. I hit rock bottom at 18, arrested for an armed robbery - tried to rob a local Spar with a knife. At that point a friends mum forced me to get help and i was diagnosed with severe depression and put on anti-depressants (seroxat). Fortunately, with her help, the courts were sympathetic to my case due to the circumstances around my life at the time. I got a two-year suspended sentence and 200 hours community service.

She even took me in to live with her and her family for about a year after. She was a godsend and I still speak to her today. Barbara, wonderful woman who volunteered to work for free for the Citizens Advice Bureau for most of her working life. She constantly tried to help my mother too, but there was no hope. She eventually sold the house and started renting somewhere we couldn't find her, until I got a call when i was 21  that she was in hospital - by the time me and my brother got there, she had passed away with liver disease.

Barbara continued to help me through. I went to college to take a 2-year Btec in IT and I also self-studied to become an MCSE (Microsoft Certified Systems Engineer). Seriously, without her, I don't know where I would be today. I wouldn't have had the career I have, that's for sure - more likely I would have followed the downward path and ended in a  similar situation to my mother. My brother turned out okay too. He moved in with a family member and got his life back on track as well. He is now an accountant and doing well.

Sadly, my overwhelming memory of mother was her answer to a question I asked out of anger when trying to stop her from drinking. Smashing her bottle of white wine into the wall after coming home from school, I shouted "You love drinking more than you love me and Lee, don't you?" Her "Yes" broke me.

Been a while since I have spoken about this - so apologies. Nice to get it out every now and again. 

No apologies necessary fella, I'm just sorry you or anybody has to go through it. Addiction is awful.