Brian McDermott
Brian McDermott is a former professional football player and coach, who is currently the director of football at Hibernian. Brian talks very openly about his struggles with alcohol...
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Who are you?
My name's Brian McDermott. I'm ex-professional football player manager at Redding and Lead United. If you want to ask any questions on sobriety, on recovery, on what it's like to be a Premier League manager on the pressures of being a Premier League manager, I'll be very happy to answer.
Can you tell me about your journey with alcohol?
I had my first drink at 19 years of age and got drunk. That's my journey with alcohol. Once I'd started, I couldn't stop. I went long periods of time when I was a player without drinking alcohol. But then once I'd started, I didn't stop. And as I got to my management career, same sort of thing. Generally after a game, after a defeat, definitely. Then it became after a defeat, after a draw, after a win. So in the morning, that feeling of numbness and that feeling of anxiety and that feeling of not feeling good enough was always there in the morning, in the evening when he was having a drink, I felt like a lion. And when I woke up in the morning, I felt like a mouse. I felt really vulnerable and feeling I was going to get found out.
Are you a happier person since quitting alcohol?
I'm definitely a happier, I'm happy the word happy. I still struggle to compute that word, but I'm at peace most of the time. And if I'm not, then I ring someone and it, that's for me, the only show in town is to wake up in the morning and start every day, start every day and go, look, I've got to get to a good place. Start my day well, and then carry on with my day. So yeah, would definitely, I'm definitely a happier person.