‘Cocaine and booze killed my footy career before mum’s death sparked recovery’
The man once dubbed 'the Goodison Gazza' has spoken out about how an addiction to drugs and alcohol completely wrecked his football career.
Billy Kenny, who played 17 times for Everton as a teenager between 1992 and 1994, was considered one of English football's brightest prospects, but his life span out of control before it had the chance to properly begin.
When a string of injuries left him on the treatment table for months, Kenny fell head-first into a cocaine-riddled black hole, and an excessive drinking culture at the club at the time, as well as bouts of depression, ensured he stayed there.
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Everton released him for 'gross misbehaviour', after which he spent a miserable four-game spell at Oldham before succumbing to a life of substance abuse and hanging up his boots, aged just 21.
Having slipped through the cracks in the pre-psychological welfare era of football, Kenny remained addicted to drugs for the next quarter-of-a-century, and now, after finally turning his life around, he wonders how he's still alive.
"I was drinking for 25 years and on cocaine for 25 years as well," Kenny told the Liverpool Echo. "I am talking absolutely non-stop. I am surprised I am alive.
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"I was just getting up, boom boom boom, two day bender, get my head down and go on a three day bender, two days of sleep, have a Chinese then back on it."
Despite all his wasted potential as a footballer, Kenny says the biggest regret he has is inflicting pain on his mum and dad.
"The worst bit for me was putting me ma and dad through it because I was off my face," he added. "Right now, when I think about what I put my ma and dad through. I was selfish as f*** on the drink and the drugs. That’s my biggest regret, and it doesn’t go away."
Kenny revealed that his dad, Billy Sr, who also played for Everton, couldn't leave the house for years because he was so embarrassed of his son.
"My dad loves footy, he is a footy fella. He couldn’t go out the house for years because he felt ashamed and kept getting asked about me everywhere he went: ‘Is Billy OK?’ It killed him."
It wasn't until Kenny's mum Bella passed away that he was able to get clean. He remembers being at her wake and suddenly feeling as if he had the strength to turn his life around – something he directly credits his mother for.
"It must have been my mother giving me the strength because I couldn’t do it alone. I couldn’t tell you, sitting here, how I have done it.
"I have my bad days as well, where I have got to work hard to keep sane and sober but life for me at the minute is great. I’m sober and it’s great. I am aware of where I went wrong when I was younger now and there is a lot that was just not me. I can see now I clearly needed help but the help wasn’t there for me."
During lockdown, Kenny began to write his life story, which is being turned into a stage play. Through it, he has the opportunity to offer a cautionary tale to other talented youngsters at risk of wasting their potential and ruining their lives like he did, but more importantly, he has the opportunity to make his dad proud again.
"Losing your mother is a lot bigger than losing your job. Playing football to me was just fun, and then it got a bit serious and turned into a job. At the end of the day I lost my job and it dominated my life for 25 years. I was Everton’s guiding light through the ‘90s and then I suffered with that for years.
"When me ma died it put everything into perspective. I said to my dad ‘I will make you proud one day again’. And now he is buzzing with the play and he is proud of me again so I am absolutely buzzing.
"I’ve had a second crack at life… I played for Everton and no-one can take that away from me. I enjoyed it. Now this is another part of my life where I’m starting to have a bit of fun about it."
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