Neil ‘Razor’ Ruddock ends partying days after ‘wake-up call’ over health scares
Ex-footballer Neil 'Razor' Ruddock has capped his partying days, admitting being fitted with a pacemaker two years ago was a wake-up call.
He went on a stag-do this month, which was a far cry from his days playing for West Ham. He had been arrested for affray after getting too lairy at the team Christmas party in 1998 and ended up banned from Romford, where they trained, after 7pm.
Razor, 54, said: “We’re all in our 50s and 60s, so it’s more like a stag-don’t not a stag-do. We know the rules – no locking each other on to lampposts and dressing up, instead it’s asleep round the swimming pool by 11.30am.
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“We used to go away for 10 days and now it’s two nights – that’s how rock and roll we are. Vegas – my own – was the maddest stag do I’ve been on.
“When people ask what it’s like there I haven’t got a clue. Now my knees hurt – I can’t walk a long way. There’s no off-the-cuff night out. I have to strategically plan the walking involved.”
It was during the making of TV show Harry’s Heroes: Euro Having a Laugh, the former Liverpool and England defender discovered his heart was stopping eight times a night and he was knocking on death’s door. He decided it was time to kick smoking to the kerb after picking up the bad habit during his 2004 stint on I’m A Celebrity… Get Me Out Of Here!
Razor said: “If you smoked, you got 10 fags a day. It was something to do and took the hunger pangs away. I thought, ‘It won’t affect me’. Then I did Harry’s Heroes, felt faint and they had to stop my heart, killed me, and booted me back to life.”
Swapping over to vaping, Razor is now supporting the UK’s leading vaping retailer VPZ, who are calling for a timeline towards an outright ban on smoking in a bid to transform the health of the UK population.
Chief Medical Officer Sir Chris Whitty revealed that smoking has killed more people than Covid during the past two years.
Razor says: “Smoking was contributing to my bad health and it took me six months to stop. Men don’t want to find out we have a problem because we think it might stop us going on that golf holiday or whatever.
“But if you’ve got a squeak in your car, you get it fixed and it costs money. It doesn’t cost money to see your doctor. Get yourself a vape or have nothing.”
When pal Jamie Redknapp became a dad again aged 48 last November, Razor was quick to rib him about being an older dad – forgetting his old Anfield chum was in better shape than he was.
Razor said: “I’m good friends with Jamie – he’s a great man, but he didn’t tell me Frida was pregnant at first because he knew I would laugh. Most people can take scrutiny but when a friend says it, it’s advice. He said, ‘I’m younger than you!’ He’s a great dad.”
Razor got together with fellow ex-England football stars including Paul Merson and Carlton Cole to film a skit for James Corden’s Late Late Show recently, showing them trying their hand at Shakespearean acting at London’s Globe Theatre.
He said: “I’m not surprised James is coming back to the UK – it must be hard doing his job every day. And he’s earned a few bob now.” In 2011, Razor declared bankruptcy and like the rest of us, is fed up with the cost of living crisis.
Ruddock said: “The price of petrol p***** me off, but I don’t know how much shopping is, a pint or milk or a loaf of bread. Bottles of water that have a use-by date on them? What a load of b****** when it’s been in the spring for a million years.”
lVPZ, the UK’s leading vaping specialist, provides a vape clinic to help smokers quit. To learn more about the dedicated one-to-one service please visit www.vpz.co.uk/pages/vape-clinic-booking
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