Cardiff City legend Kevin McNaughton has spoken for the first about the cause of his depression which prompted him to send a tweet which sent alarm bells ringing through the footballing world.
In January 2022, former Scotland international McNaughton, 40, posted a tweet which read: "Let my kids know I'll hover above, I'll always love them they're too good for me."
Police were sent around to his house after the message was sent, with an outpouring of love from Cardiff fans and indeed the club itself showing a community coming together in the best possible way in a touching show of unity and support.
Mark Hudson, who was on the Bluebirds coaching staff at the time, was one of those heavily involved in ensuring McNaughton was found safe and well and he eventually tweeted that the police had found him in his house.
McNaughton revealed that the police found him with his medication that he was taking for depression, while he also had alcohol on his person, too.
Speaking for the first time about the ordeal to Sky Sports, McNaughton said: "I just got myself in a bit of a mess really, which stemmed from not really being prepared for life after football.
"My life had slowly sort of disintegrated after I stopped playing. My relationship sort of fell to pieces and then off the back of that, I probably isolated myself a bit as well when I should have really been speaking to other people and getting help.
"Looking back, that was obviously a mistake. It was a difficult time.
"I can't actually remember sending them. I'd taken quite a lot of the medication I was on and with alcohol, I was a mess really.
"I was lucky enough that I did probably send them out. It was maybe a cry for help. I had got to that sort of stage of rock bottom, I think.
"The police found us with my medication and alcohol. They could see I was in a state really, to be honest with you."
McNaughton is adored in the Welsh capital. He played almost 300 times for the Bluebirds between 2006 and 2015, winning promotion to the Premier League and appearing in cup finals in the process.
He would go on to play for Wigan Athletic, Inverness Caledonian Thistle and Forfar Athletic before retiring in 2018. And it was the impact the effervescent Scot made at all those clubs which prompted such a visceral, positive response from fans he had touched with his footballing ability and personality along the way. For that, he is incredibly thankful.
"That probably helped us through the first few weeks of trying to get myself back on the right track," he said of the messages he saw on social media.
"I probably kept my head in the sand for a couple of days really and once I had surfaced and seen all the messages, it was pretty incredible really.
"Social media can get a bit of a bad rap sometimes but in that case, it has shown it in a good light. Obviously that dies down as well and you've got to sort of start knuckling down and getting back into normal life which was hard.
"Just having my kids around us as much as I could around that period helped and probably my life then to where it is now has changed a lot.
"I got engaged, just a few months back so I've got that to look forward now. I've got a future that didn't seem possible back then.
"I think one thing it has sort of taught me, you've got to try and get through these difficult periods because there is still a lot to live for and certainly in my case, I have had some of my best days since then."
Just over a year on, things are clearly looking far rosier for McNaughton, which is fantastic to hear.
He is the manager of sixth-tier Dundee North End and is looking ahead now, hoping to bring success on to the pitch for his side.
But he believes he could not have found himself in this state of recovery without the help of the charity Back Onside and he urged anyone who is struggling to speak out.
"For anybody who is going through sort of similar things, the one thing I would say is don't bottle it up," he said. "You need to speak to people when things are not really going well for you.
"It can be hard to do that but, for me, being able to speak to people now and get support is something I have to do daily."
If you are affected by these issues or want to talk, please contact the Samaritans on the free helpline 116 123, or visit the website www.samaritans.org
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