Full of quips and one-liners, it would be easy to dismiss Paul Merson as a wide-boy; the joker amongst the pack of ex-footballers who dominate football punditry. But underneath the loud and comical exterior, Merson is refreshingly frank about the current game and the mistakes he made as a player. A throwback to the days when players were brave enough to say what they actually thought, our interview is punctuated with hilarious, if slightly alarming, stories, most implying that Merson got away with things Wayne Rooney could only dream about. Merson’s tales about his playing days with Paul Gascoigne typify the eccentric behaviour that has become a hallmark of his career; “Me and Gazza, when I signed for Middlesbrough, used to buy a packet of sleeping pills and a few bottles of red wine after training on a Thursday and then sit on the sofa at his flat betting thousands on who would fall asleep first.”
With Merson happy to joke about his misdemeanours off the pitch, it is easy to disregard his career on it. Yet his achievements with Arsenal alone, where he picked up 5 major trophies and scored 99 goals in over 300 appearances, would stand out even in the most illustrious company. His greatest career memory, Arsenal’s title clinching victory at Anfield in 1989, epitomises his achievements. “That game’s the one that really sticks out. I mean, everyone who’s old enough remembers where they were.” Despite this, Merson’s 21 caps for England rank as his greatest accomplishment. “It really is an honour, being in the top 11 players in your country on that day. I never played loads and loads but the way I lived my life off the pitch I was lucky to play even once!” Merson’s upbeat answers on England embody his perpetual cup-half-full attitude. But having emerged in the early nineties as one of the countries brightest prospects, many observers would point towards the impact of drink, drugs and gambling, rather than bad ‘luck’, as explanations for why such a precocious talent had a minimal impact on the international stage.
But this is not how Merson works. Candid and surprisingly self-critical, at no point in the interview does the Londoner blame anyone but himself for his mistakes. “I’d say leaving Arsenal when I did was my biggest mistake. I went to Middlesbrough for the wrong reasons. I regret it because I left for the money, I mean Middlesbrough offered me a lot but as soon as I’d done it I just wanted to ring my dad [a life long Arsenal fan] and tell him what I’d gone and done. When you leave the Arsenal’s and Man United’s of this world you are only really ever going downwards.”
Even when discussing his three-month absence from football in 1994, following revelations at the height of his Arsenal career that he was suffering from both alcohol and cocaine addiction, Merson appears at ease with his past. “The FA did all they could for me really, they gave me the time away from the game I needed and they put me in touch with the right people.” He is less positive about the FA’s current policy regarding player problems though. “Banning someone for two years, I just don’t see how that helps anyone. I mean even if you get caught with steroids, help the lad. If you’re banned for two years you’re practically finished, you’ve basically lost your life if that happens.”
Merson is somewhat contradictory when questioned on modern football. His opinions on the spate of serious injuries that have blighted football recently epitomise his blend of acceptance and despair regarding changes to the game he lit up so brightly. “The game is so much quicker now that being only slightly late for a tackle can lead to serious injury. But they all wear bright flimsy boots these days which doesn’t help, whoever has got proper black boots on now will stand out - you even get goalkeepers wearing white boots!” Snazzy new boots are not the only way that Merson feels football has changed, and it soon becomes clear that he was one of the last footballers who lived life to the extreme both on and off the pitch – winning trophies and drinking out of them in equal measure. His career parallels the changing nature of English football. From larking around but winning trophies under George Graham in the early nineties, where “Every Friday, day before a game, instead of training we’d always play cricket” to being one of the old guard having to learn new tricks following Arsene Wenger’s arrival at Arsenal in 1996. “Arsene came in and he changed everything, from our diet to the way we trained. Everything was on the clock, even if eight VS eight was 1-1 he’d stop it at full time, we’d never be allowed to play on. It was always one touch or two touch, and your second touch always had to be forward, you always had to be thinking. He brought in all these unusual stretches, plyometrics and all that. We used to just do the odd hamstring!”
What is even more evident is how much Merson loved that era, that period in the 1990s where football began to break with the drinking and smoking culture, just before becoming the highly professionalised game we see today. “I couldn’t do it now, I couldn’t live the life they live, I really do feel sorry for a lot of them. They must be so bored, this Xbox generation, never leaving their mansions and being under so much media scrutiny.” Spoken with honesty, it appears Merson’s sympathy reflects the difficulties he faced himself when dealing with the media spotlight. The now typical Merson wisecrack that follows alluding to this. “It wouldn’t really have mattered how much I earned anyway, the only person who would have been happy with an increase in my wages would have been William Hill!” This is typical Merson, a swift repost quickly recapturing the jovial atmosphere that he creates during the majority of the interview.
Despite the obvious impact Wenger had on Merson he regards George Graham as the best manager he ever worked with. “George was phenomenal; if it wasn’t for George we wouldn’t have won anything I don’t think. He made us solid, a great tactician. Everything was so organised, we always knew exactly what we were doing on the training pitch. If I was still playing and he was the manager I could tell you now what I would have been doing last March on a random Tuesday.”
Merson speaks as glowingly of his former teammates, as he does of his managers, and it is not difficult to see why the 42 year old is so liked. “Ian Wright was so unlucky not to play a million times for England. It was only because he had Shearer and Sheringham ahead of him. But he was the best finisher I’ve ever played with. He just loved scoring goals. He’d celebrate a goal in training as if it was the winner on a Saturday, running around with his shirt over his head. And he was a top bloke, I don’t know anyone who doesn’t like him.” Despite his affection for the former Arsenal number eight Merson is unequivocal when questioned on the best player he ever worked with. “Oh Bergkamp definitely, he was so good, so good it was scary. When he trained the whole standard of play just went up ten-fold. He saw things before everyone and his touch was out of this world.”
Despite past troubles it is clear Paul Merson is a man content with his career. “I honestly think I had the best job in the world being a footballer and I think I’ve got the second best job now. I was lucky enough to be part of some great sides and to have my job with Sky…I mean I’m dyslexic so I never really wanted to be a journalist or anything but I really love what I do with the guys on a Saturday. Jeff Stelling’s just so clever and I’ve known Le Tissier years.” And with that we are out of time, but Merson cannot resist another joke as we bring what has been a whirlwind interview to a close: ‘Phil Thompson as well, everywhere he goes now everyone always says what’s happening big nose but he’s the nicest bloke ever.’
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