He was born into poverty. If that isn't starting from the bottom I don't know what is. He would likely have been surrounded by addiction and desperation his entire upbringing. Even when he made it big, footballers didn't earn the same kind of money back then.
Ironically he has died on the 15th anniversary of George Best death.......who was also one best of all time.
Ok graft on minimum wage then, or have to work your balls off to get a degree, end up in thousands of pounds worth of debt and wait 6 years after you finish your degree to get a career going. Things may well have been tough for him as a kid with no first class academies to be brought through and no proper coaching and living in a poor area. But he turned to drugs towards the back end of his playing career. He did all the hard stuff to get to the top then blew it. He started using cocaine while playing for Barcelona of all clubs. They sold him because he beat the **** out of an opposing player.
My admittedly second-hand experience is that people who are addicted to anything, whether it’s alcohol, drugs, gambling, or anything else, don’t actually choose to be addicts. Most of us are fortunate enough to be able to choose to partake or stop when we want to, but addicts have much, much more trouble, and once the addiction is there, it is always there. Anyone who dismisses addiction as a poor lifestyle choice just doesn’t understand the problem. Maradona was a football genius who, as SA says, came from a poor background and rose to become arguably the best player of all time. He certainly is one of the greatest, alongside Puskas, Pele, Best, Cristiano Ronaldo and Maradona’s countryman Messi. My own memories of him will be obviously tainted by *that* goal against us in 1986, but then his other goal in that same match was one of the best ever. RIP Diego Armando Maradona 1960 - 2020
You seem to mainly be referring to his drug use. Presumably you're consistent and no respect for our Claus either.
Good post. Poor lifestyle choices of course contribute and are part of the journey there. But ultimately he was a very sick man.
Well said. Our obsession with having squeaky clean public figures demonises those who have internal struggles and aren’t able to keep up the image of perfection 24/7. He was the victim of his drug use, and I certainly won’t judge him for it or use it against him (especially in the immediate aftermath of his death). RIP Diego. Changed football forever (and shorts).
Bear him no ill at all now. I did in 1986. Probably one of, if not the greatest footballer of all time. A troubled soul, hope he can RIP.
Two wrongs don't make a right. The worst part of our game is that cheating is now accepted as " gamesmanship"
How do you feel about the new Prowsey?, a lot of Saints fans are praising him for his new found "****housery".
I absolutely blame the match officials above all, it was so obvious that Maradona couldn't outjump a GK.
The idea that addiction comes purely down to lifestyle is so outdated it's unbelievable. There's growing evidence that many people are simply more susceptible to it due to how their brains are wired up; something to do with lower dopamine levels iirc. This wouldn't necessarily be a mind altering substances either, addiction to something like sex or food is exactly the same. There's a huge stigma when it comes to illegal substances too - an alcoholic is seen as sick whereas a drug addict is seen as a scumbag.
A lot of it comes down to experiences as a child also, some addicts say that they are trying to fill a hole in their lives.
I can honestly say that I feel the same way about saints players cheating, feigning injury etc as I do about any other players doing it.
It's an extremely complicated subject and one we're still learning about. Some believe that higher rates of intelligence can make people more susceptible to it too. That's always been my excuse anyway
I would recommend you watch the film that came out last year or the year before. He was flawed, no doubt, but that film Gives you a tiny insight to what he and to cope with. Can you imagine becoming the head of your family at 15 and followed by crowds of adoring and spongers for the next 45 years?