Adrian Chiles has detailed his troublesome relationship with alcohol over the years in his book entitled 'The Good Drinker: How I Learned to Love Drinking Less'.
That relationship included first having to recognise he had an over-realiance on it despite still being a perfectly functioning member of society going by the surface level metrics of being able to fulfil his work duties and not having any rock bottom moments.
After all, in his own words: “I wasn’t waking up in shop doorways, wetting the bed, getting into fights or drinking Pernod in the morning.
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“Therefore, I told myself, I obviously didn’t have this ‘disease’ called ‘alcoholism’. And, as I didn’t have this ‘disease’, logically I was fine.”
But the former Match of the Day 2 presenter gradually came to terms with his excessive binge drinking habit which included around 100 units of alcohol per week at its peak.
While he still enjoys a tipple now and again, he has reined in his drinking to a healthier degree and is now keen to share his story.
Interestingly, one pivotal moment from his own tale sees Roy Keane take up a prominent role as his summation of how difficult it can be to break the habit really struck a chord with Chiles.
He writes: "By the time I got to know him, working together covering football, he’d not touched alcohol in more than ten years. This didn’t seem to affect his social life; he was always great company when we were away on our travels around Europe.
"Our colleague Tony Pastor and I did an awful lot of drinking as the three of us wandered around Barcelona, Warsaw, Munich or wherever. We had some great days, at least Tony and I did. I’m assuming Roy did too. Well, put it like this: he never told us he didn’t and he’s not one to keep such thoughts to himself.
"I’d popped in to see him for a cup of tea at his place in Altrincham. It was during Lent, so I wasn’t drinking. (I’m noticing, by the way, just how many of my insights into my own drinking came at times when I wasn’t drinking.)
"Roy and I got on to the subject, and he, as I remember it, said something like this: 'The problem is there’s always an excuse to drink. If you’ve had a good day, you want a drink. Or a bad day. Or even just a boring day.
'A wedding’s a good excuse to drink and, even more so, funerals. If you’ve won a match, or lost a match, or had a row with someone or are getting on well with someone. If you’re going out, or staying in. Or whatever. There’s always an excuse to drink.'
Of course, Keane famously knocked his own drinking on the head later in his career when he went to the other extreme of becoming something of a health nut, picking up yoga and other wholesome pursuits in the process.
You can buy Chiles' book, which is priced at €17, here.
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