Classic Arsenal Players - Part 10 - Kenny Sansom
KENNY'S DRINKING CLUB
HOMELESS AND SLEEPING on a park bench, the glamorous life as one of England's greatest ever footballers a long way behind him, Kenny Sansom had reached rock bottom.
After a successful 19 year professional career which had taken him from Crystal Palace to the full England side and on to Arsenal, Newcastle United, Queens Park Rangers, Coventry City, Brentford and Watford, Sansom had finally given in to his demons.
Serious addiction problems had seen the brilliant left back lose much of the fortune he had amassed from his football career, leading to him becoming homeless and living on the street. A sad end to one of the 1980s most consistent footballers.
Kenneth Graham Sansom was born on 26 September 1958 in Camberwell, South-East London, but he grew up in nearby Tulse Hill.
The young Sansom had began as a goalkeeper playing for local side Spring Park Wolves, but after replacing an injured teammate at left back, Sansom remained in that position for the rest of his career.
As a teenager, Sansom was very much in demand, scouted by Arsenal, Queens Park Rangers and Tottenham Hotspur, but the 15 year old nearly gave up on his football dreams before they had even begun.
Never enjoying the travel across London, Sansom decided that the he did not fancy the trip to Queens Park Rangers for training. In the end it was his mother, Rose, who persuaded him to go 'just this once', and that proved to be the a very good decision.
In the end the trip from South-East to West London began to prove a little too much for the young Sansom so instead he signed for his local club, Division Three Crystal Palace, in 1974.
By 1976, Sansom was a regular in the first team although he also captained the Palace youth team to FA Youth Cup success in 1977, as well as captaining the England Youth team.
At the end of the 1976/77 season, Sansom was voted Crystal Palace Player of the Year as he helped the club win promotion to the Second Division. He was a regular in the side over the next three seasons as Palace climbed to Division One, their young side winning the Division Two title in 1979 leading to the tag 'Team of the Eighties.'
After just one relegation-threatened season in the top flight with Palace however, Sansom was involved in one of the strangest transfers of the 1980s.
Arsenal had just spent £1 million on striker Clive Allen from QPR but before he had even played a competitive game for the club they had swapped him for Sansom.
The move to North London worked out well for the 21 year old full back and he was ever present in his first two seasons at Highbury, winning the club's Player of the Year award in 1981.
Such was his consistency that Sansom missed just two games in his first four years at Arsenal, playing in 197 out of 199 matches.
This was a time at transition at the club however, with manager Terry Neill being replaced by Don Howe in December 1983.
Sansom, with his bubbly personality and hilarious impressions, was a popular figure at the club and his Thursday drinking club, with teammates Tony Woodcock, Paul Mariner, Tommy Caton, Graham Rix and Charlie Nicholas, became legendary.
Despite his drinking and the start of his gambling problems, Sansom had long been established in the England side. He made his debut on 23 May 1979 in a goalless draw against Wales and featured in four major tournaments for the Three Lions; The European Championships of 1980 and 1988, and the World Cup Finals in 1982 and 1986
The 1988 Euro tournament in West Germany proved to his last. Soon afterwards Sansom lost his place at left back to Stuart Pearce, and despite a brief recall in 1989, it saw the end of his 10 year England career.
Sansom played 86 times for his country, becoming Arsenal's most capped England international and the 12th highest of all time. He scored one goal for England in a World Cup qualifier against Finland in 1984.
His consistency at club level which saw him rarely a miss a match was repeated on the international stage as his run of 37 consecutive international appearances between May 1984 and April 1987 is the third longest on the all-time list behind Billy Wright and Ron Flowers.
When George Graham took over as manager at Arsenal in the summer of 1986 his first job was to name the 28 year old Sansom as his new captain.
This proved to be the best season of Sansom's career as he lifted his first trophy for the club, the Littlewoods Cup, captaining the side to a 2-1 victory over Liverpool at Wembley.
But Sansom's Arsenal career was coming to an end, although he did not know it yet.
Over the summer of 1987, Graham had bought left back Nigel Winterburn from Wimbledon as Sansom's long term replacement, although Winterburn would play much of the 1987/88 season at right back.
However Sansom made the mistake of falling out with Graham in early 1988, and with the manager already beginning to worry about his influence on the younger members of the squad, it resulted in Sansom being stripped of the captaincy, replaced by 21 year old Tony Adams.
Sansom did keep his place in the side and played in the 1988 Littlewoods Cup final defeat to Luton Town at Wembley but he would play just three more games for the club after that, the last of which was the final match of the season at Everton.
As part of Graham's rebuilding plans, Winterburn became first choice left back at the start of the 1988/89 season and Sansom eventually left to sign for Newcastle United for £300,000 in December 1988.
He had played 394 matches for Arsenal, scoring six goals.
Sansom returned to Highbury with his new club in April 1989 and came close to costing his old teammates the league title.
Having earlier hit the post in the match he later had a goal disallowed and had it counted it would have seen Arsenal miss out on the title a few weeks later.
Londoner Sansom never really settled in the North-East and after their relegation from the top flight, he returned south to sign for Queens Park Rangers for £300,000 in the summer of 1989, where he would later join up with his former manager, Don Howe.
Sanson became a regular in the Rangers side over the next 18 months, during which time he helped dump Arsenal out of the FA Cup with a goal in a 2-0 Rangers victory in January 1990.
After leaving QPR in March 1991, Sansom joined Coventry City for £100,000, before playing seven games for Everton in 1993, scoring once, and eight more for Brentford in the second division.
After a short period at Diadora League side Chertsey Town during the 1993/94 season, Sansom briefly joined Watford as player/assistant manager to Glenn Roeder, although he made just one appearance for the club. He then dropped back into non-league football with Croydon and Slough Town in the 1995/96 season.
In total Sansom made 768 professional club appearances, scoring 13 goals, on top of his 86 international caps.
After his playing career ended Sansom struggled to cope with life outside football as he drifted into alcoholism and gambling as his business ventures failed.
He made a playing comeback on the veterans circuit and also appeared as a pundit on Fox Sport in Australia via satellite link.
After some work on Sky Sports and at Arsenal as a tour guide, Sansom's life took a downward spiral in February 2014 when he appeared in court charged with assault following an incident at his ex partner's property.
Although Sansom was cleared of all charges, he was later spotted drinking in a park and sleeping rough, a far cry from his 1980s heydays with Arsenal and England.
These days Sansom is thankfully on the road to recovery. Living in Exeter, Devon, he works back at Crystal Palace and also appears on the after dinner circuit.
His stories are often funny but also not for the faint-hearted. It is a stark reminder that the life of a footballer is not always as glamorous as it is portrayed.
For me Sansom will always remain one of my favourite players. His forward bursts down the left wing, in tandem with Rix and Woodcock, was one of the few highlights during the difficult mid 1980s.
In a period of transition, Sansom was the one constant throughout the decade. No matter what, you could guarantee he would be in the team every week at No.3 and he rarely produced a less than 7 out of 10 performance. Mr Consistency personified.
Also at a time when having a player from your club represent England was really something special, it was great that we had a regular in the team for so many years.
Coming up next I look back at the career of someone who briefly played alongside Sansom at Highbury in the late 1980s and who won league titles with two different clubs; Kevin Richardson. Look out for that coming soon.
HOMELESS AND SLEEPING on a park bench, the glamorous life as one of England's greatest ever footballers a long way behind him, Kenny Sansom had reached rock bottom.
After a successful 19 year professional career which had taken him from Crystal Palace to the full England side and on to Arsenal, Newcastle United, Queens Park Rangers, Coventry City, Brentford and Watford, Sansom had finally given in to his demons.
Serious addiction problems had seen the brilliant left back lose much of the fortune he had amassed from his football career, leading to him becoming homeless and living on the street. A sad end to one of the 1980s most consistent footballers.
The young Sansom had began as a goalkeeper playing for local side Spring Park Wolves, but after replacing an injured teammate at left back, Sansom remained in that position for the rest of his career.
As a teenager, Sansom was very much in demand, scouted by Arsenal, Queens Park Rangers and Tottenham Hotspur, but the 15 year old nearly gave up on his football dreams before they had even begun.
Never enjoying the travel across London, Sansom decided that the he did not fancy the trip to Queens Park Rangers for training. In the end it was his mother, Rose, who persuaded him to go 'just this once', and that proved to be the a very good decision.
In the end the trip from South-East to West London began to prove a little too much for the young Sansom so instead he signed for his local club, Division Three Crystal Palace, in 1974.
By 1976, Sansom was a regular in the first team although he also captained the Palace youth team to FA Youth Cup success in 1977, as well as captaining the England Youth team.
At the end of the 1976/77 season, Sansom was voted Crystal Palace Player of the Year as he helped the club win promotion to the Second Division. He was a regular in the side over the next three seasons as Palace climbed to Division One, their young side winning the Division Two title in 1979 leading to the tag 'Team of the Eighties.'
Arsenal had just spent £1 million on striker Clive Allen from QPR but before he had even played a competitive game for the club they had swapped him for Sansom.
The move to North London worked out well for the 21 year old full back and he was ever present in his first two seasons at Highbury, winning the club's Player of the Year award in 1981.
Such was his consistency that Sansom missed just two games in his first four years at Arsenal, playing in 197 out of 199 matches.
This was a time at transition at the club however, with manager Terry Neill being replaced by Don Howe in December 1983.
Sansom, with his bubbly personality and hilarious impressions, was a popular figure at the club and his Thursday drinking club, with teammates Tony Woodcock, Paul Mariner, Tommy Caton, Graham Rix and Charlie Nicholas, became legendary.
Despite his drinking and the start of his gambling problems, Sansom had long been established in the England side. He made his debut on 23 May 1979 in a goalless draw against Wales and featured in four major tournaments for the Three Lions; The European Championships of 1980 and 1988, and the World Cup Finals in 1982 and 1986
The 1988 Euro tournament in West Germany proved to his last. Soon afterwards Sansom lost his place at left back to Stuart Pearce, and despite a brief recall in 1989, it saw the end of his 10 year England career.
Sansom played 86 times for his country, becoming Arsenal's most capped England international and the 12th highest of all time. He scored one goal for England in a World Cup qualifier against Finland in 1984.
His consistency at club level which saw him rarely a miss a match was repeated on the international stage as his run of 37 consecutive international appearances between May 1984 and April 1987 is the third longest on the all-time list behind Billy Wright and Ron Flowers.
This proved to be the best season of Sansom's career as he lifted his first trophy for the club, the Littlewoods Cup, captaining the side to a 2-1 victory over Liverpool at Wembley.
But Sansom's Arsenal career was coming to an end, although he did not know it yet.
Over the summer of 1987, Graham had bought left back Nigel Winterburn from Wimbledon as Sansom's long term replacement, although Winterburn would play much of the 1987/88 season at right back.
However Sansom made the mistake of falling out with Graham in early 1988, and with the manager already beginning to worry about his influence on the younger members of the squad, it resulted in Sansom being stripped of the captaincy, replaced by 21 year old Tony Adams.
Sansom did keep his place in the side and played in the 1988 Littlewoods Cup final defeat to Luton Town at Wembley but he would play just three more games for the club after that, the last of which was the final match of the season at Everton.
He had played 394 matches for Arsenal, scoring six goals.
Sansom returned to Highbury with his new club in April 1989 and came close to costing his old teammates the league title.
Having earlier hit the post in the match he later had a goal disallowed and had it counted it would have seen Arsenal miss out on the title a few weeks later.
Londoner Sansom never really settled in the North-East and after their relegation from the top flight, he returned south to sign for Queens Park Rangers for £300,000 in the summer of 1989, where he would later join up with his former manager, Don Howe.
Sanson became a regular in the Rangers side over the next 18 months, during which time he helped dump Arsenal out of the FA Cup with a goal in a 2-0 Rangers victory in January 1990.
After leaving QPR in March 1991, Sansom joined Coventry City for £100,000, before playing seven games for Everton in 1993, scoring once, and eight more for Brentford in the second division.
After a short period at Diadora League side Chertsey Town during the 1993/94 season, Sansom briefly joined Watford as player/assistant manager to Glenn Roeder, although he made just one appearance for the club. He then dropped back into non-league football with Croydon and Slough Town in the 1995/96 season.
In total Sansom made 768 professional club appearances, scoring 13 goals, on top of his 86 international caps.
After his playing career ended Sansom struggled to cope with life outside football as he drifted into alcoholism and gambling as his business ventures failed.
He made a playing comeback on the veterans circuit and also appeared as a pundit on Fox Sport in Australia via satellite link.
After some work on Sky Sports and at Arsenal as a tour guide, Sansom's life took a downward spiral in February 2014 when he appeared in court charged with assault following an incident at his ex partner's property.
Although Sansom was cleared of all charges, he was later spotted drinking in a park and sleeping rough, a far cry from his 1980s heydays with Arsenal and England.
His stories are often funny but also not for the faint-hearted. It is a stark reminder that the life of a footballer is not always as glamorous as it is portrayed.
For me Sansom will always remain one of my favourite players. His forward bursts down the left wing, in tandem with Rix and Woodcock, was one of the few highlights during the difficult mid 1980s.
In a period of transition, Sansom was the one constant throughout the decade. No matter what, you could guarantee he would be in the team every week at No.3 and he rarely produced a less than 7 out of 10 performance. Mr Consistency personified.
Also at a time when having a player from your club represent England was really something special, it was great that we had a regular in the team for so many years.
Coming up next I look back at the career of someone who briefly played alongside Sansom at Highbury in the late 1980s and who won league titles with two different clubs; Kevin Richardson. Look out for that coming soon.
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