Former Manchester United goalkeeper Roy Carroll fears his reputation for being a heavy drinker may wreck plans for a Premier League return.
Carroll is a free agent after leaving Denmark's Odense.
He told The Sun: "Look at Brad Friedel, David James, Edwin Van Der Sar - he's got better with age. But my reputation's made things tough.
"At West Ham I suffered a back injury, was out for six months, had been replaced by Robert Green and I became really depressed.
"I went through a stage of my life when I was binge drinking. I was stupid. All I wanted to do was go out and drink. I then woke up one day and said this could not continue.
"I thought if I don't sort it out, I'd end up six foot under.
"At training on Monday and Tuesdays, I didn't want to know. Alan Pardew was wonderful with me, though, and was very understanding.
"I went into rehab and ended up in the news pages of your paper.
"Yet my mistake was that I tried to push it under the carpet and I never spoke about it publicly, like I am today.
"Since then, whenever something bad has happened or I made a mistake, it has been 'Roy Carroll has a bad attitude - he drinks and gambles'.
"At West Ham, we played poker in the team hotels but it was never the major problem.
"I still play poker with friends now and I enjoy it. As for going to the bookies, I do not understand racing or know why anyone would want to put money on football as there is no enjoyment in that."
