This is a brilliant and brutally honest book, up there with the very best football biographies you'll ever read. In fact, there's enough here to entertain even those with only a passing interest in the game: Merson's is a fascinating and cautionary tale. The story is eye-watering at times, as Merson takes us on a rollercoaster ride through the drink, drugs and gambling addictions which he has fought for his entire life and which plagued his career. But for every moment of horror - Merse sitting in the dark all day snorting hundreds of pounds worth of cocaine, watching the racing results on teletext and thinking about breaking his fingers so he can't phone in another bet - there are hilarious anecdotes aplenty, too (going to a gay bar with John Barnes, the utter mania of living with Gazza).
Merse may come across as a joker on TV, but this reveals how he got there. As a tale of excess, it's up there with Motley Crue's The Dirt. A must-read, and for my money, one of the books of the year.
