Man United title winner opens up on battle with depression and anxiety after being brutally mocked – with Gary Lineker apologising to him

• A former Manchester United star says he used to be anxious to leave the house 
• Now he is the director of a football coaching school and has an autobiography
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By LUKE POWER

A former Manchester United star says he used to be anxious to leave the house because of mockery over his looks. 

Luke Chadwick, who won the Premier League in 2001, says the ‘abuse’ left him feeling ‘helpless’ and unable to bring it up to anyone. 

The academy graduate played alongside the likes of David Beckham and Roy Keane but that status did not shelter him from mockery over his looks. 

Chadwick was the weekly butt of jokes on BBC TV show They Think It’s All Over, something he has previously said would ‘eat away’ at him. 

Host Nick Hancock and Gary Lineker, a team captain, have apologised down the years.

Chadwick told BBC Sport: ‘As a 19, 20-year-old it should have been the best time of my life but for a period of time… I didn’t want to go to the shops, I didn’t want to go out with my friends… I would just want to stay at home because I was so scared that people would talk about the way that I looked.

Former Manchester United star Luke Chadwick (left) has revealed he became anxious to leave the house after being mocked for his looks as a player

Chadwick was regularly mocked for his looks on the BBC show They Think It’s All Over

Gary Lineker, who was a team captain on the show, has since apologised for the ‘hurt’ caused

Chadwick came through Manchester United’s academyh and played alongside David Beckham

He is now the director of the Football Fun Factory, a coaching and experience network

‘I think it was away from the game that it affected me more, and it was something that I became obsessed by internally, and I didn’t like leaving the house because, in my mind, I would just be abused or teased about the way I looked when, in reality, that wouldn’t be the case.

‘My thoughts were to be vulnerable was to be weak – ‘I can’t show any sign of weakness’ – when, in reality, our vulnerability is our biggest strength,’ he says.

‘I wasn’t able to speak about it to anyone – not even my family, my friends – it was something that I kept so deep inside… and probably felt helpless, in a way, because I just didn’t know how to deal with it… and I just wanted it to stop, really.

‘It wasn’t until I came away from Manchester United, and the spotlight’s not on you as much… that I was able to rebuild my confidence and live a really happy life.

‘Football was always the place I felt free; the place where I didn’t think about anything else.’ 

Chadwick, 44, has released an autobiography called Not Just a Pretty Face, sharing stories from his career. 

He is now the director at the Football Fun Factory, providing training and experiences for toddlers and children in over 50 locations across the UK. 

The midfielder from Cambridgeshire was scouted by United aged 14 and Sir Alex Ferguson rang his mother to grease the wheels of him signing up.

He went on to make 39 appearances for United before spending time at Royal Antwerp, Reading, Burnley, West Ham, Stoke, Norwich, MK Dons, and Cambridge United in a career which encompassed all of England’s top five divisions.  

Gary LinekerManchester United

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Man United title winner opens up on battle with depression and anxiety after being brutally mocked – with Gary Lineker apologising to him

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