Matt Piper: 'I’m a nice guy but I was a very different person at that time'

It’s 8 am, a hungover Matt Piper, former Leicester City player, wakes up. He looks to the side and grabs the whiskey bottle on the table next to him and takes a shot. In joggers and a t-shirt, he walks into the kitchen and opens the pill cabinet, he takes a puff from the spliff he just rolled and finishes the whiskey with the mix of tablets in his hand. He walks out the door towards the graveyard near his house. With no socks or shoes, no keys or phone, he isn’t planning to go back home. His mother finds Matt in a coma state on top of his grandad’s grave, that he has laid on ready to die.

Matt Piper, now 41, born and bred in Leicester, is currently living near Glenfield. He started at the Leicester Academy at eight years old and signed his first professional contract with Leicester City at 19 years old in year 2000. He had a promising career and was an impressive player with a bright future who was loved by the fans. He was only 17 years old when he first made his debut for the first team, and they flew up to Newcastle on a private jet. “In that moment I knew that this is what I want to do.” he says, reminiscing about the experience.

In August 2002, City sold him to Sunderland for £3.5 million. “Imagine being at your hometown club since eight years old, you dream of playing for the first team, you get there, your shirt is the most sold one during the summer, and then you get sold,” Matt says. He packed his whole life and career at City in one black bag, he put the bag in the boot of his car and in that moment, he became a Sunderland player. Matt´s career was cut short when he suffered injuries that made him go through rehab and had in total 19 knee operations before he retired from football completely at the age of 26.

It was hard for him to go from having a job that he was passionate about and loved, to having a 9-5 job that he didn’t love. This is where life got difficult for Matt. He became addicted to alcohol, weed and coke 18 months after retiring. Drinking made him forget about his issues and was consuming up to 1,5 litre Whisky a day. His money was running out and he continued to live lavishly even though he wasn’t a footballer anymore and blew £450,000 in 25 months.

Matt always wanted to be a dad and that’s one of the reasons he retired so early to avoid having more operations. He wanted to be able to take his kids out to the playground and be an active dad. However, retiring also affected his mental health.

So, there came a point in his life where drinking was all he did and he wasn’t allowed to see his two children. One morning in 2009 Matt woke up hungover and depressed, feeling that he had lost everything he’s ever wanted: a football career and his kids. As well as his friends and family. He wrapped a spliff, took a shot of whiskey and sank the cocktail of tablets he had in the palm of his hand. Barefoot in joggers and a t-shirt he walked out of his front door. He walked, with a knot in his stomach and heart palpitation, to the graveyard where his grandad was laid to rest. When he got there, he laid on top of his grandads grave and passed out, ready to die. His mother was the one who found him in a coma state on top of the grave. His first memory when waking up at Leicester Royal Infirmary was of the two doctors arguing about sectioning him.

Matt went to a rehab centre for athletes and lived there for eight weeks going to daily therapy sessions and seeing a councillor. He met people who had had similar journeys and who had found new passions in life. “You become who you hang around with, out of the positions you put yourself in.” Matt says, emphasising the importance of surrounding yourself with people that motivate you to grow to the person you want to become.

Matt grew up in Beaumont Leys spending time on the street with his friends, not caring about school, all they wanted to do was to play football. When Matt was 16, he signed a contract with City but 12 of his friends didn’t receive a contract.

“Ever since that age, I thought it would be important to have an academy that uses football as a carrot and focuses on education.” Matt says, explaining the concept of the Leicester based academy he has built: Football and Sports diploma.

Not having a purpose other than football was his biggest regret, that’s what he wants to provide for the kids at the academy.

Today, Matt has restored all his relationships, his four kids live with him 3,5 days a week.

“It gives me comfort to be reliable to my kids, my wife, the kids I work with at the academy, that’s the best thing about me now,” he says.

It is weird for Matt to look back at point of where he wanted to take his own life to being where he is now.

“What I feel about this story is that that guy was not me.” Matt rounds up, understanding that the lowest point in his life was just a part of an inspiring journey.