For some players, the dream of a successful football career ends up turning into a nightmare, and for one ex-Newcastle player, a moment of madness has probably seen him kiss goodbye to the game he loves.
Though he didn’t make a senior appearance for the Magpies, Marcus Maddison started his career at the club before stints at Charlton, Bolton and Darlington amongst others.
At 29 years of age, he could be, with respect, regarded as a journeyman professional.
Perhaps the knowledge of not having really made it in the game saw him resort to heavy drinking which in turn was apparently the cause of a drunken assault in a kebab shop which saw a female standing in the queue get her jaw broken by Maddison.
According to The Sun, a row ensued because of some queue jumping, before the footballer verbally abused the woman’s young daughter and then launched himself at his 60-year-old victim.
“My jaw was broken in multiple places. I can’t eat on the left-hand side of my mouth. I have problems with my teeth,” she recounted.
“I can no longer smell properly and have been on various different medications by my general practitioner to treat various ongoing issues.
“I’ve been a regular visitor to my GP since the assault. I have nerve damage to my face on the left-hand side and my taste buds are damaged.”
His QC apparently told the court that he has stopped drinking as a result of his behaviour on that night, but that didn’t seem to find favour as he was sent to prison for 20 months.
By the time he gets out he will be almost 32, won’t have been match fit for almost two years and is therefore unlikely to be able to pick up his career where he left off.