Michael Chopra believes more needs to be done by football authorities to prevent players following his path to gambling addiction as the former striker urged anyone struggling to seek help this Christmas.

The 36-year-old’s career took him from his hometown club Newcastle to the likes of Cardiff, Sunderland and Ipswich, along with pitstops in India and Scotland.

Chopra spent much of his playing days fighting a gambling addiction that led him to spend time with the Sporting Chance clinic set-up by Tony Adams, who earlier this year said football is dealing with a gambling “epidemic”.

The betting industry is inextricably linked with sport and the former Premier League striker believes work needs to be done to help the players of tomorrow.

“And the most important thing is if you have a problem you’ve got to speak them out because, at the end of the day, everybody’s here to help you.

“Everybody that has addictions needs help and people don’t realise what people have problems, when people have problems.

“Look, don’t be afraid. There’s nothing to be afraid about because the end of the day there’s light at the end of the tunnel.”

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