RAZOR: HOW I CAME BACK FROM THE EDGE...

And you can too.. by getting stuck into Dry January

- EMMELINE SAUNDERS

THIS time five years ago, Neil "Razor" Ruddock would have been nursing an almighty festive season hangover while his wife, Leah, and their two daughters waited for him to get ready.

There may have been raised voices and slammed doors, before Neil would meet pals down the pub for yet another day of drinking.

Now, the 56-year-old former footballer is looking forward to ringing in 2025 with a clear head.

By 2020, years of hard partying, drinking and gorging on unhealthy food had taken its toll. His weight had soared to 27 stone and he had a heart arrhythmia.

Doctors told him he had weeks to live if he did not change his ways.

Robbie Williams video-called him from LA begging him to stop drinking, while former team-mate Robbie Fowler was having concerned conversations with "his rock", Leah, behind his back.

It was not until a confrontation with his England team-mate Paul Merson - caught on camera in the ITV show Harry's Heroes: Euro Having A Laugh - that Razor realised how serious the situation had become.

The show, ostensibly about Harry Redknapp getting a team of former England stars fighting fit so they could take on the Germans, showed Merse begging Ruddock to cut down on his drinking, saying, "you were like me nine months ago.

Strictly Come Dancing star Paul, who has spoken about his battles with booze, cocaine and gambling, told his friend "I care for you" before Razor shouted at him to "f*** off!" They made up and Razor tearfully admitted he had a point.