One of the more random stories we featured on the site this year was a tale told by Jamie Redknapp on Sky One's 'A League Of Their Own'.
The former Liverpool and Tottenham man had James Corden gasping for air with laughter, and while that is something that takes place roughly seven or eight times in a single episode, this one was truly bizarre.
Redknapp explained how Emmanuel Eboue was trying to convert him to Christianity, and send him his 'thought for the day' every morning having become acquainted by their sons both playing football with Arsenal.
It was a funny TV moment, and it gave many people a laugh, but in a revealing interview with The Telegraph where Eboue admitted that his year-long ban from football resulted in suicidal thoughts, the Ivory Coast international gave his side of the story.
Despite some of his friends alerting him to the fact that Redknapp was laughing at him in their words, Eboue saw no problem and even texted Jamie to make sure he wasn't bothering him with his 'though fpr the day' messages.
I pray a lot and read a lot of the Bible. Every morning at 4 o’clock when I wake up I pray, read the Bible and write a message in my phone and every day I will send a thought for the day to each person in my contacts book. A few people said: ‘Hey, he’s laughing at you on television.’ I think he thought it was just him I was sending the messages to when actually I send them to everyone in my phone.
So I sent him a message saying, ‘Jamie, I’m very sorry, I didn’t pick on you, it’s just what I do each day.’ So he sent me a message straight back saying ‘No, it’s no problem, it was just a joke’ so it’s not a big deal.
It's good to know that he saw the funny side of the situation, as he also revealed to James Ducker that he suffered from depression since being released by Sunderland after a FIFA ban for failing to pay an agent.
He says that the support of his family prevented him doing anything drastic, but also admitted that people asking about his current situation can bring him down from time to time.
There are a lot of days when I don’t feel like getting out of bed,” he says. “One day I wanted to kill myself. My family keep me strong, it’s them that I have to think about but if I was alone, I worry about what I’d have done to myself by now.
There are times when I stay in my bedroom and don’t come out. One, two days in that room. Alone. I lock the door and am just thinking. I spend a lot of my time reading the Bible and will say, ‘Emmanuel, why are you doing that? It’s no good for your family’.
My son Mathis is seven and plays for Arsenal’s academy. Every time I go there with him people ask me what’s going on and it makes it worse. ‘Emmanuel, have you retired?’ So I have to explain my situation. It makes me more depressed. The people who know me, when they see my face, they can tell I’m not happy. This is the lowest I’ve been in my career, it’s a bad time.
During his playing days, Eboue was portrayed as a larger than life character who had his teammates in stitches on a regular basis, but having that day to day interation with his peers in a changing room clearly took a big toll on Eboue, who now appears to be in a better head space.
He did also offer a story that shows just what a big personality he was in the Arsenal team, as he even had The Queen laughing when the Gunners visited Buckingham Palace.
We went there and Thierry Henry said to me: ‘Please, Emmanuel, this is Buckingham Palace, it’s the Queen’s house, don’t do anything.' “‘No problem,’ I said. ‘Don’t worry’. So the Queen came in and went along shaking each player’s hand.
After she’d finished I saw all her corgis so I said, ‘Ma’am, Ma’am’. She turned back and asked, ‘How are you?’ and I said, ‘Ma’am, I am OK thank you but please, I don’t want to be a footballer any more, I want to look after your dogs. I want to take them for walks, wash them, feed them. I want to be a dog carer.
The Queen, honestly, she was laughing. Prince Philip was laughing too. All the team were laughing.
You don't hear that everyday.
Eboue has not retired and wishes to resume playing once his ban is lifted, and for the time being he is training to keep fit. His interview with James Ducker was a very interesting read and you can see it in full over on Telegraph.co.uk.
