Paul Canoville critically ill

[I'm With Stupid]

Paul Canoville: Former Chelsea winger, 58, critically ill in hospital after emergency surgery​

Former Chelsea winger Paul Canoville is critically ill in hospital after emergency surgery.

The 58-year-old was the club's first black player when he signed in 1981 and scored 15 goals in 103 games before retiring with a knee injury aged 25.

Canoville runs his own foundation and has been a prominent anti-racism campaigner.

The Blues have wished him a rapid recovery, saying he "holds a major place in Chelsea history".

Story

He's a bit before my time so I decided to look him up. He really has had no luck in his life.

Raised by a single mum
Forced to live in hostels when she moved in with her boyfriend
Got falsely accused of rape
Became Chelsea's first ever black player and got shitloads of racist abuse
Forced to retire from injury at 25
Became a DJ
Got addicted to crack and sold all of his equipment
Cleaned himself up
Got cancer and recovered
Got addicted to crack again
Got cancer again
Recovered and cleaned himself up again
Became a teaching assistant
Started a charity
And in all of that time, had 11 children with 10 different women

Not surprisingly, his 2008 autobiography won a lot of awards. Hope he makes a quick recovery, because he seems like someone who's been through a lot of shit and managed to get his life back on track.

 

[jimharri]

From an era that a lot of present day Chelsea fans will be unaware of. Hopefully, he pulls through. Though, reading between the lines, it doesn't sound good.

 

[Sky Blue Thinking]

Hope he makes it through, has dealt with some rough stuff over the years including from his own teams support.

 

[crublue1]

Where are they now: Paul Canoville

Paul Canoville's memoir Black and Blue,details his incredible story and has won several awards and inspired a TV documentary in 2015.

www.thepfa.com

 

[crublue1]

Interview above.
Lovely fella get well soon

 

[paulchapo]

I remember him, not a bad player for Chelsea but sadly injury cut it short. Chelsea was extremely racist back then, probably more than most clubs, it must have been tough on the lad. I hope he pulls through.

 

[jimharri]

I remember him, not a bad player for Chelsea but sadly injury cut it short. Chelsea was extremely racist back then, probably more than most clubs, it must have been tough on the lad. I hope he pulls through.

A section of their fanbase is still living in that era. Sad to see it.

 

[Vienna_70]

I hope he recovers soon.

Get well, Paul.

 

[Vialli98]

From an era that a lot of present day Chelsea fans will be unaware of. Hopefully, he pulls through. Though, reading between the lines, it doesn't sound good.

I agree. He was a bit before even my time but I was raised by the generation that watched him. One of my favourite Chelsea player in the club's history because of what he represents. Apparently in his book talks about how highly he regards Pat Nevin because in the mid eighties Nevin sat a post match press conference and used it to berate the racist Chelsea fans who were routinely shouting racist abuse at him. I've always wanted to meet him and tell him what an inspiration he'll always be.

Thoughts are with him and I really hope he makes a full recovery.

 

[eyalluvitt]

A section of their fanbase is still living in that era. Sad to see it.

Still a section in every fans base, United fans only last week racially abusing their own online.