‘Goodison Gazza’ Billy Kenny: ‘The only time I’ve had peace was when I was locked up’
Billy Kenny was a highly rated Everton midfielder whose career collapsed after he developed a cocaine addiction as a teenager. In an interview, he describes his anger that the club did not support him, alongside his own regret and responsibility, and recounts years of addiction, depression and imprisonment. His story highlights the drinking culture around young players in 1990s football and raises questions about the support available to them.
Kenny made 23 appearances for Everton, as well as brief spells at Oldham and Barrow, before retiring from professional football aged 21. He says he has been sober since his mother’s death 15 years ago, when he stopped drinking and taking drugs on the day of her funeral. He compares the lack of help he experienced with the mental-health support now available at Everton’s training ground, and discusses his complicated feelings about former manager Howard Kendall.
- A promising Everton career ended amid addiction and a lack of support.
- Kenny says he has been sober since his mother died 15 years ago.
- His account reflects the drinking culture in 1990s football.
Both sides, in good faith
The strongest fair case each way — we don't pick a winner.
The case for
Football clubs have a duty of care towards the young athletes in their employ, particularly given the documented drinking culture of 1990s football and the vulnerability of teenagers in high-pressure environments. Everton possessed institutional resources, knowledge, and authority to intervene in Kenny's clear struggles, yet failed to act. The club benefited from his talent whilst being positioned to recognise warning signs that others might have missed. That modern Everton now offers dedicated mental-health support demonstrates such intervention is both feasible and valuable—suggesting the historical inaction reflected institutional indifference rather than genuine incapability.
The case against
Whilst institutions can provide resources and support, individuals retain agency and responsibility for their own choices and recovery. Kenny was old enough to make decisions about substance use, and lasting change—as his 15 years of sobriety demonstrate—ultimately comes from personal commitment rather than external rescue. Creating expansive expectations that employers must prevent addiction risks infantilising adults and obscuring the accountability that underpins genuine recovery. Clubs cannot reasonably be expected to function as therapeutic institutions; the standard of perfection implied by such expectations sets an impossible bar and conflates reasonable welfare provision with a duty to overcome an individual's determined choices.