Gambling plagued my football career but now I’m looking to become Premier League manager

Steven Caulker has revealed his ambition to become a Premier League manager, after overcoming addiction issues earlier in his playing days.

The former Tottenham, Liverpool and Queen’s Park Rangers defender recently wrapped up the latest chapter of his well-travelled career with Turkish second-tier outfit Ankara Keciorengucu.

Caulker joined the capital city-based club in July 2024, with this the fifth Turkish team he has played for.

Prior to his year in Ankara, the 33-year-old previously lined up for Alanyaspor, Fenerbahce, Gaziantep and Fatih Karagumruk between 2019 and 2022.

But that barely scratches the surface when it comes to Caulker‘s huge football CV, which has seen him represent 17 different clubs at senior level since rising through the youth ranks at Spurs.

On top of spells at six Premier League sides, the centre-back’s remarkable career includes representing Great Britain at the London Olympics, scoring on his only England appearance, before switching allegiances to make his Sierra Leone debut in 2022.

And Caulker’s next goal is one which would see yet another twist in his incredible story, who has shared his plans to become a manager at the very highest level.

Appearing on talkSPORT’s Hawksbee and Jacobs, he opened up on his future in the game after coming to the end of his time in Turkey.

The said: “I’ve just finished [in Turkey]. I’ve spent five years over there in different cities. 

“I had a good time. I’ve really enjoyed it but I feel now stepping away from Turkey, it’s probably the right time for me to look for a coaching job.

“I’m really looking for my next steps in football.”

Explaining what this would look like, Caulker then said: “My goal for the next 10 years is to be a manager in the Premier League. How I’m going to get there – it remains to be seen. 

“I’m working hard. I’ve been doing my licenses and picking up as much as I can from the unbelievable network I’ve got in football. 

“The fact that I’ve played for, I think 20, teams [should help].”

With a stint as player-manager of Spanish fifth-tier side Malaga City in 2024 his only previous managerial experience, Caulker then revealed he planned to draw on his time spent on the continent in a bid to help his coaching career.

Having already learned to speak Turkish, he then revealed: “I’ve been learning Spanish.

“Obviously that [spell with Malaga City] got cut short, but I’ve still got my Duolingo app, trying to pick up some pieces. I like the idea of working and playing abroad. 

“My end goal is the Premier League, but I think to get there I’m very open to go and try different countries.”

And while the latter end of Caulker’s playing career has seen him enjoy a wealth of experiences he hopes to take into his coaching journey, his early days in football were a different story.

Despite establishing himself a first-team regular at the age of just 20 at Spurs in the 2012/13 season, he has talked openly in the past about his struggles with drinking and gambling which plagued his life off the field.

Discussing these issues, Caulker said: “For me it was gambling, that was my Achilles heel, let’s say.”

“I was a real nightmare when it came to gambling and I struggled to get a grip of it.

“I started at 15 actually, before I played football. I didn’t get signed by Tottenham until after that, but gambling just plagued my whole career and as a result of that, when I then drank I would then abuse the alcohol because I was sort of drowning my sorrows.

“I had severe depression, and until I accepted that I needed to take medication for that, until I accepted that I needed to go to the 12 steps recovery and start that process, I was a mess.”

Taking responsibility for his struggles, he added: “Football had given me opportunities. I can’t sit here today and say: ‘Oh they should have done better’. 

“At times maybe they could have done better, but I needed to do better. I needed to take responsibility and it took me until [I was] about 26/27-years old until I was able to do that.”

Regarded as a promising talent, Caulker’s career at White Hart Lane never quite took off, and he later joined Cardiff in 2013, before signing for QPR a year later.

It was here that the Londoner reached an all-time low, whose contract at Loftus Road was mutually terminated in December 2017, with his spell at Dundee that followed lasting just six months.

After this, Caulker spent six months without a club, and admitted he became a concern to his loved ones during this period.

Reflecting on this time, he said: “I became a liability, basically.

“And I’ve had to work really, really hard to change that, not just for my career but most importantly for myself and my family.

“Because with them, [they’d be] sat there worried about when I’m coming back from a bender, or what day I’m going to show up, and [wondering] am I going to be okay? Am I going to be alive? 

“It’s a really serious issue, and I’ve unfortunately lost friends to addictions and various illnesses.

“So it’s taken a lot of work and it’s something that I still do today.  I have to treat it as a daily issue, so I do a lot of work to maintain it.”