{"id":858512,"date":"2025-06-27T19:13:09","date_gmt":"2025-06-28T00:13:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/newsycanuse.com\/index.php\/2025\/06\/27\/gambling-plagued-my-football-career-but-now-im-looking-to-become-premier-league-manager\/"},"modified":"2025-06-27T19:13:09","modified_gmt":"2025-06-28T00:13:09","slug":"gambling-plagued-my-football-career-but-now-im-looking-to-become-premier-league-manager","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/newsycanuse.com\/index.php\/2025\/06\/27\/gambling-plagued-my-football-career-but-now-im-looking-to-become-premier-league-manager\/","title":{"rendered":"Gambling plagued my football career but now I’m looking to become Premier League manager"},"content":{"rendered":"
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Steven Caulker has revealed his ambition to become a Premier League manager, after overcoming addiction issues earlier in his playing days.<\/strong><\/p>\n

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

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Steven Caulker scored on his one and only senior England appearance in 2012<\/span>Credit: Getty Images – Getty<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Caulker joined the capital city-based club in July 2024<\/a>, with this the fifth Turkish team he has played for.<\/p>\n

Prior to his year in Ankara, the 33-year-old previously lined up for Alanyaspor,\u00a0<\/span><\/span>Fenerbahce<\/a>, Gaziantep and Fatih Karagumruk between 2019 and 2022.<\/span><\/p>\n

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

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\u00a0<\/span>switching allegiances to make his\u00a0<\/span><\/span>Sierra Leone debut<\/a>\u00a0<\/span>in 2022.<\/span><\/p>\n

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Read more on talkSPORT<\/h2>\n<\/div>\n

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.<\/p>\n

Appearing on talkSPORT’s Hawksbee and Jacobs<\/a>, he opened up on his future in the game after coming to the end of his time in Turkey.<\/p>\n

The said: \u201cI’ve just finished [in Turkey]. I’ve spent five years over there in different cities.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cI 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.<\/p>\n

\u201cI’m really looking for my next steps in football.\u201d<\/p>\n

Explaining what this would look like, Caulker then said: \u201cMy 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.\u00a0<\/p>\n

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Caulker made his Tottenham debut aged 18 in 2010<\/span>Credit: Getty Images – Getty<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
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The journeyman even enjoyed a loan spell at Liverpool in the 2015\/16 season<\/span>Credit: 2016 Liverpool FC<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

\u201cI’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.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cThe fact that I’ve played for, I think 20, teams [should help].\u201d<\/p>\n

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.<\/p>\n

Having already learned to speak Turkish, he then revealed: \u201cI’ve been learning Spanish. <\/p>\n

“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.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cMy end goal is the Premier League, but I think to get there I’m very open to go and try different countries.\u201d<\/p>\n

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Caulker has made 152 appearances in Turkish football<\/span>Credit: Getty<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

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.<\/p>\n

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<\/a> which plagued his life off the field.<\/p>\n

Discussing these issues, Caulker said: \u201cFor me it was gambling, that was my Achilles heel, let’s say.”<\/p>\n

“I was a real nightmare when it came to gambling and I struggled to get a grip of it.<\/p>\n

\u201cI 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.<\/p>\n

\u201cI 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.”<\/p>\n

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The well-travelled defender played just 50 times in three years at QPR as his struggles with addiction took over<\/span>Credit: Getty<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Taking responsibility for his struggles, he added: \u201cFootball had given me opportunities. I can’t sit here today and say: \u2018Oh they should have done better\u2019.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cAt 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.\u201d<\/p>\n

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> a year later.<\/p>\n

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.<\/p>\n

After this, Caulker spent six months without a club, and admitted he became a concern to his loved ones during this period.<\/p>\n

Reflecting on this time, he said: \u201cI became a liability, basically. <\/p>\n

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\"Caulker<\/a><\/p>\n

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Caulker opened up on battling off-the-field issues<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

“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.<\/p>\n

\u201cBecause with them, [they\u2019d 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?\u00a0<\/p>\n

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Read More on talkSPORT<\/h2>\n<\/div>\n

\u201cIt’s a really serious issue, and I’ve unfortunately lost friends to addictions and various illnesses.<\/p>\n

\u201cSo it’s taken a lot of work and it’s something that I still do today.\u00a0 I have to treat it as a daily issue, so I do a lot of work to maintain it.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

Martha Riley
Read More<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

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. 6 Steven Caulker scored on his one and only<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":858513,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[31800,144927],"tags":[11082,20542],"class_list":["post-858512","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-gambling","category-plagued","tag-gambling","tag-plagued"],"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/newsycanuse.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/858512","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/newsycanuse.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/newsycanuse.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/newsycanuse.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/newsycanuse.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=858512"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/newsycanuse.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/858512\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/newsycanuse.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/858513"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/newsycanuse.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=858512"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/newsycanuse.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=858512"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/newsycanuse.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=858512"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}