The cafeteria of a remote psychiatric unit in Norway might seem as far removed as you could get from the glamour of the English Premier League but it is not long before a direct connection is very starkly made.

“Every week I played in front of 50,000 people but when my career was over, everyday life became empty,” Claus Lundekvam tells 20 of the centre’s users.

“Nothing could replace the adrenalin kick. The drug and alcohol abuse went very far. I ruined myself and messed up for everyone around me – my wife, daughters, parents.

“I had a heart attack. Took overdoses. Eventually it went so far that I simply gave up. I could not live any more. I thought it was better for my family that I was dead. There has been a journey to hell for me to become drug-free but I am grateful that I’m standing here today. Alive.”

Lundekvam was voted only last month by Southampton fans into their all-time starting XI and, ahead of Sunday’s FA Cup semi-final against Chelsea, was in the club’s last team to reach the FA Cup final, against Arsenal in 2003.

According to Lasse Hjelle, with whom he now travels around Norway to encourage people with drug and mental health problems to exercise regularly as part of the ground-breaking Psychiatric Alliance project, he also retains “pop star” fame in his homeland. You could certainly hear a pin drop on Tuesday as Lundekvam spoke and, when we later sat down over coffee near the Bergen flat that he shares with his 18-year-old daughter Tia and a border collie called ‘Lucky’, his candour remained startling.