Let’s be honest, the majority of top football players are uninspiring off the field of play and most interviews you hear or read with a top star proves such.
However one previous hit man rose from the depths to reach the top of his profession and now he’s kicking back and well he should.
Tony Cascarino will be best remembered in Britain for his spells as a striker with Aston Villa (1990-91), Celtic (1991-92) and Chelsea (1992-94). However it was in France where the Republic of Ireland International really took the spotlight. ‘Big Cass’ netted 61 times for Olympique de Marseille in 84 games and 44 times for AS Nancy in 109 starts.
Before becoming a footballer the beanpole target man considered becoming a hairdresser.
Despite his Italian surname Cascarino played for the Republic of Ireland during the managerial spell of Jack Charlton and scored 19 times for the country.
After leaving football in 2000 the Kent born hit man decided that he would work on developing his already impressive poker playing talents.
He explained in a recent interview “When I finished playing, because of the system in France where you get a percentage of your salary when you finish work, I was getting £3,000 a month. So I'm sitting in France in my apartment earning £3,000 a month picking my nose and thinking "what am I gonna do with myself?"
I had a couple of media things going on, but I enjoyed playing poker and thought "maybe I should go out and learn", so I took a year out to go and play.
I lost about 70, 80 grand in that first year but that was my learning curve, so for me that was the best 80 grand I ever spent. Now I know I can play, I know I can make a profit. Last year I made double that - I made 150 grand playing poker.”
Cascarino won a Caribbean Poker classic event in November 2006 netting approximately £15,000 from that single tournament and he’s a permanent fixture at the finals of poker events across the globe.
Sponsored by Littlewoods Poker the Irish International seems as consistent at the poker table as he did in a football shirt.
