Chris Sutton and Micah Richards open up on mental health struggles after Wayne Rooney interview

Former footballers Chris Sutton and Micah Richards have spoken about the difficulties of dealing with life in the public eye as a player, with Richards saying at one point in his career he was «borderline depressed».

Their comments come after Wayne Rooney said he turned to drink to cope with the pressures of fame.

Sutton said he struggled with being treated like «a laughing stock».

Richards said he often had to put on a brave face and hide his true feelings.

The pair were giving their thoughts on BBC Radio 5 live's Monday Night Club following revealing interviews by England's all-time record scorer Rooney, who spoke about the impact of going from growing up on a Liverpool council estate to becoming a superstar of English football.

Ex-striker Sutton had a hugely successful career that spanned the 1990s and early 2000s and enjoyed prolific spells at Norwich, Blackburn and Celtic. He won the Premier League in 1995 with Blackburn and the Scottish Premier League four times with Celtic.

However, he had a difficult spell at Chelsea in 1999-2000 as he scored just one league goal before departing Stamford Bridge.

«I can laugh about it now but in my time at Chelsea when I was going through a difficult phase I'd keep things to myself,» he said.

«When things were going wrong and I was the laughing stock in the national press and there were caricatures. I used to behave like I didn't care but it killed me and I was too ashamed to speak to my dad about it and my wife. That had a big effect on me. Eventually I worked my way out of it.

»Looking back, now my career is finished, I know I would have handled things differently and maybe gone and spoke to my manager and coach but in the football environment I found it a very difficult thing to do,