Livingston defender encourages others to talk after sharing suicide bid story

Livingston defender Cristian Montano has encouraged others to talk about their mental health struggles after recalling the time he tried to take his own life.

The Colombian, currently in his third season with the Lions, had just been sacked from Oldham Athletic in 2013 after wrongly being accused of match-fixing.

Add in the fact he had suffered an ACL injury, he found himself unemployed and unable to rehab properly. That’s when he confessed to being at his lowest point and believed there was ‘no way out’.

Thankfully he was found by his partner and mother and he says that the turning point was ‘realising I was loved’.

Recalling that period of his life, which started with his sacking by Oldham in 2013, the 32-year-old said: “I was around about 22 when I tried to take my own life.

“I had just been sacked from Oldham, having been wrongly accused of match-fixing. I never got given a chance to explain myself by the club. I was left in the deep end, on my own with no club. I’d just done my ACL as well. They didn’t rehab me and I was facing court cases. I thought my life was over really.

“To be fair, I was stupid and silly enough to think like that because I thought I was the only one going through it and felt there was no way out. For me, once I got so deep and close to doing it, my mum and my missus found me and I spoke to them and realised I was loved.”

Despite the charges being dropped, Montano insists no club in England would go near him, which resulted in him rebuilding his life, and career, back home in Colombia where he eventually signed for America de Cali.

He recalled: “I decided to go home to Colombia because no team in England wanted to give me a chance.

“They believed everything they read in the news. Sometimes you