Boss Paul Jewell says he expects striker Michael Chopra to get the support of his team-mates in the Town dressing room as he continues his fight against his gambling addiction. Yesterday, keeper David Stockdale publicly showed his support for the Blues frontman via Twitter.
The Town boss expects Stockdale’s approach to Chopra’s struggle to be typical of his team-mates’ reaction: "We haven’t got a dressing room full of monks, but we’ve got to help one another and that’s what dressing rooms should do. Good dressing rooms are there to help people whether you’re in the team or out of the team and if he needs support to give it to him.
"It’s a very macho environment we live in and work in. Some of it’s a lot of nonsense, but at the end of the day we’re all human beings, we’ve all got problems or know someone who has got problems.
"Chops is just a footballer who has got major problems and has had them for years. Now he’s trying to do something about them, so let’s help him.”
Jewell says it’s the periods of time away from the club which are most difficult for someone in Chopra’s position: "When Michael leaves training and he’s on his own, that’s when the danger comes. But we can try and put things in place where he has to go to meetings.
"We’ve got to try and keep him occupied. It’s easy for me to say that because I’m not an addict but people who are addicts they take time [to deal with their problems]. But the clinic couldn’t be more pleased with him.”
Jewell says Chopra opened up to him at a meeting earlier in the week with Peter Kay, the chief executive officer of Sporting Chance: "We had a long, long chat, him, me and Peter Kay.
"We had a long meeting on Tuesday, a frank and open meeting and Michael spoke about stuff I never thought that he could.”
Despite the gambling issues, Jewell says Chopra has been very happy since joining the club in the summer: "He’s been in a great place and he’s the happiest he’s ever been.
"When he left the clinic after three weeks there, they felt he was the happiest he’s ever been because he thinks he’s starting a new life.
"I don’t know, because he’s been through so many false dawns, but I think this is the furthest he’s ever been and the most determined he’s ever been.
"He’ll get all my help and all my staff’s help, all the club’s help. We ask the media not to write or say stuff which doesn’t do us any favours.
"He needs help and I’m prepared to give it to him and I’m sure the whole club and the supporters will be too.”
One of those false dawns was in 2008 during his time playing for ex-Town manager Roy Keane at Sunderland when he also spent time at Sporting Chance.
Jewell says the Newcastle-born frontman, who has attended two meetings since returning to Portman Road, has been in a more serious form of rehab this time around: "He spoke about that, he said Roy had him in the clinic but it was a daily thing. He said when he came out he went straight into the betting shop.
"This one has been 24 hours a day, you don’t watch TV until after 6pm, you go to meetings, you’re allowed your phone for an hour a day. There’s no getting away from it and Michael threw his heart and soul into it, he said to me. Again, I just hope and pray that he’s on the road to recovery.”
The Blues manager, who admitted that he thought Chopra had lied to him about his situation earlier in the season, says players with personal problems may seem fine when they’re on the field but beneath the surface that’s not necessarily the case: "When I spoke to the experts they said that when they cross the white line everything seems OK but it actually isn’t because they’ve got that many things on their mind.
"He’s got a clear mind [at the moment], we want him to have a clear mind and he’ll definitely be playing on Saturday at Millwall. He’s been training all week after missing three weeks’ training.”
Jewell says the decision to rest his £1 million summer signing from Cardiff during the Crystal Palace game came as a result of his lack of training while in the clinic: "He did about an hour a day with their fitness guy but that’s nothing to what it’s like here, he didn’t have any contact with the football, there was no sharpness.
"I took a decision to play him [in earlier games] because I thought after he scored against Brighton he would go on a roll, and against Cardiff he did score. Obviously he didn’t against Portsmouth and I left him out on Saturday because physically and mentally he was knackered.”
The Blues manager hopes Town fans will be behind Chopra, who has scored five goals so far this season: "We can’t affect other supporters. There’s a fine line between banter and just going over the top. I don’t expect some supporters to understand that.
"Never mind the rest of the country, I’m talking about our supporters and they’ll be behind Michael. They’ll be behind what he’s trying to do and he just needs our help and he just needs loving. He’s a nice kid.
"There’s nothing wrong with a bit of humour in any walk of life. Sometimes a smile or a bit of satire can help break the ice and even help with his rehab. But you wouldn’t joke about it if it was [another] illness. He’s got the illness of gambling and we’re trying to help him put it right.”
The likes of Paul Merson and Steve Claridge have addressed similar issues during their time as players and Jewell says it shows courage to do so in the public eye: "I think there are a lot more people in football and in life who won’t talk about it. The brave thing is coming out there an admitting it.
"It’s not easy to come and hold your hand up and say ‘I’m ill, I’ve got a problem, I need help and I’m going to go to a clinic’ because people have this idea of people in clinics in straitjackets and stuff like that. It’s not like that.
"He’s got an illness that he’s standing up to that can be cured, can be dealt with and we’re doing everything we can and I want the club — and in that I include the supporters and the media — to try and help him get over that addiction.”