Aber: My day of reckoning

Apr 23 2009 by Andrew Newport, Paisley Daily Express

THERE are many dates that have stuck in Billy Abercromby’s memory.

Thinking about the summer day back in 1975 when he was signed by Alex Ferguson as a schoolboy apprentice for St Mirren still makes him smile.

And the game 11 years later, on October 29, 1986, when he sealed his hard-man image forever after being shown THREE red cards during a bad-tempered clash with Motherwell is hard to forget.

Then there is May 16, 1987 – the day when ‘Aber’ skippered the Buddies to a Scottish Cup Final win over Dundee United at Hampden.

All of these events will stay with the former midfielder for the rest of his days.

But August 6, 2007, is without doubt the most important date in Billy’s entire life.

For it was then that a doctor walked into a hospital room and presented alcoholic Billy with a stark choice – keep boozing and die or quit the drink and give yourself a chance of survival.

Thankfully for Billy, he would make the right choice but he admits it was not an easy decision.

He told the Paisley Daily Express: “I can remember that day – August 6, two years ago – when I was admitted to hospital and the doctor took one look at me and said there was something seriously wrong.

“I remember sitting there and my skin was just yellow. The doctor came back with a scan of my liver and it was almost entirely black but there was a wee pink spot right at the end of the scan. I asked ‘What’s that?’

“The doctor turned and said to me ‘That’s all you’ve got left. If that goes, you go.’

“That tiny bit of pink liver was all that was keeping me alive. One more drink and I could die.

“From then, I decided to go cold turkey. It was a shock but was also the shock I needed.”

Billy, 50, lifted the lid on his amazing life story as he spoke to the Express about his autobiography – Aber’s Gonnae Get Ye! – which went on sale this week.

These days, the St Mirren legend is back healthy and sober, much to the relief of the Paisley faithful.

Billy is now a familiar face at St Mirren Park as he cheers on the Buddies in SPL matches and mingles with the fans who adore him.

Wearing a blue shirt and dark trousers, he looked smart and relaxed as he sat down in the new stadium to explain to the Express why he has decided that now is the time to tell his life story.

Inspirational

One of ‘Fergie’s Furies’, Billy was an inspirational figure on the park – a midfield dynamo who was never scared to leave his foot in a tackle.

Such fearless displays earned him the notorious ditty that is now the title of his tell-all book – Aber’s Gonnae Get Ye!

But, just months after leading Saints to their Scottish Cup triumph in 1987, Billy’s life started to slide into a drunken pit which would taken him 15 years to climb out of.

“Just three months after I lifted the cup, I was in a wheelchair coming back from a European tie with a Norwegian side called Tromso,” he recalled. “I had snapped my Achilles and had to have my leg put in a full plaster cast.

“I was out injured for five months but came back too soon and snapped it again. I was out of the game for a year, maybe longer and, during that time, I didn’t have a thing to do.

“I was staying in Kilbarchan then and that’s when I started drinking. That was the start of the downward spiral.

“It was a crazy year. I couldn’t walk for the most part, so all I had to do with my time was drink.”

Billy did eventually return to fitness but not with his beloved St Mirren.

He signed on with First Division side Partick Thistle in a player/coach role, helping out legendary Firhill boss John Lambie.

Things did not work out in his native Maryhill, however, and Billy was soon back playing in the Premier League with Dunfermline.

He followed up his brief spell in Fife with short stints at Inverness, Raith Rovers, Airdrie, East Stirling and Cowdenbeath before finally signing off with junior outfit Kilbirnie Ladeside.

Without an education or a trade to fall back on, Billy returned to alcohol to see him through the days.

Quickly, those days turned to years.

“I had been on a death wish really,” he admitted. “I had so much time on my hands that boredom just set in.

“However, I don’t think I ever really realised the depths of it. I look back now and it was a gradual process.

“I was off on the sick. I had no interest in life and was doing absolutely nothing. I didn’t know what to do with myself.

“When I left my old school, St Columba’s in Maryhill, I signed straight away for St Mirren and Sir Alex.

“I didn’t know anything else other than football and, when I finished playing, I just didn’t know what to do.

“I didn’t want help. I chose the road I went down and, once you’re on it, it’s hard to come off.

“I’m talking about 10 years that just turned into oblivion. There was no one dark day. Every day was a dark day. Every day was groundhog day.

“Where I live is just a few minutes from Milngavie and the countryside.

“There’s lots of canals and places to go and disappear.

“I would just go for a walk and feed the swans and the ducks with a bottle of sherry in my hand.”

Those dark days are now thankfully behind Billy but he knows how close he came to the end.

The fact he has survived to tell the tale in his book has merely stiffened his resolve to make the most of life.

He said: “I’m really proud of myself that I have been able to turn my life around. I was once so bad that I was at the Last Rites stage. It was a toss of the coin as to whether I’d make it or not.

“If someone had told me 18 months ago that I’d be feeling great and writing a book about all my stories, I would not have believed them.

Battle

“I feel great now but, to be honest, there are still times when it is a battle.

“At least it is a battle I feel like I’m winning.”

l ‘Aber’s Gonnae Get Ye!’, by Billy Abercromby and Fraser Kirkwood, is published by Macdonald Media Publishing and is priced £9.99.

The book, right, is available to buy from Provan Sports, in Causeyside Street, Paisley.

Buddies will also find it stocked in the WH Smith stores in Paisley’s High Street and Braehead in Renfrew, as well as Waterstones, also at Braehead.