Soccer Aid star Aaron Lennon’s ‘life was saved’ when he was sectioned after police stand-off

Aaron Lennon will be competing in this weekend’s rendition of Soccer Aid at Old Trafford, more than eight years after he was sectioned under the Mental Health Act

Aaron Lennon will be one of many celebrities and ex-players raising money for charity at Soccer Aid. Lennon, 38, retired from football in November 2022, having played for Leeds United, Tottenham Hotspur, Everton, Burnley and Kayserispor.

It may be an emotional return to the pitch for the former Spurs ace and England international. In 2017, while he was still playing for Everton, Lennon was in a stand-off with police, who responded to calls that a man’s life was in danger at the side of a busy road.

He was picked up by cops in Salford, where he was close to the M602. Officers spent around 20 minutes negotiating with the former wide midfielder before detaining him under section 136 of the Mental Health Act.

It’s understood he was detained for around half an hour before officers took him to Salford hospital for assessment at a mental health unit. Everton would go on to confirm that Lennon was receiving care for a “stress-related illness” at the time.

Looking back on what happened, Lennon admitted his sectioning may have saved his life. He opened up about the saga while speaking to The Overlap in October 2024.

While talking about the dark thoughts he was harbouring, Lennon said: “At the time I thought it would pass. I’m not sleeping. I’m not enjoying football, I’m not enjoying off the pitch, not even a night out or whatever with the lads anymore.

“I didn’t want to put it on anyone else. I didn’t want to ring my dad, my family. I was like, ‘Nah, I’ll sort this.’ It got to the stage, suicidal thoughts, so eventually I got assessed and I was sectioned. I was literally put in hospital.

“I still wouldn’t have gone in. And that’s why I tell people to this day that if I didn’t get sectioned, I probably wouldn’t be here having this conversation.”

After leaving Everton in January 2018, Lennon spent 18 months at Burnley before a year with Turkish side Kayserispor. He returned to Turf Moor in the summer of 2021, but retired after spending one more year with the Clarets.

He added: “I was in a really, really bad place. Like, severe depression. It probably started before that, but I actually at the time didn’t know what was going on.

“Just waking up each day, not realising why I am feeling this way, energy is low, not really wanted to join in with the lads in training. I was one of them, quite the old school personality, keep myself to myself.

“I used to try and look after everyone else. There was never a time where I thought, should I go and ask, tell the doc, ‘I’m not feeling all right here?’

“So I tried to just brush it aside, and I was getting worse and worse. You get to a stage where you can’t even get out of bed, not wanting to be around people, just want to be in the dark.

“I was putting on a mask. I could walk into a room and you’d think, ‘He’s fine’, I could go in like, ‘Yes lads’, do my training and get off. But then I’d go home and literally just get back in bed, and I did that for a long period of time.”

For mental health support, contact the Samaritans on 116 123, email them at jo@samaritans.org or visit samaritans.org to find your nearest branch.

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