WHEN he was homeless and sleeping rough, people would assume Robert Hare had a drink or drug problem, he says. But the 47 year old has only ever been addicted to football.

Once a professional playing for the likes of Dundee United, Airdrie, Clyde and East Stirling, he had a bright future ahead of him – until he broke his leg.

“I’m proof that homelessness can happen to anyone, and that your life can change in an instant,” he says.

After his accident forced him to retire from football at the age of 35, Robert moved back in with his parents.

“I was lucky I had my mum and dad to fall back on for support, but it wasn’t without its problems,” he says. “I was a grown man sleeping on their sofa in a one-bedroom flat. I was determined to get out of there and get my own place.”

He got a job as a driver, moved in with a partner and had a son, Corey. But a relationship break-up saw him move back in with his mum and dad.

“I felt worthless and kept asking how I’d got there. In five years I’d gone from living my dream to living a nightmare.”

To make matters worse, Robert was made redundant from his job as a driver. “I felt embarrassed. I didn’t have any hope left that things would ever get better. I started suffering with depression. With everything else that was going on, my relationship with my parents disintegrated and I had to leave and ended up on the streets.”

No-one sane would choose to be homeless, he says. After six nights sleeping rough, he tried to take his own life but a passerby intervened. He moved into a shelter and joined Street Soccer Scotland, bringing him full circle. “It transformed my life. I haven’t looked back since,” he says.

He is tired of hearing homeless people have brought it on themselves. He said: “It isn’t a blame game. If it happened to me, it can happen to anyone. But I’m also proof that things can get better. There is always hope.”