It has been another dire week for Paul McGowan, the Dundee footballer, whose "issues" require help and understanding and, maybe very soon, the sound of a prison door clanging behind him.
McGowan, 27, has just been convicted for a third time of assaulting a policeman - and on this occasion, according to Wednesday's court proceedings in Airdrie, of then threatening to kill two officers.
This latest incident happened after a late-night row involving McGowan in Airdrie in November of last year. Most observers this time had expected a custodial sentence to be handed to the footballer.
On two previous occasions - in 2013 and 2010 - McGowan has been convicted for similar offences. Attacking police officers is no balanced person's idea of a hobby or pastime, so McGowan clearly has deep-rooted problems which he, his family and his football club are having to cope with.
The latest episode was another abject chapter in this footballer's delinquent behaviour. McGowan was said to have charged at two police officers, who were investigating a rumpus, and then kicked another officer at Coatbridge police station while his arrest was being processed.
Sheriff Derek O'Carroll, sentencing McGowan, showed him a surprising leniency, while warning the Dundee player that he was on the very brink of being banged up.
Sentencing McGowan to a restriction order from 7pm to 7am for 16 weeks, and to wearing a tag, Sheriff O'Carroll added: "If you breach this order you will be brought back here�and you [know] what the outcome will be."
Dear God, what a saga. And what dreadful, recurring behaviour from someone whose professional life is played out in the public eye.
McGowan seems to me to be very lucky to not be behind bars. It is the last thing I want for him, but three separate assaults on policemen would not routinely be offered so much slack under the law.
In solicitor, Liam O'Donnell, this footballer seems fortunate in having a pretty sympathetic and determined defender.
O'Donnell told the court of various mishaps in McGowan's life, involving gambling, alcohol, and a relationship break-up. He also spoke of the impressive way - and I don't want to overstate this, because McGowan is plain and simply in the wrong - in which the footballer, through voluntary counselling sessions, is attempting to cure his various problems.
No week has gone by when McGowan, apparently, has not sought professional help.
It is possible, in considering all these otherwise lamentable details, to believe that McGowan has some decency in him. I offer this from sore, bitter experience of just such a case.
I have a friend, who I've not seen for a while, who is an essentially good person, and who is great fun to be around.
He has also spent time in prison, and his life has been mired in addictions: gambling, often drugs, sometimes alcohol.
In truth, his life is a world away from my own dull and (relatively) squeaky-clean existence, and in so many ways we are opposites. But I loved seeing him, being around him, and hearing about his experiences. And learning from him.
I can't vouch for Paul McGowan's character in the way that I can for my friend's, but there do seem to be undoubted similarities.
McGowan is mired in his own self-destruction and, as yet, has not found a way out. With every one of these assault incidents his black hole just seems to get deeper and deeper.
Moreover, for those of us whose dull lives know none of these accretions, it doesn't do to underestimate the sheer strength and venom of the word "addiction".
An addiction can be your own self-made prison cell. It is four enclosed, concrete walls - with no window - from which there is no escape. An addiction can be as good as being bound and gagged and helpless.
In my own friend's case, this can reduce strong, hard men to tears on the phone, begging for help. It is the absolute nadir of any life in an otherwise civilised society.
I wish Paul McGowan all the best. As much as he has been acting like a lout, it is obvious there is far more to his life than just this.
It is also obvious that he is at least attempting to cure himself. For that - and maybe only for that - he deserves some credit.
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