George Graham signed him from Vitesse Arnhem for £2.3 million in February 1995, and left the club exactly one week later. Highbury quickly nicknamed him "Lionel Richie" for his hair and his suits. But when Bruce Rioch took over as manager at the start of the next season, he wasn't impressed and ordered him to cut his long hair. Arsène Wenger arrived the following season and sent him out on loan to Benfica, where he sustained a serious ankle injury. By the time he returned, Marc Overmars had taken his place on the wing, and Helder's Arsenal career ended after 39 appearances, five assists and one goal, a solo run in a 3-2 win over Middlesbrough. But there is a much darker side to his story. His gambling addiction reportedly began at a slot machine in a snack bar, where he won a small prize almost instantly. It quickly became so bad that he was visiting a casino before and after training with his club. At his peak he earned around 1.8 million guilders a year, and between the money he lost gambling, somewhere between 250,000 and 350,000 guilders, at one point putting 40,000 guilders on black in a single spin, and the money he gave away to friends and family whenever they asked, closer to 900,000 guilders in total, he burned through a fortune before his career was over. He later said he never turned anyone down, whether they asked for 500 guilders or 2,500. At the time he had no children of his own to think about first. In 1998, deep in financial trouble, he attempted suicide by overdosing on sleeping pills. His son was born around that same period, which gave him something to hold onto. The problems didn't end there. His career ended in 2003 at Top Oss, and by 2006, things got worse again. He had to trade his BMW 8-series, the car he had bought the moment he signed for Arsenal, for a battered old Polo. At one particularly low point, he had to sleep in his car. By 2008 he was convicted of threats, assault, theft and illegal firearm possession, tied to an incident in which he confronted an ex-partner with a loaded gun. He served seven months in prison. He has since said that being caught was probably the best thing that could have happened to him, that otherwise, he would likely have ended up serving a much longer prison sentence. He rebuilt from there, slowly and very much in public. He became a drummer, performing at festivals and in television shows, something he had picked up playing in his father's jazz band during his lowest football years. He has written and spoken about his story since, in books, on podcasts, in interviews, and refused to sand down any part of it. He still plays football for charity and entertainment sides alongside other former pros who also have walked rocky roads. He referred to himself as the example of how not to do it. But he showed that it's possible to come back from anywhere. Happy birthday Glenn Helder.