Former Premier League striker reveals himself as ‘The Secret Footballer’

Former Premier League striker Dave Kitson has revealed himself as ‘The Secret Footballer’, stating his anonymous exposes into the modern game "stopped being fun" after the death of Gary Speed.

Kitson, who penned five books and a weekly newspaper column during the 2010s under the pseudonym, offered candid insights into the sport's inner workings and his frustrations.

His true identity became a widespread online guessing game, with fans meticulously dissecting clues.

In a YouTube interview, Kitson, who played for Reading, Stoke City, Cambridge, Sheffield United and Portsmouth during his career, admitted: "I am The Secret Footballer. I’ve never said that out loud before. It was an idea that came to me when I wasn’t happy with where football was going and I needed an outlet to express it for my own mental health."

He added that writing, a lifelong passion, was "cathartic" and helped him "process what was going on in football."

Initially, the project aimed to "explain what happens in the industry and why," rather than "naming names."

open image in gallery

However, maintaining anonymity while having a high-profile career brought immense personal pressure.

Kitson confessed: "It was fun for a while, then it bred huge anxiety. I had a career and a big contract. If I’d been outed, I would have been sacked and ostracised."

Despite the stress, he believes his work "changed football in this country and led to overhauls at the highest levels, which I’m proud of."

The emotional toll peaked with a column on mental health titled ‘Sometimes There’s Darkness Behind the Light’.

Kitson recounted: "Nobody talked about mental health in football then. If you spoke about it, you were seen as weak. I said there was a mental health epidemic and I predicted it was only a matter of time before someone took their own life."

The article was submitted on a Friday and published on Saturday. The very next day, Sunday, Gary Speed was found dead.

"That’s when the Secret Footballer stopped being fun," Kitson concluded.