KING of the jungle Harry Redknapp is rarely off the TV screens since his success in Australia.

Full marks to him - I just hope he won’t be wearing his crown when he plays in my annual golf day in May for Autism Hampshire.

Most football followers would have watched his ‘Harry’s Heroes’ TV show which was spread over two nights and featuring three oldies who used to play for Saints.

Whilst there were lots of laughs as ever when old footballers get together, there were sad parts which reflect life after the game.

I have always said it is a great life until mid-30s, and then no matter how good the player a different world opens up.

Most of the lads on Harry’s team if they were playing now would probably be rich enough not to have to work again, which, in my opinion, is not necessarily a good thing for the modern-day player.

It was enjoyable to see the dressing room banter and the on the field memories of how good some of them been. For instance, our own Matt Le Tissier could still pinpoint his passes which led to goals being scored. Running wasn’t a problem to him as he didn’t used to run that much when he played.

It was also good to see another of my signings, Mark Wright, even though he has lost his red hair. He was an excellent player for us.

Matt was still the best of them all - even when it came to losing weight. Two stones in a couple of months.

As ever he did the job when needed.

They had put the group together with a fitness trainer whose job was to try and get them ready to get on the pitch again.

The obvious problem was another ex-Southampton player, Neil Ruddock, known as ‘Razor’ for the type of tackle he made. Even though he was massively overweight he had actually lost five stone in the build-up to getting together.

He at first lost a few more pounds but at the end of the two month period he had put some back on and it was no surprise he didn’t last long on the pitch when the game started.

I hope he has a good look at that programme along with his family. At his age and so much overweight he has a serious problem. If he carries on listening to people like the fitness trainer it will help him and, frankly, extend his life.

The other sad part was when a camera had Paul Merson in the back of a car and he broke down in tears admitting that he had an addiction to gambling.

Most of us in the game were aware of this but having seen him regularly on Saturday afternoons along with Matt on the TV, I honestly thought he had overcome it.

Coming out as he did it is clearly a very serious situation to be in.

I intend to contact Matt to let Paul Merson know that I personally know an excellent sports psychologist who has helped many players from different sports over the years.

Having said that, with it having been so widely seen there are probably people like him knocking on his door already. I just hope he listens because they are there to help.

Over the years I have heard and seen players with many different problems.

Another obvious one I had time with in the England camp was Paul Gascoigne.

Whenever he pops up these days it seems to be because he has had a problem.

I used to be very close to him with England because we were both born in the same town, Gateshead. I often say I was probably only there as his interpreter.

He was a character and a naturally gifted footballer who loved every minute of his life in the game.

When I used to travel to Italy to see him play there I noticed there was always two agents spending a long weekend there and charging hourly rates. I wonder where they are now?

That is one of the biggest problems in the game. While they are playing at the highest level there are plenty of people around to help them but taking their own percentages.

When the boots are hung up many of them disappear and, as we saw the other night, that is when some of the players need them more than before.

Let’s hope that apart from the great result against the German team the problems away from the game will be helped by the players being open about it.