The former chairman of Britain’s professional footballers’ union revealed in a newspaper interview published on Thursday that he tried to take his own life.

Clarke Carlisle, the former head of the Professional Footballers’ Association, spent six weeks in hospital after being hit by a lorry near York, northern England, in December.

The 35-year-old, who played for Burnley and Watford in the Premier League, said that he had decided to commit suicide after losing his job as a television pundit and being charged with drink-driving.

“I had to die. This wasn’t escaping or running away. This was the perfect answer. It made everyone happy and it ticked every box,” he told The Sun.

“I took two steps into the road and then jumped into the truck, like a full shoulder charge. I can remember that impact. Bang. Then lights out. I don’t know how long had passed. It must have been a few minutes.”

Carlisle, a former England Under-21 international, has spoken of his problems with depression in the past and made a documentary about depression in football for the BBC in 2013.