FORMER Manchester City prospect Daniel Warrender has opened up about being jailed and twice stabbed after falling into drink and drugs.
Manchester-born Warrender has since turned his life around and is working hard to earn a UEFA B coaching badge.
Warrender bravely talked about overcoming past struggles on the “I Had Trials Once Podcast.”
The former Man City youth star was first stabbed outside a city center nightclub after a derby match in Manchester in 2010.
Warrender's wound was reportedly minor, but doctors told him the shock from the incident had caused a heart problem.
And the ex-defender unfortunately ended up in a world of trouble with the law a year later, in 2011.
Warrender was sentenced to 15 months in prison in 2013 after punching a man during a nightclub burglary.
According to court reports at the time, he left the victim scarred after falling on a broken pint glass.
The fragments tore a 3.5cm wound along the man's right cheek and made several other gashes to his face, nose and arm, a court heard.
The judge noted that Warrender was generally a “decent, hard-working man” but had consumed “a skin full” of alcohol before the attack in Stockport.
Judge Bernard Lever told him his single punch had “absolutely tragic consequences” for both men, according to the Manchester Evening News.
And that happened, because Warrender, who played football for Ramsbottom United at the time, ended up behind bars.
Warrender said: “I have been at Manchester City, quite a prospect.
“And then within two years I was in jail for various violent crimes, drugs and drinking, whatever, you name it, I did it.
“I was stabbed twice and hospitalized a total of nine times.
“But that was normal life for me. But now I'm on the UEFA B course. I have two beautiful children. One of them is a superstar at City.”
Warrender's son George currently plays for Man City's under-11 youth team.
Fans are calling the youngster a 'mini Phil Foden' because of his skills, but also because of his uncanny resemblance to the English superstar.
And a tearful Warrender added: “I have my own coaching pitch, which I completely own…sorry to go again. I told you I cry all the time.
“But now, honestly, when kids thank me and stuff, I'm home while my wife is crying. But I love it.”
The now 38-year-old was brutally attacked for the second time on New Year's Eve in 2017.
His brother David Warrender, a convicted drug dealer, is said to run the bar.
But on this occasion it was considerably worse, as Warrender was stabbed several times and suffered a punctured lung and kidney.
Warrender was part of the side that defeated Manchester United youth in the Manchester Senior Cup in 2005.
A few months later he was loaned out to Blackpool, before joining League One permanently in 2006.
But his time at The Tangerines was cut short when he moved to the non-league fixture against Rossendale United.
He then spent time in the US with San Francisco Seals before returning to Britain with Manchester-based FC United.
Warrender was shipped back and forth between Ramsbottom and FC United before and after his time in prison.
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