CLAUS Lundekvam is hoping to use his experience to help Saints players maintain strong mental health.

The former Saints captain has battled back from two suicide attempts and a cocaine addiction to a point where he now works for the Psychiatry Alliance in his native Norway, helping others with mental health and drug problems through football and many other activities.

He was back in the UK earlier this month, as a guest at Saints’ Premier League matches against Manchester City and Everton, to discuss ways he can help the club, both with the players and the work the club does in the community through the Saints Foundation.

Lundekvam’s main connection with Saints these days is through Mo Gimpel, who was the first-team physiotherapist during his playing days and is now the club’s director of performance science.

“I’ve had a discussion with Mo Gimpel as he’s involved in a mental health project which the club are having now for their own players,” he said.

“If we can be open and talk about mental health issues as a club I think we can do a lot of good things.

“It’s extremely important because you’re running out in front of 32,000-plus people every week, which is not easy.

“I remember being depressed and crying a lot before away games in the winter months because the body is screaming and hurting and it’s tough.

“As a family club I really hope Southampton can do something, take it seriously and start helping people and players.

“If we can do that as a club, be open and provide that sort of service, that would be amazing. The club have noticed what I’ve done for the last few years and I really think I can be a benefit to the players.

“With the help of my experience from my playing days I think I’d be a good candidate to be involved in such a project.

“People have to remember they’re only human beings on the big stage.”

Lundekvam’s battle with mental health problems spiralled out of control when his playing career finished in 2008.

Back in 2013, he told the Daily Echo: “On my worst days I drank a litre to two litres of spirits a day plus all the cocaine I could get hold of. It was lethal, every day.

“I normally went on for three or four days, then I just collapsed and ended up in hospital or got arrested somewhere. Then I got back on it again. It was a bad circle.”

A two-inch scar along the base of his left wrist shows how bad it got.

“I was pronounced dead a couple of times from a heart attack, once after taking an overdose of sleeping tablets and strong painkillers with a bottle of champagne

“The other time I did it myself. I was on my way into treatment and couldn’t handle the shame and the guilt after coming down from a big high of cocaine and alcohol. It’s a deadly disease.

“With my ego and reputation, it was very hard to beat and accept I had a problem but the turning point was realising I wouldn’t get any more chances and that next time I would die.”

Lundekvam, the father of two teenage girls, has given retired Norwegian footballers the benefit of his experience and now works for the Psychiatry Alliance in Bergen on Norway’s west coast.

“We’re trying to create a better life for people who have been in difficulties with mental health and drug issues and have over 400 people doing our activities, which includes football and running a team in a local league. It comes down to simple human values but the psychological issues are obviously complicated.

“We concentrate on pushing the healthy buttons to help get people safe and secure so they can enjoy meaningful day-to-day life.”