Published: 09:08, 11 October 2025 | Updated: 09:10, 11 October 2025

Jimmy Floyd Hasselbaink is now strutting his stuff under the Strictly Come Dancing disco ball but glitz, glamour and the football stardom he rose to are are far cry from his early life of crime. 

The 53-year-old, who became a household name for Leeds, Chelsea and Middlesbrough in the 2000s, is open and candid about the underworld he miraculously broke free of as a teenager. 

He used to carry a knife, was in with a gang and theft was a part of his everyday life. 

Hasselbaink was an elite striker and brilliant showman in his prime and he believes football saved him, lamenting that when he goes back home he sees old friends who are now drug dealers or junkies - a path he could have slipped down himself. 

'You should have seen me at 16,' he told the Guardian. 'One of those bad boys, running with a gang, trying to look cool and act hard. I thought I was a tough guy, stealing or scaring people with my...