mid-fielders to get injured.
I’d had two hernia operations, hamstring injuries, maybe for not stretching properly in my younger years. I’d had broken ribs, stitches in the head – what I would class as normal midfielders’ injuries. And, of course, the cruciate. Being out of the game for so long, eight or nine months, gave me a chance to grow up a little bit. Because I was drinking quite heavily at the time. I was twenty-six or twenty-seven – even a touch younger.
The injury that would eventually stop me from carrying onwas my hip. I’d been in Dublin the night before – this was in 2001, I think – doing a gig for Diadora. I’d had a really late night, drinking – a right session. I was training back in Manchester the next day, doing a little bit, going on a jog – and feeling something in my hip. It didn’t feel like a massive tear but it did feel a bit strange.
I carried on playing for months afterwards but eventually it took its toll. I saw a specialist, Richard Villar, in Cambridge. Because it was the hip area, it was almost an unknown as a football injury. The standard injuries are hernias, broken legs, knees, ankles, even cruciates. But the hip was a worrying one – an ‘Oh, you don’t want to go in there’ type of operation. It was a bit taboo; you associate hip problems with older people. But the pain was unnatural. I was needing a lot of painkillers to get me through matches.
It was probably wear and tear, all the twisting and turning, the way I played the game, quite physically. But all that drink in Dublin the night before hadn’t helped. Maybe my running pattern was different that morning, and I hadn’t slept much, or properly, the night before.
Eventually I had the operation. There was a flap of cartilage that had to be shaved off. I remember the surgeon told me that he wasn’t sure if I’d be able to play again because of the cartilage damage. The way he described it to me, he said that when he put the scalpel under the cartilage, it was coming away like carpet underlay. He showed me photographs, too, and it did look like underlay. I recovered, came back – but I was still in a bit of pain. I knew I wasn’t right.
When you come back from a bad injury you know, in medical terms, that the injury is healed. But you still have to deal with the battles in your head. The surgeon had planted a few seeds: ‘There’s a lot of damage in there, a lot of cartilage damage, and you want to be careful.’ I was due to have more surgery on it afew years later, but I changed my mind, I just decided, ‘Nah, I’ll try and get on, the way it is.’
Funnily, I think being stiff suited me. I had tight hamstrings; it was just the way I was. That tight feeling suited my personality; I don’t think I was meant to be too flexible. I’d see some of the foreign lads doing stretches, touching their toes. Mikaël Silvestre could put his head on his toe; I’d injure my hamstring just looking at him. I could never touch my toes. I started doing a bit of yoga towards the end, but I think that kind of made me loose. I persuaded myself that I was more flexible. I’d known my limitations but now I thought I was a gymnast. As with the food, I was trying to be somebody I wasn’t. And I still ended up getting injuries. The hip was affecting the quality of my day-today life – simple things like picking up my kids or getting out of the car. When I came back after my cruciate injury, people would ask, ‘How’s your knee – the cruciate?’ But I’d stopped thinking about it. The hip was the only injury that had, and has, long-term consequences.
If the weather’s cold or I kick a ball with my son, it’s sore. Or if I’m in the wrong driving position, or in a plane, I’ll be stiff. Chances are I’ll need a hip replacement but, if I look after myself, I can avoid it for a long time. Any exercise I do has to be straight – swimming, cycling, walking. No twisting and turning.
We had four wins in a row
I’d had two hernia operations, hamstring injuries, maybe for not stretching properly in my younger years. I’d had broken ribs, stitches in the head – what I would class as normal midfielders’ injuries. And, of course, the cruciate. Being out of the game for so long, eight or nine months, gave me a chance to grow up a little bit. Because I was drinking quite heavily at the time. I was twenty-six or twenty-seven – even a touch younger.
The injury that would eventually stop me from carrying onwas my hip. I’d been in Dublin the night before – this was in 2001, I think – doing a gig for Diadora. I’d had a really late night, drinking – a right session. I was training back in Manchester the next day, doing a little bit, going on a jog – and feeling something in my hip. It didn’t feel like a massive tear but it did feel a bit strange.
I carried on playing for months afterwards but eventually it took its toll. I saw a specialist, Richard Villar, in Cambridge. Because it was the hip area, it was almost an unknown as a football injury. The standard injuries are hernias, broken legs, knees, ankles, even cruciates. But the hip was a worrying one – an ‘Oh, you don’t want to go in there’ type of operation. It was a bit taboo; you associate hip problems with older people. But the pain was unnatural. I was needing a lot of painkillers to get me through matches.
It was probably wear and tear, all the twisting and turning, the way I played the game, quite physically. But all that drink in Dublin the night before hadn’t helped. Maybe my running pattern was different that morning, and I hadn’t slept much, or properly, the night before.
Eventually I had the operation. There was a flap of cartilage that had to be shaved off. I remember the surgeon told me that he wasn’t sure if I’d be able to play again because of the cartilage damage. The way he described it to me, he said that when he put the scalpel under the cartilage, it was coming away like carpet underlay. He showed me photographs, too, and it did look like underlay. I recovered, came back – but I was still in a bit of pain. I knew I wasn’t right.
When you come back from a bad injury you know, in medical terms, that the injury is healed. But you still have to deal with the battles in your head. The surgeon had planted a few seeds: ‘There’s a lot of damage in there, a lot of cartilage damage, and you want to be careful.’ I was due to have more surgery on it afew years later, but I changed my mind, I just decided, ‘Nah, I’ll try and get on, the way it is.’
Funnily, I think being stiff suited me. I had tight hamstrings; it was just the way I was. That tight feeling suited my personality; I don’t think I was meant to be too flexible. I’d see some of the foreign lads doing stretches, touching their toes. Mikaël Silvestre could put his head on his toe; I’d injure my hamstring just looking at him. I could never touch my toes. I started doing a bit of yoga towards the end, but I think that kind of made me loose. I persuaded myself that I was more flexible. I’d known my limitations but now I thought I was a gymnast. As with the food, I was trying to be somebody I wasn’t. And I still ended up getting injuries. The hip was affecting the quality of my day-today life – simple things like picking up my kids or getting out of the car. When I came back after my cruciate injury, people would ask, ‘How’s your knee – the cruciate?’ But I’d stopped thinking about it. The hip was the only injury that had, and has, long-term consequences.
If the weather’s cold or I kick a ball with my son, it’s sore. Or if I’m in the wrong driving position, or in a plane, I’ll be stiff. Chances are I’ll need a hip replacement but, if I look after myself, I can avoid it for a long time. Any exercise I do has to be straight – swimming, cycling, walking. No twisting and turning.
We had four wins in a row
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