KEITH ANDREWS: A life without football
Unfortunately this week I’m writing this column lying on the sofa with my leg elevated on multiple cushions. My Achilles has been niggling on and off all season and flared up quite badly as I upped my training schedule on my return from a thigh strain. After seeing two different Achilles specialists in London last week, it was decided the best course of action was to operate.
So on Tuesday morning I made my way down to London for surgery which James Calder would perform. Ironically, I’ve planned to go to Cheltenham the last two years but due to injury on each occasion have been unable to attend. Needless to say I’m not making any plans to go there next year!
Thankfully the surgery was a success and I will be on crutches for at least four weeks, the first two non-weight bearing then the second two partial weight bearing. I’m sure people presume that it’s an easy life when you’re an injured athlete since, on the face of it, there doesn’t appear to be a lot you can do. But I can assure you that’s not the case.
For the first couple of weeks the main concern is to keep the foot elevated as much as possible and make sure there is no infection in the wound by changing the dressing every day or two. I will be using a machine called a GameReady that combines the use of ice and compression to reduce swelling — I’ll use this for 20 minutes every two/three hours that I’m awake. I will also be using a machine called a Compex that will stimulate the quad muscle to ensure it doesn’t waste away. After about 3/4 days it’s also vitally important to get the foot/ankle moving to make sure it doesn’t get restricted, so I will need daily treatment from our physiotherapist. I will then progress to exercises such as one-legged rowing (yes it does exist, but does look slightly silly) and one-legged cycling.
Everyone who knows me is fully aware how patriotic I am and what great pride I take in representing my country, so to miss out on the games against Sweden and Austria is a massive blow to me. There had been talk that I might be placed in an Aircast boot after the operation which would have made me a lot more mobile. Had that been the case I was planning on flying to Stockholm to support the lads but, unfortunately, now that I’m stuck with crutches I will just have to watch from the sofa and lose my voice instead.
As frustrating as injury is for an athlete, it does give you time to reflect on things and also, I suppose, a taste of what it will be like when you retire. I’m not saying for one second that I feel close to retirement as, apart from my Achilles, I feel as fit now as I did when I was in my mid-twenties. But for some time I have, however, been planning for that day when, eventually, I will hang up the boots.
I would ideally love to stay in football in some capacity, whether it’s coaching or management (for which I am currently taking my badges) or the media side of it, which I really enjoy as well. Another field I have a particular interest in is fashion, especially as I’m a director in a men’s clothing label called Chess London. It’s only been going less than a year but it’s getting very good reviews from a lot of people in the industry and I thoroughly enjoy being a part of it. Our Irish launch will be at Carton House in April so I’m very excited about bringing it home.
The point is that I don’t think players in general pay enough attention to the fact that their careers will end or plan well enough for retirement. You only have to look at Paul Gascoigne to see how things can go horribly wrong.
I actually played with Gazza for Wolves reserves about 10 years ago after I’d returned from a loan spell at Stoke and he was having a trial at Molineux. He was an amazing character who I was in awe of, as I grew up watching him on Match Of The Day. But, at such close quarters, it didn’t take me long to realise that all he wanted was for people to like him. At that stage, he was off the drink and was addicted to a certain brand of ice cream, of which he consumed up to eight tubs a day. Stories like these have always worried me and made me plan for the inevitable — that football won’t always be there.
