Owen Haregreaves!

[ricc full]

I know this has nothing to do with Stoke but im really happy for Owen Hargreaves. He scored a great goal last night after years and years of heartache through lots of terrible injuries. Just one of these bad injuries he has had would have made 75% of players to pack in playing but his determination has been incredible. Ive always rated him very highly as a player and also believe that at his best he is one of the best players in his position in the world.

Here's to him having his last few years as professional footballer injury free because if anyone deserves it he does.

Good luck Hargreaves!!!

 

[BYeee]

Nice post Ricc
Do you remember we were looking at him at one time during the summer, but I think that having both Woodgate and Hargreaves in the Med Room together was a bit too much for our Medical Staff.

Good luck to him, England have NEVER replaced him IMO, remember him getting slated as being rubbish, when he was CAPTAIN of Bayern Munich!!!!!!!

 

[ricc full]

Nice post Ricc
Do you remember we were looking at him at one time during the summer, but I think that having both Woodgate and Hargreaves in the Med Room together was a bit too much for our Medical Staff.

Good luck to him, England have NEVER replaced him IMO, remember him getting slated as being rubbish, when he was CAPTAIN of Bayern Munich!!!!!!!

yeah mate I dont think we could handle them both. He is a quality player and like you said above has never been replaced for England.

As you can tell ive got time to kill as im waiting for the hospital to phone us giving us an appointment time for my missus to be induced. Yes lads there is going to be another stoke fan with us hopefully in the next 24 hours. It was a bit of a worry though as when her waters broke I was working in Lincoln but managed to get back in plenty of time.

Oh, and if anyone is interested its going to be a boy!!

 

[BYeee]

All the very best to you, your wife and of course your SON



on ice for the moment.

Keep us posted Dad

 

[Pottermouth 328]

Nice post Ric
Nice to see the lad doing so well, can't say anything more than yourself and Nick.. would get into my team anyday. Which, is why Sir Alex took him too O.T.

Ric,
When your waters break, it's like waiting for Xmas to come around again o New years day. I hope your good lady doesn't hang around for too long Ric.
Trust me, we have two girls and both were late arrivals. Seeing it's a boy, he won't keep a Lady waiting. My guess you might be a proud dad before midnight Ric.

Congrats to you and yours mucker. ONE more Stoke fan Ric

 

[sgtpotterslonelyheartsclubband]

Congratulations Ricc.

 

[sgtpotterslonelyheartsclubband]

http://www.guardian.co.uk/football/2011/sep/22/owen-hargreaves-manchester-united-injury

Owen Hargreaves has claimed Manchester United put his career on the line by administering the wrong treatment for his chronic injury problems and making a series of mistakes that left him fearing he may never play football again.

Speaking for the first time about his "guinea pig" treatment at Old Trafford, Hargreaves claimed the club's medical staff decided he needed a course of injections for his knee injury. There is no evidence whatsoever that Hargreaves was misdiagnosed or improperly treated, but the midfielder believes the treatment led to his condition deteriorating, leaving him barely able to walk and with a knee that felt "like I was made out of glass".

He claims various specialists had subsequently told him United had prescribed the wrong treatment, adding that his injury "got significantly worse through the injections". A knee specialist later diagnosed an extreme form of tendinitis that led to major surgery and put him out of the game for effectively three years.

"I've had to be a guinea pig for a lot of these treatments," said Hargreaves. "But when you're left to try to make something of a difficult situation, it's not really an option to say: 'Let's sit it out and rest for six months.'"

Hargreaves, now of Manchester City, talked of being put "in a **** position" before making the remarkable claim that the United manager Sir Alex Ferguson selected him for his comeback match against Wolverhampton Wanderers last November even though the midfielder had told the club he was injured.

"I started that game with two muscle injuries but I should never have been in that position to begin with. I was just going to try to get through 45 minutes because that would have been a start. But I didn't even last five. I wasn't surprised. I'd said to them that I had a hamstring problem, which I obviously did. I said: 'I think I've got a bit of a problem here.' I was surprised it didn't go in the warm-up, to be completely honest.

"People at times must look at it from a distance and say: '****, he's made out of glass.' But I don't know many people in the world who could do any sporting event with two muscle tears."

Hargreaves said he felt so unfit he knew he could not even run at full pace. "There were 70,000 people there and, if I had walked away from the game, it would have looked like I didn't want to play. I thought: 'I'll try to play, I just won't sprint.' I know it sounds comical."

United are aware of the allegations but have declined to comment. Ferguson will be asked for his response when he holds his weekly press conference at the Carrington training ground on Friday.

Hargreaves made his City debut in their 2-0 defeat of Birmingham City in the Carling Cup on Wednesday, scoring the opening goal. The 30-year-old believes he can play 40 times this season but feels the deterioration in his knees can be directly linked to the course of injections. "I came back a week early for pre-season to get it done. They said I would be fit for the start of pre-season but, after that, I never got back on my feet. My tendon was never the same. They said my tendon was good, but it felt like I was made out of glass."

Asked if he felt United had mishandled the situation, he replied: "You'd have to ask them. There were a few crucial points. We treated it and it got significantly worse through the injections. That obviously had a huge impact. Basically, I was left to pick up the pieces, which was incredibly frustrating.

"They said it [the injections] would help and that I wouldn't have any side effects. That obviously wasn't the case and if I'd known I could have had a reaction like that I wouldn't have done it. It was a **** position to be in, to be honest. I'm not a guy who wants to bitch and complain. I was trying to make the most of it, but it deteriorated over the season and we had to do these injections. My knee, my tendon, was never the same."

United eventually decided not to renew his contract when it expired at the end of last season and, after 39 appearances in four years at the club, Hargreaves moved to City on a free transfer in August.

The midfielder said "a change of scenery, sadly enough, was essential" for his rehabilitation. He added: "The guys here [City's medical staff] have been great so far. I've been here three weeks and you can already see the difference. I knew it was all there. It was just a matter of doing things right."