Life's a Ball': Ian Liversedge: The Highs and Lows of a Football Physio

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Arthur was great, I thought the interview had gone well, and he told me that he would phone that night. This was on the Friday. Bang on 9pm, which is when he’s promise to give me the news, I got a call from him offering the job to me. I drove all the way up there, got myself into some digs, took my passport, went to Madeira on the Friday on the pre-season tour and the manager – Arthur Cox – he didn’t turn up to Madeira. So, I asked the assistant manager, I said, ‘Where’s Arthur?’ the new man arrives you try to see what he requires from a medical department and adapt to him and his demands. It just goes to show how ruthless and cut-throat the football industry can be behind the scenes, far away from the glitz, glamour and glut.

I loved living in the city. I had some great nights up there, with Terry Mac, when we would go out all the time and mix with the fans. The two years Liversedge spent at Newcastle ended with the club winning promotion to the old First Division, the first Keegan era if you will.

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These behind-the-scenes staff members work tirelessly throughout the week with the sole focus of having the team ready for a Saturday afternoon. Then, once the players cross the white line, there is little influence they can have on the ensuing 90 minutes. Liversedge said: “It’s night and day. During my time with Newcastle, we didn’t know what a cruciate ligament really was. Nobody knew about groin strains.

think I’ve had eight or nine promotions, but you don’t get those promotions if you’re not a team. You’re a team on the pitch and you’re a team off the pitch.manager may play a player that you feel is not quite right but that does not mean he is overruling your view. Life’s a Ball is good fun, unpretentious and gives the reader a gossipy insight into what goes on at a football club. But the events involving Carneiro at Chelsea that day were an unwelcome distraction from the pivotal role that medical personnel play in football, as a paper from Teeside University stated in 2012.

d just started my first job in football as a physio, so, what an introduction that was. Two years I spent there. We got promotion into Division One – but that was full-on. Now, at the top clubs, the physio is likely to be part of a team of medics and scientists, although there is massive disparity between Premier League clubs and those in the lower divisions, where resources are still stretched.” There is an argument that there is no point in suddenly changing routines that players are comfortable with. For Dave Butler, Roy Bailey (twice) and Ian Liversedge (four times) that experience remains raw. In 1991 Bailey was dismissed by then Manchester City manager Peter Reid having spent 20 years looking after the needs of the club’s injured players. It was one of the worst days of his life, shattering both him and his family. Reflecting on that day, Roy said; “No one will ever understand how hurt I was. It’s a feeling that I’ll never forget.” Roy’s departure from the club left him a void, and it took him a while to get over. During the final year of Liversedge’s studies at the University of Salford, Ian cut his teeth by helping the club he is currently employed by from the December of 1981 to the summer of the following year.

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Liversedge started his physiotherapy career at Newcastle United. He subsequently worked at Oldham Athletic, Manchester United, Stoke City, Altrincham and Burnley where he spent five years with Stan Ternent. [3] Whilst at Burnley he was given the sobriquet 'Sos'. [4] He has also worked at the Beaumont Hospital in Bolton. [1] In 1990, the club reached the semi-final of the FA Cup and the final of the League Cup. A year later they were promoted to Division One with a last-minute goal on the final day of the season. Another term on from that and Oldham became one of the founding members of the Premier League. Busy time of year for Liversedge" [ permanent dead link], Lancashire Evening Telegraph, 21 December 2002 Football Comedy Classics: John Thomson As Roger Nouveau, The Fast Show’s Resident Johnny-Come-Lately Arsenal Fan, 1997 (Video) It can be counterproductive, saps morale and immediately provokes players to question the new man’s motives,” Fergie once mused.

is important to let the manager have the facts as you see them, and not say what he would like to hear, and give your views as advice upon which he may act or not. Joe Royle is one of the ‘old school’ managers, having taken charge of four clubs, including Oldham Athletic twice, between 1982 and 2010. Liversedge would leave the Toon for Oldham Athletic in 1984 and remain at Boundary Park until the mid-90s. During this period, under the stewardship of the legendary Joe Royle, Latics enjoyed their heyday and several moments in the sun. Now, as Gary Lewin illustrated, some clubs have more than 20 different full-time medical staff doing a range of different jobs.manager has to organise and captain an efficient ‘team behind the team’ that not only performs specific tasks but also has a role to play in creating the atmosphere around the team.