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

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I worked with him again, when I was at Burnley and he came there for three months right at the end of his career.

He says: “Communication and trust is key to the partnership between a manager and physio, or the medical staff.So it’s well worth a read. There is no Keane-like anger, or Pietersen vitriol, but there are some funny stories and as Royle says: “He’s a top, top man and I love him to bits. Enjoy his story, at least the part he remembers.” In an interview for the England vs Brazil Rous Cup matchday programme in 1987, he gave an insight into the England job, one which is at the top level of football. It was in July of 1982 when I was interviewed by the Newcastle club doctor and Arthur Cox, the manager at the time, about a job as club physio.

During my 30 years in football I have often spent some of the close season either on a course or at a conference and news of medical staff dismissals is never far from the topic of conversation.For veteran physios like Dave Butler, Roy Bailey (twice) and Ian Liversedge (four times) that experience remains raw. I placed discipline above all else and it might have cost us several titles. If I had to repeat things, I’d do precisely the same, because once you bid farewell to discipline, you say goodbye to success and set the stage for anarchy.”– Sir Alex Ferguson. The awards for the season were handed out by the chairman Ian Liversedge and the president Jody Betts. To the match-going football fan, a team may, on occasion, appear to be just 11 players out on the field and a manager cutting a lonely figure in the technical area. Without giving further thought, an entire club can seemingly be boiled down to these 12 souls. Everything is different now with diet and fitness regimes, Arsene Wenger changed it but your eyes still tell you whether a player is ready for it for or not. We must also remember it is still a game, not a science.

While he often bemoans their behaviour, Royle feels that as long as everyone is ready to train on Thursday, there are no major issues. Starting afresh in the second level, they lost six out of 10 games up until the beginning of October. By November 1994, Joe, Willie Donachie and Ian had all left. One defining Mark Hughes moment had such an effect and they had a massive hangover lasting months.led to the chairman of FIFA‘s medical committee, Michel D’Hooghe, setting up a sub-committee to draw up a new code of ethics for managers and team doctors. 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. And again, Gary’s experience shows the difference between the decades in terms of staffing levels. My career took me down the leagues because I needed more time to work on my private practice and I was at Fleetwood Town when I got talking to the club’s press officer, David Mitchell, about writing a book and we agreed to give it a go.”

discussion went along the lines of, ‘He is fit to start but not confident he will finish and he may do further damage to his knee.’are bound to be rifts along the way – one party standing their ground over a point of discipline, perhaps, or the other claiming they know how to handle the youngsters- but a sound partnership will help them to ride the storm. 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. Athletic and Liversedge would enjoy top-flight football for another two years before their zenith had been reached and a decline, which some would argue has not yet halted, began. To recall, Carneiro, and head physiotherapist Jon Fearn, went onto the field to treat the injured Eden Hazard when twice summoned on by referee Michael Oliver.