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Post by Reduntildeath on Apr 22, 2020 20:59:16 GMT
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Post by aussiegraham on Apr 23, 2020 1:42:05 GMT
Watched it last night, what a player he was! I’ve said it before, but I really can’t remember us coming back from a deficit as many times as I’m hearing from the commentators on these flash backs! Seems like it was every other game! 😄
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Post by king nothing on Apr 23, 2020 9:04:38 GMT
Everyone should check out that podcast. Brilliant. Real focus and drive.
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Post by dazjoe on Apr 30, 2020 5:49:49 GMT
Interview with Andy Cole in The Guardian, sounds like he's struggling, really hope he's OK.
"Andy Cole gazes out of my laptop screen and, even in our strange virtual world, I can see clearly how his face creases with pain. His familiar voice resonates around the room as he explains how low he has felt these past weeks while in self-isolation and dealing with the continuing problems of a kidney transplant in 2017.
“There are many, many times when I want to give up, period, not just on life but give up on everything,” Cole says. “It becomes so difficult. I was struggling last Wednesday. It totally came out of the blue and I had to stay in bed. I conceded defeat and accepted that today’s not going to be my day. Previously, I would fight. But, ultimately, I know I can’t beat it.”
The former Manchester United and Newcastle United striker, who has been working as an assistant coach at Southend United, is 48 now. Eighteen months ago I interviewed Cole and he described the psychological and physical aftermath of his kidney transplant in searing detail. His battle has now been intensified by Covid-19 and the ensuing lockdown. Cole is being tested to his very limits.
“The past five years have been a shit storm. When I met you in October 2018 the biggest shit storm was just starting.”
So it got worse? “It certainly did,” he says softly. “It certainly did.”
He looks bereft and, in a normal situation, I might reach out and touch him lightly on the arm. It would be a small gesture to offer some comfort. But all I can say is how sorry I am.
Cole looks up with a little smile. “I’m still here. That’s the most important thing. But people don’t understand what you go through with this illness. They look at a transplant patient and say: ‘You’re OK. You look really well.’ Externally that can be true. But, internally, many things are going on. You’re dealing with the medication and your moods. I’ve been very fortunate I’m never angry about it.
“Your mental wellbeing is paramount because it’s so tough to deal with a disease that one day you feel unbelievably well and the next day you feel like a bag of shit. That was me last Wednesday. I asked myself: ‘What did you do on Tuesday to make you feel like this on Wednesday?’ Nothing. It was just that Wednesday came and I felt like a bag of shit. Couldn’t get out of bed. Thursday, I was OK again. I have to accept that sometimes my body is going to say: ‘I’m not having you today.’ So you have to rest and recuperate, and come back the day after.”
Cole still wants to spread hope. On Thursday he launches the Andy Cole Fund in conjunction with Kidney Research UK. The aim will be to raise money to enhance research into improving kidney transplants and patient wellbeing. Three million people in the UK have kidney disease and 36% of people on the kidney donor waiting list are from a BAME background.
“Kidney Research came to me,” Cole says. “I had an opportunity to pop down to Bristol where their lab is and I was absolutely blown away by everything they’re trying to improve. I sat in a room with 10 people and the chairman talked about the process of how they break things down and collect data. What really resonated with me was when he said so many people detested their bodies after a transplant. The mindset was, ‘I can’t look at myself. I hate myself.’ That’s the process I was going through. I look at the scars across my chest and stomach and think it’s repulsive. Then, you hear so many people going through the same thing. So I want to help people.”
Right now, however, his transplant problems have been accentuated by the lockdown blues. “It’s really hard and, day by day, it’s getting harder. Once you have this disease you want to get out, exercise and be around people. When you’re confined to a small space and you have to stay indoors and you can’t socialise, it’s really tough. I’ve been living on my own the past two years. I used to find it really comforting to go see someone for a chat. It got me out of the house. Yes, we can have as many Zoom calls as we like but it’s not the same as being out, speaking to people, having a laugh.”
Cole stresses that his family and friends are looking out for him on his own in north London. “Mentally, it’s numbing. Getting up in the morning, you ask yourself: ‘Right, what can you do today?’ You end up doing the same things and there’s only a certain amount of time you can clean up. It’s a bit OCD but, ultimately, there’s nothing else I can do. I keep saying to my mates: ‘I’m toast, I’m toast.’ It’s that hard mentally. But I’m humbled by how much my friends really love me and appreciate me still being here. What they’ve done for me over the past six weeks, and five years previously, has been absolutely unbelievable. Same with my family.”
He is still separated from his wife, Shirley, to whom he had apologised in our 2018 interview. “I let a lot of people down by not speaking about my situation. I just wanted to think it would clear itself up. It was never going to do that.”
Cole’s current isolation has made him understand how much he needs the support of his friends: “A couple of my mates popped around the other day, and I spoke to them outside at a safe distance. They came all the way from south London and I couldn’t ask them in. This is where we’re at now.”
As a consequence, Cole says: “My mind never stops going. I’ve had a lot of restless nights. So there’s a hell of a lot of tiredness. I worry about having to go through another transplant. My new kidney could stop working tomorrow so I ask myself all the time: ‘Could you do it again?’ Some days it’s ‘Oh yes’ and other days I’m not sure.”
Cole offers further insight into his health problems when he reveals: “Last year I had about six chest infections. On Boxing Day I was rushed into hospital. I didn’t feel well after I got back from the Man U-Newcastle game. I was really, really cold. My mate told me to call the doctor. I ended up going to hospital in an ambulance. They were running tests on me, believing I had liver cancer. That was a real body blow.”
Fortunately he was cleared of cancer but Cole says he still has to overcome his reticence to open up and admit his vulnerability. He nods when I say he is speaking with admirable honesty today. “It’s gotten a little easier. I’m more prepared to talk about it with my mates. If you’re thinking of giving up on life it just leads you to destruction. But I’ve always wanted to do things by myself. And when I can’t do them, I struggle. I’m not someone who likes to ask for help. I feel like I’m burdening people – even though everyone always says, ‘Never, ever feel like that.’ It’s still very foreign to me.
“I know I can’t do it by myself, even if some days, like last Wednesday, I tell myself, ‘Man, you’re here alone. Get through today and start another day tomorrow.’”
Does Cole also sometimes acknowledge how well he has done since he fell ill five years ago? “Well, I ask myself: ‘How have you done it? From going down with the illness to having a transplant to where you are now.’ I don’t know how I’ve done it. Some days are a total blur. But my mates say that the improvement I’ve made in the last 18 months has been unbelievable. They take their hats off to me. They say: ‘You’re a lot stronger than you think.’”
Cole’s desire to set up the kidney research fund was deepened by a trip last year to the World Transplant Games in Newcastle where he was “moved to tears” while talking to patients who had experienced the same trauma. Some were playing football again. Could Cole imagine himself doing the same one day – even if the man who has scored the third highest amount of goals in Premier League history would have to accept a huge drop in playing standards among fellow transplant patients?
“Some days I say ‘I’d love to’, and some days I’m not sure. But if it came around again and I had the opportunity, I think I would go for it.”
Cole looks so much brighter and he smiles again when I ask him if he feels any sympathy for Liverpool as they are so close to winning the league title that has eluded them for 30 years – only for the season to be in lockdown? “I can’t be biased. If Manchester United were in this situation I would be bitterly disappointed. Liverpool have every right to be bitterly disappointed. They deserve to be called champions.”
But football seems insignificant when set against the struggle Cole faces. “It’s a rollercoaster,” he admits. “But I continue to give it a good go and fight as hard as I can do. You have to try and feel optimistic for the future. I’ve got to face the reality but try and stay as positive as I can. But, when I’m here alone, I have time to think. I know that this is my biggest challenge.”
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Post by Deleted on May 18, 2020 9:50:08 GMT
Luke Chadwick was interviewed by SportBible, this is a good read. About his mental health when opposing fans were giving him stick -
It's matchday and a young Luke Chadwick steps off the team bus.
He goes past the crowds and makes his way down a walkway towards the dressing room when a group of people follow him. They cruelly make fun of his appearance.
Chadwick would look at the floor and carry on walking but deep down, the abuse was having a negative impact on his mental health.
"They abused me purely because of the way I looked. That was tough. It made me feel really low about myself."
This type of incident wasn't a one-off either. It happened on numerous occasions.
"I remember people saying I was ugly and that my teeth stuck out," he tells SPORTbible in an exclusive interview. "It was the feeling that everyone was laughing at you. It wasn't just people taking the piss and you have some banter back.
"It felt like that's all anyone was talking about."
The 39-year-old has only recently opened up about the struggles he suffered during a successful career in football.
Chadwick is best known for his time playing under Sir Alex Ferguson, a person who made him feel "so important and special" during a five-year spell at Old Trafford.
He enjoyed his time in Manchester but the abuse the midfielder suffered was damning at times, although he holds no grudge towards anyone who criticised him in the past.
"It played a big part in how I was perceived as a player," he says. "I believe If I looked more like everyone else, I wouldn't just be remembered because I looked differently to others.
"It was the reason why I didn't go out a lot. I was anxious. I was embarrassed about it. It was a hard situation to go and talk to someone about.
"I was just a real quiet lad. I didn't really speak that much. I'd just go to training, go home and just stay in my flat.
"As I got older, I grew more resilient and would have some banter back, but I was still so quiet and shy."
At the time Chadwick admits he would try and shrug the abuse off. Rather than talk about his problems to teammates or staff he would create a barrier, despite his true feelings on the inside. "Even if they [teammates] did mention it, I don't think i would have opened up," he says.
"People in my family would sometimes bring it up but I would brush it under the carpet. It's hard to come out and say something. Deep inside I was feeling low, but I wanted to keep that tough exterior on the outside, like it's not going to affect me."
The abuse he received in and around football was just the beginning.
Chadwick says he was often teased on BBC show They Think It's All Over, a British comedy panel show featuring the likes of Gary Lineker and Jonathan Ross.
It was the thing that affected him most.
"I remember waiting for this show to start on a Friday night and I would dread it, thinking, 'Please just don't say anything else.' I just wanted it to go away but it seemed like every time this show was on, they would bring my looks up in some way.
"It was seen as light-hearted comedy but afterwards it seemed everybody thought about my appearance.
"I'd get abuse on the football pitch and I'd accept that because it happens to everyone but it was off the pitch that affected me most."
Away from the negative aspects of being in the limelight, Chadwick also reflects on special times at Manchester United.
At the age of 14, after impressing for Arsenal's youth team, the club invited him to train with the scholars. The teenager played a game against Nottingham Forest and just hours later, a phone call from an eager Sir Alex sealed the deal.
"I got the train afterwards to my home in Cambridge and by the time I got back, the gaffer had already phoned my mum and said he wanted me to sign for the club.
"The man just made you feel so important and special. That was the genius to him."
Five years later, during a loan spell at Belgian side Royal Antwerp in 2000, Chadwick was initially "really disappointed" when United decided to recall him. But to his surprise, the youngster was thrown into the first team having thought he would just play reserve football.
"That season where I did play a few games, it was so intense," he says.
"Every training session was incredible and the standard was through the roof. You had to work so hard and If you weren't at that level on a certain day, you were certainly told about it.
"There was incredible support off the pitch as well. The players would help you. If you were feeling low about the way you played, they would always have your back. It was an incredible environment to play in and as a result, we enjoyed sustained success."
The reason behind United's success at the time was largely down to the leadership of Ferguson, who had a huge impact on Chadwick. He was attentive about everything and everyone; to the smallest of details.
"When I was at the club as a first-team player, there would be 12 or 13 academy players in the canteen and he'd know every single one of their names and where they were from.
"That little bit of detail made you want to run through a brick wall for him. He was an absolute genius in terms of the way he treated everyone at the club. From Roy Keane to the kit man to the girls who cooked the dinner.
"When you get that at a football club, you see success."
Chadwick made a total of 39 appearances for the club between 1999 and 2004 before joining West Ham on a free transfer.
He is the first person to admit he was never going to make it at Old Trafford by the time he departed.
"I must have done something right to get games at a world-class team like United," he says. "But I don't think I was ever going to make it there. I never truly believed that. And I know that had nothing to do with the way I looked. "Sir Alex was really honest with me when I left. The great strength I had as a kid was my speed but after a couple of injuries, I was never the same.
"He said I was not going be able to make an impact playing for a club like United. 'It's going to be tough having a career at the top. Go and do your best,' he said. 'If there's anything you ever need, once you've played for this club, we'll always try and held you out.'"
After leaving United with a Premier League winners medal in his pocket, having played 16 league games in 2000/01, Chadwick spent one season at West Ham. He would go on to play for Stoke City, Norwich, MK Dons and his hometown club Cambridge United before hanging up his boots in 2016.
He then fell into coaching and went through his qualifications before joined Cambridge United's academy team.
It wasn't for him, however.
"I was obviously really happy to get a job because I'd just finished but I didn't love it anywhere near as much as I did when playing. I knew it was going to be tough replicating that," he told us.
"I soon stepped away from that side of things and joined FFF [Football Fun Factory]. It's nothing about developing players, it's just about kids having fun. Rather than judging the kids on scoring goals or who has the best skills, we praise communicating skills and sportsmanship.
Chadwick now plays a huge role at Football Fun Factory, an initiative that provides childhood football experiences for boys and girls of all ages and ability levels, eliminating barriers to opportunity. "We are trying to use football as a vehicle to better people. It's rewarding what football can bring us in terms of positive life skills."
At the end of our chat, after reminiscing about good and bad times during a fascinating career, Chadwick answers the age-old question: If you could go back in time, what advice would you give your teenage self? "I'd say open up and talk about your feelings," he says.
"I would have felt a lot better about it but, as strange as it sounds, even If i told my teenage myself that, I probably still wouldn't have done it.
"It's more of having an understanding of how you are feeling. If you're feeling low, you should open up.
"It's the most important thing in the world, our mental health. We've all got it. It goes up and down. It's just trying to keep on that even keel, on that spectrum of medium to good mental health, and it's finding ways to do that.
"Talking about your feelings is so good."
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Post by Stew on May 18, 2020 10:15:30 GMT
I remember seeing a picture of Chadwick a few years later and he was a perfectly normal looking bloke. The stick he got when he broke through at Utd was particularly nasty. Wouldn’t wish it on any player.
Except Suarez. That cunt could catch typhoid for all I care.
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Post by Sméagol on May 21, 2020 20:40:38 GMT
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Post by king nothing on May 22, 2020 3:44:35 GMT
😄😄
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Post by Bestie on May 22, 2020 10:02:44 GMT
Mark Strong is actually a dead ringer.
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Post by Sméagol on May 24, 2020 11:10:44 GMT
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Post by RAZ on May 24, 2020 11:26:12 GMT
Happy birthday to the king!!!
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Post by Bestie on May 24, 2020 11:45:56 GMT
Ah, Juan.
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Post by Kojak on May 24, 2020 12:19:15 GMT
I wonder how much different my life would be if I’d never caught my first glimpse of the King.
Happy birthday to the most iconic player ever to ply his trade on these shores.
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Post by king nothing on May 24, 2020 17:50:18 GMT
He is actually a really good actor too! Inhuman Resources is excellent. Happy birthday Eric.
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Post by Deleted on May 26, 2020 7:39:59 GMT
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