One of the most important roles of the football manager is to nurture, educate and protect his players. The manager should have the player's best interest at heart and should put the player's wellbeing above all else when making team selections. Equally, the football club should have the support network available that puts medical decisions in the hands of medically qualified personnel and football desicions in the hands of the coaching staff.Injuries are common in football and it is for this reason that the concept of the squad has developed over recent years. Most teams have approximately two players per position and then reserve and academy teams below that. Arsenal have had a very bad season for injuries and at times had ten first team players unavailable through injury, but I never felt that Wenger played anyone before they were ready. He always talks about his fear of rushing people back too quickly and in most cases he ushers them in slowly.
But sometimes football players are so desperate to play in football matches that they "declare themselves fit". There are many reasons a player would do this and these can be a fear of losing their starting spot to a team-mate, denial of the seriousness of the injury, playing against their former team or the refusal to miss an important match such as a cup final. The manager has a responsibility to his employers, his employees and the fans to field a team that is fit for purpose and able to do the job.
When Chelsea played in the Champions League against Porto, John Terry injured his ankle and was substituted after 7 minutes. It was the same ankle he had injured in training the day before. The reports were that he'd "ruptured ankle ligaments" and from watching the incident it looked like he damaged the lateral ligaments. The fact that club doctor Bryan English said he'd damaged ligaments (plural) is significant.
The image shows the two ligaments Terry has injured. The blue arrow shows the anterior talofibular ligament (ATFL) and the yellow arrow shows the calcaneofibular ligament (CFL). These are the first two ligaments damaged when an individual sprains their ankle. These are the most important ligaments in holding the ankle stable when changing direction, running, jumping and even kicking a football. If he has only damaged one ligament it is likely to be the ATFL.Chelsea have since released the following statement.
| "The speed of Terry's recovery has surprised the club's medical department. (Terry) felt a big improvement in his ankle and requested that the medical department performed a fitness test." |
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I have a number of concerns about the John Terry ankle saga. Firstly, I would not question the doctor's clinical findings, especially if he has had the benefit of examining an MRI (magnetic resonance image), which is like a very detailed x-ray that shows up soft tissue (ligaments, muscles etc) and hard tissue (bone).
Secondly, even if the doctor has got the diagnosis wrong (which is highly unlikely seeing his years of clinical experience), slightly damaged ankle ligaments still take longer than four days to heal.
Thirdly, it is not up to Terry to decide if he is ready to play yet. To my knowledge he has no medical training and just feeling "ok" is not indicative of healing status.
These are the widely accepted clinical expectations for an ankle ligament injury.
Grade I: painful ligament but not stretched beyond normal length: return time is 2-6 weeks.
Grade II: stretched ligament with some rupture fibres: return time is 6-12 weeks.
Grade III: ligament is completely ruptured (torn) and does not function: return time is 12-16 weeks.
So the plot thickens.
Did Terry really injure himself?... Yes he did, he looked in pain and the physio examined him for four and half minutes before he was substituted.
Did the doctor get the diagnosis wrong?... No he didn't. Carrying out basic orthopaedic clinical assessments and evaluation of MRI scans are simple tasks for such a highly qualified doctor. If he got this wrong it would be like a builder building a wall in the wrong place, from the wrong bricks with his eyes closed.
Could Terry have actually healed sufficiently in this short time?... Not unless he can defy the basic principles of medical science. The fibres of collagen (which make up ligaments) have not had enough time to heal, re-grow and strengthen since the injury. It's scientifically impossible.
So who's telling untruths then?... Mourinho is rushing Terry back because he has no cover at centre back and he's scared of playing Essien or Makelele there. Chelsea struggled without Terry in defence whilst he sat on the sidelines with his back injury. You could argue they lost a fatal number of points in the Premiership race during that period and Mourinho knows it.
So playing an unfit Terry must look better in his eyes than playing a fit replacement. To cover himself the manager has since forced his club doctor to back down and release the following statement.
| "I have apologised to manager Jose Mourinho for providing him with misleading information that lead to his statements in relation to John Terry's injury yesterday." |
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I wonder if Terry lasts the 90 minutes and if he's going to be given any painkilling injections to get him through the match?
I have no qualms about Terry trying desperately to return for the match, but I do have an issue with a manager allowing a player to take part in a match he is fundamentally and physiologically unprepared for.
