da aviator aposta： Paul Lake was the biggest “what if” in Manchester City’s recent history. What if he had stayed fit for most of his career? What if he had continued his progress as a player? What if he had become an England regular? What if City could have had him in their defence or midfield for a good ten years? What if? What if? What if?
da apostebet： We will never know. Serious injuries treated badly ensured that. What we fans who prayed for the day he might return did not know was the turmoil that the injuries had caused, and the effects that having your career extinguished can have on a young man’s life.
In his new autobiography, I’m Not Really Here: A Life of Two Halves, written with his wide Joanne, Lake describes the enormous highs and lows of playing for his beloved club.
Lake was born in 1968, just after Manchester City’s last league title. His love of Manchester City was almost instant, and he grew up obsessed with football. At a young age, he realised he had a natural talent for football – he didn’t know why, but things came easily. He made his way from the Denton Youth U12 side (aged just 8), through City’s youth sides, under the tutelage of the legendary Tony Book, to a YTS traineeship in 1985, and glory with the youth team, winning the FA Youth Cup against Manchester United in 1986. Inevitably, he was soon in the senior squad, making his first team debut in January 1987. This being City, relegation followed soon after, and Lake was to experience the first of many bitter disappointments. The versatile Lake was soon holding down a permanent 1st team place though, his proficiency across the pitch seeing him wear 8 different shirt numbers in one season.
Soon, Malcolm Allison was calling him “the big talent at Maine Road”. And later after a call up to an England training session, Bobby Robson reported back to Lake’s favourite manager Howard Kendall that he had earmarked Lake as a future England captain. Naturally fans love a home-grown player, a local lad, and Lake was no different, idolised by all City supporters.
But having missed out on the Italia ‘90 England squad, it wasn’t long into his career the following season as City captain that it all started to go wrong, against Aston Villa. One false move, and his cruciate ligament had snapped.
Not that he knew for some time. City’s treatment involved an ice pack for days until the swelling reduced, an X-ray, and running up and down the concrete steps of the Kippax stand. Only when he collapsed in his first proper training session did he see a specialist and learn the truth. The damage had been done.
The following years were painful on many levels, a depressing cycle of rehabilitation, hope, and false dawns as he went on to rupture the ligament a further two times as soon as he returned to competitive football. He spent more time recuperating at Lilleshall than any other player in history. All this changed Lake as a man – the young lively, eager player that lived life to the full spiralled into depression, and withdrew from public life, going to extreme lengths to shun contact with others. As Daniel Taylor’s review in the Guardian described it, he was a tormented soul.
It is commendable that Lake came out the other side intact, and rebuilt his life. It is even more commendable that he retained the love for his football club despite the way some at the club treated him – mostly Peter Swales, the only person Lake shows bitterness towards in the book, after he shunned him throughout his fight for fitness and fought sending Lake to America for superior treatment.
That treatment was too late, and at the age of 27, Lake was forced to accept that there was no way back, and retired.
For City fans the book is an eye opener, shedding light on the way the club was run under Peter Swales’ stewardship. This was a club that allowed drunks to shout abuse from behind a wire fence during training every morning. That had players doing comedy routines at Junior Blues meetings, and had Eddie Large delivering half-time team talks using a variety of celebrity impressions when City were on the cusp of promotion.
This is not just a book for City fans though. Whilst it also beautifully illustrates the life of a footballer, and such things growing up as Manchester ruled the music world, it is less about playing in football matches and more about what the game means to us all, and the despair and multiple lows when your dreams are snatched from your grasp. It also provides an insight into many other people in the game at that time, such as Bobby Robson, John Barnes, Paul Gascoigne and others.
Paul Lake is 42 now. After retirement he studied physiotherapy and worked on the medical staff of various clubs, even running his own practice too, until in March 2010, when he was appointed Ambassador for Manchester City in the Community.
There will always be curiosity over what could have been, what Lake could have achieved if he had avoided injury, and Lake had plenty of time to mull such things over during those fraught years on the treatment table. He came out the other side, and his account is one of the great sporting books of recent years. The final word can go to The Metro newspaper, who said: “The greatest football autobiography ever written? Unquestionably.”