THE ROAD TO RECOVERY
~PART 3~

Slowly but surely I was getting my strength and stamina back and was able to step up my outdoor running programme. It was during one of these sessions that I managed to climb out of the negative period which I mentioned before. I was in a pretty black mood one day when the physios sent me out in the pouring rain for a 30 minute run at our Durham Training ground. I was only going at half pace but my body was aching and I was soaked in rain and sweat.

Suddenly I started to feel really good. My despair just seemed to disappear and I began to see light at the end of the tunnel. It was good to be alive again. I began to think how fortunate I was to be involved in a profession I really loved. I realized there were huge numbers of people with far more problems than having their leg in plaster for a few months.

As my career has progressed a lot of other companies have tried to lure me away. When I was at Blackburn, one firm in particular offered me the earth to sign for them. It was significantly more than I was getting from Umbro but I turned them down. My view was that Umbro had been good to me when I was a nobody and I wanted to remain loyal to them. Nothing is too much trouble for them. They insist on having my boots hand-made to measure. When I recovered from the ankle injury, it was discovered that my right foot was a tiny fraction bigger than it had been before because of the scar tissue. I could easily have lived with that but they insisted on taking new measurements and making one boot slightly larger than the other.

Sometimes i wonder what the journalists expect of me. I am confronted with a microphone, a tape recorder or a notebook several times a week . If I bared my soul to each one of them, I would not have much life or privacy left. I will try to be helpful but will always present myself and the job I do in a professional manner. My mate Tim Flowers once called me 'Mr Mogadon' and 'the Nigel Mansell of football' for the way I come across in interviews but I am determined not to change. I believe in being sensible. Just a couple of misplaced words can be taken out of context and blown up out of all proportion.

I am also wary of the tried and trusted practice of some journalists to share around quotes. If I choose to speak to someone it is because I trust them and I do not expect them to pass on my remarks to someone eles who might be less than trustworthy. That happened during the period leading up to my comeback and I vowed not to help that particular journalist again.

As Christmas approached, I was back to normal and able to join in the festivities more than usual because I was not playing any matches. For the Newcastle players' fancy dress party, Lainya and I and Rob Lee and his wife Anna decided to go as the pop group Abba. I thought I would grow a beard to look the part but it had to come off a few days before because I was filming a television commercial for the toy company, Vivid.

Part Four...

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