Thackley manager Paddy McGuire has hailed Jamie Underdown after the winger’s fairytale comeback from a potentially career-ending injury.
Underdown came on as late substitute and set up Thackley’s equaliser in the 1-1 draw with Barnoldswick Town on Tuesday night – almost three years since he seriously damaged three of the four ligaments in his knee – and dislocated his kneecap – following a tackle in a match against Hemsworth Miners Welfare in November 2017.
He was even told he may never walk again and he had to undergo several operations. Although he had one set-back during his recovery, Underdown is now officially back on the field and McGuire is so proud of him.
“It has been an incredible road back and I think it is incredible to have gone from been told that he may never walk again to being back playing football at a decent level,” McGuire told Non League Yorkshire.
“That takes a lot of mental strength because he could have quite easily given up and started eating and drinking the wrong things and started going down a dark path because of an inability to do physical stuff.
“He’s kept himself in shape and he’s a credit to himself. When he came on he assisted the goal. It was an assist in typical Jamie Underdown fashion. He got in down the right-hand side and whipped a cross in which we scored from.
“To have that impact, it was a really fitting comeback and it is a shame there wasn’t supporters in to recognise and appreciate it because it was a good moment for everyone.
“If he gets back to anywhere near the player he was before the injury, he’ll be a fantastic signing.
“Our physio Joe Tate has done some tremendous re-hab work with Jamie. He’s taken Jamie on his own while the lads have been training to do individual stuff before and after training.
“Jamie is thankful of that and the work Joe has done can’t go unnoticed.”
McGuire added: “He was unable to work and he was in hospital for some time. He then got into modelling, he’s a good-looking lad!
“He started training a bit during the season I took over (2018) and he started saying he was fit enough to play.
“We put him on the bench for one game, Goole away (November 2018), and we were winning comfortably and I decided not to bring him on because I thought ‘yes it was good he was back involved’, but I didn’t want to rush him back.
“Literally a couple of days later he was on a modelling shoot and he fell off some ladders and did his ACL. It was obviously a knock-on from the first injury and it was a massive setback for him.
“The difference now is he has had all pre-season with us. I spoke to Jamie and he said he was feeling good and he’d been given the all-clear by the specialist. I said it was good time to come because everyone has not played for months and it would be an even playing field for everyone.”
The draw with Barnoldswick was Thackley’s first pre-season friendly ahead of the hoped new season in September.
In line with the Government and FA guidance, the match was played behind closed doors – a policy that continually attracting criticism.
McGuire admits his club’s committee were reluctant to stage the fixture, given the expenditure for using things like the floodlights and the fact no income would come through the gate.
“Football clubs rely on people coming in and the gates we get literally pay for the ref and keep the floodlights on,” he said.
“We make our money behind the bar and snack bar and without that coming in, we’re just losing money.
“We are in a very healthy position at the minute, touch wood, and we’re fortunate that we’re in a better position than other clubs.
“We’ve seen Droylsden having to resign from their league and unless clubs can get fans through the gate, they’re going to be the first of many I believe. A massive club like Droylsden resigning, it is heart-breaking.
“Before the end of pre-season we as a club could lose a significant of money from having to pay officials and for using the floodlights (for friendlies behind closed doors).
“One of the questions raised by the committee was about the amount of home games we have in pre-season. My response was I’ve done that purposely due to travelling arrangements and players having to travel in kit and not being able to have showers. I thought we were a lot better off having all the players coming to our ground.
“It is not ideal (with the financial commitments). We have a ground with a capacity of 3000 and average crowds of 140 so we can easily socially-distance and at most crowds you can socially-distance without a problem.
“Spectators don’t have to come and they come at their risk. In my eyes there is a lot less risk being at an NCEL football game than there is in a pub or at work.”
The lockdown placed on Bradford, as well as other parts of Yorkshire and Greater Manchester last week by the Government has yet to affect Thackley.
However, the Lancashire FA have placed a ban on clubs playing in areas affected by the new restrictions and the North West Counties League have taken the bull by the horns by setting a new provisional start date of October.
The heat will soon start intensifying on the NCEL to switch course from September to October and McGuire admits he would not be surprised if the season is pushed back a month.
He said: “My phone started going bananas with players sending me screenshots of the news about Bradford going into lockdown.
“I thought ‘here we go again’, but it was indoors stuff and not much has been said since.
“My concerns at the minute are if we draw a team away in the North East in the FA Cup on Tuesday 1st September, are we not allowed showers and have lads got to travel two hours home in their stinking sweaty kit?
“How is that healthy over having a shower, even if it is three showering at one time? There’s so much that has to come into place before the real competitive football can start.
“We’ve got to be able to use changing rooms, showers and we have to have fans in. All this has to come in pretty quickly.
“With the North West Counties doing it (delaying the season), it is only a matter of time. Then if we do delay the season, I think it is a massive backwards step, but if it is down to a safety element, it is the right thing to do and it has got to be done.
“My worry is if the season is pushed back, what do we do then? Do we play more pre-season games? Do we stop? Then it is a waste of time what we have just done. That’s more of a concern to me because where do we go? Are we just training for the sake of training?
“A minefield is the best way to describe it. What will be will be and in the meantime we’ll follow the guidance to the letter.”
If you have enjoyed this interview, please consider making a donation to the not-for-profit organisation NLY Community Sport which provides sport for children and adults with disabilities and learning difficulties. CLICK HERE to visit the JustGiving page.
There is a video at the bottom of the page showing our work.
NLY Community Sport, run by James Grayson and Connor Rollinson, has always had combatting social isolation at the top of our objectives when running our Disability Football teams so when the green light to return is given, our work will play an important role in reintroducing our players, who have disabilities and learning difficulties, back into society.
We have six teams, a mixture of Junior and Adult teams – Nostell MW DFC, Pontefract Pirates, Selby Disability Football Club and the South Yorkshire Superheroes (Barnsley) – across Yorkshire.
We have enjoyed great success over the past three years. Several of our players have represented Mencap GB in Geneva, including Billy Hobson from Selby and Greg Smith, whose story is quite inspiring.
Like most organisations, we have been affected financially by the Coronavirus and we have incurred losses which we cannot recover. We have not been hit as badly as other organisations, but we do need raise £2000 to put us back at the level we were at in mid-March and enable us to make a difference once again to our players’ lives in the future, without having financial worries. As each day goes by, a substantial number of our players become further isolated so we need to be ‘ready for action’ when restrictions are lifted.
Any amount raised above £2000 will be put towards new projects (when the world returns to normal) designed to further benefit people with disabilities and learning difficulties. You can learn more about the organisation HERE and on our Facebook page.
Watch the video below to see highlights from our three years as an organisation. The video was produced for our players at the end of March to remind them of good memories from the last three years.