Paul Lake - autobiography

http://menmedia.co.uk/manchestereveningnews/sport/football/manchester_city/s/1453766_paul-lake-whose-career-with-manchester-city-was-brought-to-a-cruel-end-by-injury-pulls-no-punches-in-his-moving-autobiography

Ask any Manchester City fan fortunate enough to see him play and they
will tell that Paul Lake had the potential to be a world beater.

Not a world beater in the manner of countless starlets who
fall by the wayside when the brutal reality of the professional game
hits them like a ton of bricks. But a genuinely special talent, who was
handed the captaincy of his beloved Blues, aged just 21 and, after
narrowly missing out on Italia 90, was tipped by Bobby Robson as a
future skipper of his country.

Powerful, graceful, athletic and versatile, Lake could play
anywhere from full back to withdrawn striker. But far from the dreaded
‘utility player’, he was simply so good that no matter where you played
him, the team would be all the stronger for it.

More of a Duncan Edwards than John O’Shea, if you like.

He was still in his early twenties when Sky changed the face of football forever, making superstars of even average players.

It is no exaggeration to predict Lake could have been every bit as big as Paul Gascoigne, Alan Shearer and David Beckham.

Instead, this Premier League player had to resort to renting
out his modest house in Heaton Mersey because he couldn’t afford his
£1,000-a-month mortgage.

Crippled


This would-be legend for club and country suffered the
indignity of moving back in with his parents – and had to beg his
employers to pay for potentially career-saving knee surgery in the US.

Lake’s story – told in heart-breaking detail in his
autobiography, I’m Not Really Here – chronicles the series of incidents
that saw City and England robbed of one its brightest stars.

Three cruciate knee ligament injuries left him in danger of
being crippled, let alone ending his career before it had even begun.

But the most depressing part of Lake’s tale is a frightened
young man’s feeling of isolation, neglect and sheer terror. A heady
combination that led to his descent into depression.

He believes his career could have been saved if he had
received the same treatment for his initial injury, in September 1990,
later afforded to players like Niall Quinn and Richard Edghill.

Instead, he endured six soul-destroying years of setbacks and
false dawns before being advised that he would end up in a wheelchair if
he didn’t give up the fight.

England manager Graham Taylor was watching Lake when his knee
gave way for the first time, intercepting a pass to Tony Cascarino
during a game against Aston Villa.

Lake recalled: “As I hit the deck I felt a weird clunk in my knee, followed by a sharp, searing pain.

“I lay on the pitch in the foetal position, frozen with shock,
totally unaware that my life had changed forever.” After X-rays, Lake
says he was told he’d be out of action for six weeks and given a ‘basic
rehab programme’.


It was only after he broke down in training that he underwent
keyhole surgery to reveal a rupture of the anterior cruciate ligament.

He would receive pioneering surgery and spend much of the next
year rehabilitating at the FA’s School of Excellence in Lilleshall. Set
to make his comeback in June 1991, he broke down again in a practice
match, enduring a ‘sickeningly familiar’ pain in his knee.

He returned for the start of the 1992 season, but admits he
should never have been on the pitch when his ligament snapped for a
third time against Middlesbrough.

On the advice of fellow players, Ian Durrant and John Salako,
he decided that a trip to Los Angeles specialist Dr Domenick Sisto was
the only way to salvage his career – but says he was met with opposition
from then City chairman Peter Swales. Lake said: “Loath to foot the
bill, and reluctant to admit any culpability for my predicament, he
sanctioned the surgery only after Peter Reid had convinced him that we’d
exhausted all options in England, and that an op in the States was my
last chance.

“I think Swales also felt under pressure from certain sections
of the media, as well as some vocal supporters, who’d started to ask
pointed questions as to why I hadn’t received the same treatment as
Salako and Durrant in the first place.

“I believe Swales saw my injury as both an irritant and an
embarrassment. He gave the distinct impression that I was the failure,
and that my ongoing knee problem was somehow my fault and nobody else’s.

“He’d never shown any sympathy for what I was going through, hadn’t once picked up the phone to check how I was.

“I grew to despise the man, my hackles rising every time I caught sight of his Brillo-pad hairdo or his Bri-nylon suit.”

In LA, Dr Sisto was shocked by the state of Lake’s knee.

“He’d seen quarterbacks smashed into by huge linebackers who had more stable joints than mine,” said Lake.

“But what he couldn’t fathom out was why I was seeing him so late in the day.

“‘If I’d seen you straight away you’d have been back playing soccer by now,’ he said.”

Lake’s relationship with City disintegrated further when he
says they refused to pay for his girlfriend to fly out to his bedside.
Instead it took a whip round from his team-mates to cover the flight.

But his feelings towards his club reached an all-time low
when, six days after his operation, with his knee in a fragile state, he
was booked into a cramped economy class seat.

“Presuming that the airport staff had made a mistake, I
explained that I’d just had a serious operation on my knee, and that my
employers would have made the necessary arrangements to ensure I had an
extra spacious seat,” he said.


“I hadn’t been mistaken and, not for the first time, I’d been left distinctly underwhelmed by my club’s idea of aftercare.

“It shouldn’t have taken a rocket scientist to question the
wisdom of shoving a 6ft 1in guy on crutches, recovering from major
surgery, into such a confined space.

“It made me realise just how low in status I’d sunk – and made
me ask myself again why I was being put through such physical and
mental torture.

“I had to request a wheelchair after touching down at
Manchester airport. The eight-hour flight had inevitably taken its toll,
and my knee was now so contorted that I could hardly walk.”

Lake was later told that the ordeal of the flight had contributed to the depression he would go on to suffer.

But his grievances with the club he’d supported from boyhood didn’t end there.

Despite signing a long-term contract shortly before his
initial injury, much of his salary depended on performance-related add
ons.

“Without any appearance money or win bonuses, my income had
almost halved, my bank balance had withered to nothing and I was
struggling to afford the £1,000-per-month mortgage on my house,” he
said. “I had no option but to rent it out to cover the monthly
repayments, and use my parents’ place as a base whenever I was training
up in Manchester.”

He says he had to undergo his rehabilitation in virtual isolation at various gyms in Manchester.

Pounding


But, ultimately, it was to no avail. At the end of 1995, Lake
was told he’d have to call it a day or risk being crippled by his
disintegrating knee.

Gone were the dreams of surpassing Alan Oakes’ 676 appearances for City and Colin Bell’s 48 England caps.

He trained then worked as a pysiotherapist until last year and
is now an ambassador for City in the Community. But his knee problems
go on.

He said: “I’m riddled with osteo-arthritis, and with muscles
that are gradually wasting away, it gives me grief every waking hour.


“I’ve lived with the pain for nearly two decades now, and the
constant, pounding soreness and the sharp, stabbing twinges have become
part of my daily life.

“My left leg hasn’t been in great shape, either. After years
trying to compensate for my right limb, it’s recently begun to bow very
badly and earlier this year I had yet more surgery to straighten it.

“The way things are going, it’s looking likely that I’ll
become one of the youngest ex-professionals to undergo a double knee
replacement.

“I’m trying to stave off the operation for as long as I can
since prosthetic knees have a life span of between 10 and 15 years –
with a maximum of two per lifetime. I don’t really fancy consigning my
70-year-old self to a wheelchair.”

Lake says he doesn’t know if he’ll be remembered as one of
City’s youngest ever captains, his part in the infamous 5-1 derby win
against United in 89 or for his snapped cruciate.

The truth is, he deserved to be remembered for so much more.

I’m Not Really Here – A Life of Two Halves, by Paul Lake is published by Century and on sale now, priced £14.99.

You compare him to the late Duncan Edwards Dawg and that's exactly how City fans should remember him, a fantastic talent whos career was cut tragically short (in different ways obviously).



Sounds like he's got a tough road infront of him, as if the last 20 haven't been bad enough eh.

he has this ambassadors role at city now.

i hope that we can look after any of our ex players that have fallen on hard times.

I used to play against Lakey up to the age of 16 and try as hard as i could, i couldn't get near him. He was as good as everyone say's and would have only got better. Still see him now and then and he still reminds me of my poor attempts to curtail his career, a top lad.



Lets hope Swales and the rest of the crooks that run us back then are spending the rest of eternity with red hot pokers up their arses.

I'll be ordering this book shortly I reckon, from what I've heard, it's a a great book.

I was at the game where he swallowed his tongue, still sends shivers down my spine thinking about it, the crowds mild concern, quickly turning to an audible fear that something really serious was happening, especially when he was convulsing and we were totally helpless, watching on, hoping he was going to ok...

Thank god we're a far more professional club now.

That article is just so sad. Poor guy - can't believe he's an ambassador for us - seems like he got royally shafted by the club back then. Hope we are looking after him now. Makes me want to laugh at this new breed of prima donnas that expect so much in terms of money but have no loyalty to the club or fans.

if city aren't already doing something for ex players fallen on hard times, this could easily be sorted out.

if people donated to some sort of city trust/charity at every homegame, i'm sure we'd get 10,000 people donating £1.

That'd make about £200K per year.

I remember Adrian Heath saying that Paul Lake was the greatest player he'd ever played in the same team as.

Don't forget, Heath played in that excellent Everton side of the mid-80's that won the league and cup winners cup and were robbed by the vermin in the 85 cup final, so, quite a compliment when you think about it.

I remember watching Lakey play. Bloody marvellous player, very talented and looked like going on to become one of the best players we've ever had in the country. I recall some commentator likening him to Colin Bell, which I've since decided is tantamount to the kiss of death for a player; Michael Johnson had the same accolade bestowed on him and look where he is now.

Glad Lakey decided not to pull any punches about City either. I don't think it does us any harm to know we've not been perfect. Plus I don't think anyone would be all that surprised that Swales treated him so badly, seeing as he managed to bugger up everything we achieved before he took over.

Even though I was young back then I thought Lakey was a fantastic player who deserved so much more. I longed for the day he would return to action so a side could be built round him.



I didn't realise the Club had treated him so badly although it doesn't suprise me after hearing tales from my Grandad about certain other players that were treated equally as bad.



The word legend is used far to often nowdays but that is exactly what Lakey is to me while Peter Swales will only be remembered for being a combed over cunt imo.

I've been going to City since '86 when i was 10 and can honestly say I've never seen a more complete player, wherever he played he was our best player by a mile.

As I've said on other forums its obvious that Paul would've gone on to captain England and would probably have in excess of 100 England caps by now.

It's great that Paul is back at the club and I can only hope that he is treated like the legend he was destined to become before fate intervened.

As for Swales all I'll say is that death was too good for that man!