Chris Kirkland
I don't usually quote or even paste fully article from others, especially non arsenal article. But this is so good, imho, that I just want to put it here. I would bring Kirkland into our squad if I were Arsene. Only because the lad has such a big heart.
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Oliver Holt (Mirror Football)
KIRKLAND CAN MAKE IT BACK TO THE TOP ..BET ON IT
29 March 2006
SOME years ago, around the time he made a 100-1 bet that his 13-year-old son would keep goal for England, Eddie Kirkland was told he had 24 hours to live.
A cancerous cyst had been growing undetected in his stomach for nearly two years and it had swelled to the size of a small football.
Doctors told his wife Marie that he needed a major operation and he probably would not make it through the night. Even when he survived the surgery, the best guess was that he would only last three more weeks.
But Eddie Kirkland did not die. He had to retire from his job as a crane driver and Marie had to quit work to help care for him.
The debts built up and sometimes they teetered on the brink of despair but Eddie did not give up on life. And he never stopped encouraging his son.
Chris Kirkland only found out a few years ago how hard his father fought to cling to life.
Somehow, his parents had managed to keep the seriousness of his dad's condition from him.
But Kirkland has thought about his courage constantly in the last couple of years as a succession of serious injuries have blighted his football career.
A few months ago, when a collision with Bolton's Kevin Davies injured his kidney and ended his run in the West Brom first team, he thought about quitting.
For a couple of days, he felt overwhelmed by all the setbacks he had suffered and the havoc it had wreaked on his England prospects.
He was exhausted by the gruelling, soul-destroying cycle of injury and recovery that ruined his Liverpool career and had now followed him to his loan spell at The Hawthorns.
He was tired of being known as the unluckiest player in football even though he was still only 24. Tired of people saying he was just too brave when he injured his knee in a collision with Dele Adebola playing for Liverpool against Crystal Palace.
He'd had enough of pity and sympathy and lying flat out on the West Brom team coach after the Bolton game because of the pain in his side, knowing his team mates were looking at him and thinking 'not again'.
A week earlier, he had turned in the best goalkeeping performance of the season against Arsenal and reminded everyone that when he's fit, he's England's best goalkeeper.
He was so desperate not to yield to this latest blow that he did not tell anyone at the club the next day when he started to urinate blood.
It was only when a specialist told him he could lose the damaged kidney if it took another hit that he had to bow to his bad luck. He told himself he was sick of the heartbreak. He had always wanted to be a fireman when he was a kid. He thought now was the time to pursue that dream instead.
Then he spoke to his wife and his mum and his agent. And then he spoke to his dad. And he changed his mind.
"I thought about what my dad had been through with his cancer," Kirkland said. "I thought 'my dad's beaten that so a few injuries aren't going to beat me'.
"He is a great inspiration to me and so is my mum. My mum held everything together when my dad wasn't well and times were tough.
"I'm proud now that I am in a position where I can help them out and that's one of the reasons why I'm so determined my career is going to recover from all this.
"I know there's nothing wrong with me that a change of luck can't fix. People have talked about me having brittle bones but believe me, I have had all the tests to check my bone density and everything's fine."
A finger injury Kirkland sustained last week ended what slim chance he had of forcing his way into Sven Goran Eriksson's World Cup squad.
You want an irony: he did it saving a shot in training from West Brom's other goalie, Tomasz Kuszczak.
But this time, Kirkland is not dispirited. This time, even though Liverpool plan to offload him in the summer, he's counting his blessings and desperate to make a fresh start next season.
"I don't want people to feel sorry for me," he said. "I've even stopped thinking about myself as being particularly unlucky.
"An unlucky player is someone like Paul Lake who had to give up the game because of injury.
"After I hurt my knee at Palace, I got a letter from Alan Shearer telling me not to be downhearted. He said he'd had 14 operations and he was still going strong. That meant a lot to me when I opened that letter.
"I hope now that the injuries just disappear as quickly as they started coming. I'm hoping I have the next seven years injury-free.
"Next season, I want people to stop talking about bad luck and start saying 'this kid can play, he's a good goalkeeper and he's back to his best'.
"I know I'm a risk for a club at the moment. It's going to be a gamble for them but whoever does take me, they'll see how hard I work and how determined I am."
Kirkland is such a genuine, honest, dedicated man and such a talented keeper, he could easily be the biggest transfer steal of the summer.
Something tells me that next season, his dad's finally going to collect on that bet.
And that the fire brigade may have to wait a little longer for a new recruit.
========
Oliver Holt (Mirror Football)
KIRKLAND CAN MAKE IT BACK TO THE TOP ..BET ON IT
29 March 2006
SOME years ago, around the time he made a 100-1 bet that his 13-year-old son would keep goal for England, Eddie Kirkland was told he had 24 hours to live.
A cancerous cyst had been growing undetected in his stomach for nearly two years and it had swelled to the size of a small football.
Doctors told his wife Marie that he needed a major operation and he probably would not make it through the night. Even when he survived the surgery, the best guess was that he would only last three more weeks.
But Eddie Kirkland did not die. He had to retire from his job as a crane driver and Marie had to quit work to help care for him.
The debts built up and sometimes they teetered on the brink of despair but Eddie did not give up on life. And he never stopped encouraging his son.
Chris Kirkland only found out a few years ago how hard his father fought to cling to life.
Somehow, his parents had managed to keep the seriousness of his dad's condition from him.
But Kirkland has thought about his courage constantly in the last couple of years as a succession of serious injuries have blighted his football career.
A few months ago, when a collision with Bolton's Kevin Davies injured his kidney and ended his run in the West Brom first team, he thought about quitting.
For a couple of days, he felt overwhelmed by all the setbacks he had suffered and the havoc it had wreaked on his England prospects.
He was exhausted by the gruelling, soul-destroying cycle of injury and recovery that ruined his Liverpool career and had now followed him to his loan spell at The Hawthorns.
He was tired of being known as the unluckiest player in football even though he was still only 24. Tired of people saying he was just too brave when he injured his knee in a collision with Dele Adebola playing for Liverpool against Crystal Palace.
He'd had enough of pity and sympathy and lying flat out on the West Brom team coach after the Bolton game because of the pain in his side, knowing his team mates were looking at him and thinking 'not again'.
A week earlier, he had turned in the best goalkeeping performance of the season against Arsenal and reminded everyone that when he's fit, he's England's best goalkeeper.
He was so desperate not to yield to this latest blow that he did not tell anyone at the club the next day when he started to urinate blood.
It was only when a specialist told him he could lose the damaged kidney if it took another hit that he had to bow to his bad luck. He told himself he was sick of the heartbreak. He had always wanted to be a fireman when he was a kid. He thought now was the time to pursue that dream instead.
Then he spoke to his wife and his mum and his agent. And then he spoke to his dad. And he changed his mind.
"I thought about what my dad had been through with his cancer," Kirkland said. "I thought 'my dad's beaten that so a few injuries aren't going to beat me'.
"He is a great inspiration to me and so is my mum. My mum held everything together when my dad wasn't well and times were tough.
"I'm proud now that I am in a position where I can help them out and that's one of the reasons why I'm so determined my career is going to recover from all this.
"I know there's nothing wrong with me that a change of luck can't fix. People have talked about me having brittle bones but believe me, I have had all the tests to check my bone density and everything's fine."
A finger injury Kirkland sustained last week ended what slim chance he had of forcing his way into Sven Goran Eriksson's World Cup squad.
You want an irony: he did it saving a shot in training from West Brom's other goalie, Tomasz Kuszczak.
But this time, Kirkland is not dispirited. This time, even though Liverpool plan to offload him in the summer, he's counting his blessings and desperate to make a fresh start next season.
"I don't want people to feel sorry for me," he said. "I've even stopped thinking about myself as being particularly unlucky.
"An unlucky player is someone like Paul Lake who had to give up the game because of injury.
"After I hurt my knee at Palace, I got a letter from Alan Shearer telling me not to be downhearted. He said he'd had 14 operations and he was still going strong. That meant a lot to me when I opened that letter.
"I hope now that the injuries just disappear as quickly as they started coming. I'm hoping I have the next seven years injury-free.
"Next season, I want people to stop talking about bad luck and start saying 'this kid can play, he's a good goalkeeper and he's back to his best'.
"I know I'm a risk for a club at the moment. It's going to be a gamble for them but whoever does take me, they'll see how hard I work and how determined I am."
Kirkland is such a genuine, honest, dedicated man and such a talented keeper, he could easily be the biggest transfer steal of the summer.
Something tells me that next season, his dad's finally going to collect on that bet.
And that the fire brigade may have to wait a little longer for a new recruit.
posted by phoenix chix at 3:03 PM
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