From The Times:
After an absence of 619 days, Jon Flanagan tells Tony Barrett how he negotiated the long road back from injury.
The return of the native prompted an outpouring of acclaim and relief — 619 days after his 43rd appearance for Liverpool came Jon Flanagan’s 44th. The defender had missed Anfield, a stadium within a long goalkick of his childhood home, and Anfield had missed him. His prolonged absence had made countless hearts grow fonder and this, a chance to play first-team football again, was everything he had craved during the dark days, weeks and months when injury dogged him.
“It has been a terrible time for me but now to be back is just a great feeling and a relief to be back out there playing,” Flanagan says.
“The injury”, as he refers to it, was a damaged cartilage in his left knee, a problem that flared the summer after his breakthrough season and which required two operations during a 20-month period. The Liverpool team he left behind was one who had challenged for the Premier League title up until the final day of the 2013-14 season, the one he returned to were a distant seventh. No wonder he has been missed.
Ask most people what the single biggest factor in Liverpool’s decline has been during the intervening period and Luis Suárez’s departure will rightly be cited over and over again. Those who know the club best, though, will also pinpoint the loss of Flanagan as another trigger.
Not on the same level as Suárez, of course, but at a time when Liverpool have lost too many leaders and much of their local influence, one of the few players capable of providing both was missing and it showed.
With his injury nightmare behind him, Flanagan is able to look ahead with confidence and an ambition to provide Liverpool with the local heartbeat they missed when his absence coincided with Steven Gerrard’s departure.
“It is because I am a local lad and I love the club and would do anything for the club,” he says of his bond with the supporters. “I am like one of them really, I think that is the connection. It does bring a bit of pressure but it is something I would love to take on. I would love that pressure.”
Liverpool knew what they had even before it was gone, but it was while he was unavailable that Flanagan’s worth to them became apparent, hence the rapturous greeting he received in his comeback against Exeter City in last week’s FA Cup third-round replay. He is in the squad for this evening’s fourth-round tie at home to West Ham United.
“It was just a brilliant reception,” he says. “I wasn’t expecting that and it hit home that the fans are all behind me. It was a bit emotional for me but it was a great feeling.”
Flanagan acknowledges that during his lengthy rehabilitation, it was the support of Liverpool’s physiotherapy team and the backing of the fans that helped him to come through the low points. “I couldn’t have got through it without the supporters,” he says. “It was always going to be mentally tough. I got told I wasn’t going to be out for as long as I was and to keep going for the length of time I have been out it is hard to get your head around.
“You always have your moments, but you just have to stay positive. You cannot go around feeling sorry for yourself. They were long days. I would be in at 8am and do a cardiovascular session with the lads in the gym, a bit of treatment and then all the gym work after that. I was there until 5-6pm each day. They were long days; tough days to get your head around when all the lads are coming in, going training and getting off within three hours.
“Matt Konopinski has been working with me every day and the two lads from the gym, Jordan Milsom and David Rydings have been a massive help. I can only thank them. You are always going to have those days when you are going to be frustrated and not in the mood and that and those three lads have been brilliant to me. They have got me through this, kept me up and kept me going really.”
Another driving force was the knowledge that his father, John, had seen his Liverpool dream die as a teenager when he was released by the club where he had cleaned Kenny Dalglish’s boots. “My dad always drills that home,” Flanagan Jr says. “He had his chance and he knew why it didn’t work out. He keeps hammering it home saying you don’t know how lucky you are. He has been a massive influence on my career.”
A more recent influence is Jürgen Klopp who singled out the 23-year-old out for praise after Liverpool’s penalty shoot-out victory over Stoke City in the Capital One Cup semi-final second leg on Tuesday. When the television cameras were trained on the Liverpool manager, Klopp urged those holding them to seek out Flanagan if they wanted to highlight the night’s real hero.
Having been scheduled to play an hour in his first start since May 2014, Flanagan went on to play 105 minutes before reluctantly leaving the field to a deserved standing ovation.
“Seeing the manager’s reaction was brilliant,” he says. “A manager like him and he recognises the struggle I have been through, a nice gesture like that is just brilliant for me and keeps me upbeat.
I got through OK but I was stiff the day after.”
After an absence of 619 days, Jon Flanagan tells Tony Barrett how he negotiated the long road back from injury.
The return of the native prompted an outpouring of acclaim and relief — 619 days after his 43rd appearance for Liverpool came Jon Flanagan’s 44th. The defender had missed Anfield, a stadium within a long goalkick of his childhood home, and Anfield had missed him. His prolonged absence had made countless hearts grow fonder and this, a chance to play first-team football again, was everything he had craved during the dark days, weeks and months when injury dogged him.
“It has been a terrible time for me but now to be back is just a great feeling and a relief to be back out there playing,” Flanagan says.
“The injury”, as he refers to it, was a damaged cartilage in his left knee, a problem that flared the summer after his breakthrough season and which required two operations during a 20-month period. The Liverpool team he left behind was one who had challenged for the Premier League title up until the final day of the 2013-14 season, the one he returned to were a distant seventh. No wonder he has been missed.
Ask most people what the single biggest factor in Liverpool’s decline has been during the intervening period and Luis Suárez’s departure will rightly be cited over and over again. Those who know the club best, though, will also pinpoint the loss of Flanagan as another trigger.
Not on the same level as Suárez, of course, but at a time when Liverpool have lost too many leaders and much of their local influence, one of the few players capable of providing both was missing and it showed.
With his injury nightmare behind him, Flanagan is able to look ahead with confidence and an ambition to provide Liverpool with the local heartbeat they missed when his absence coincided with Steven Gerrard’s departure.
“It is because I am a local lad and I love the club and would do anything for the club,” he says of his bond with the supporters. “I am like one of them really, I think that is the connection. It does bring a bit of pressure but it is something I would love to take on. I would love that pressure.”
Liverpool knew what they had even before it was gone, but it was while he was unavailable that Flanagan’s worth to them became apparent, hence the rapturous greeting he received in his comeback against Exeter City in last week’s FA Cup third-round replay. He is in the squad for this evening’s fourth-round tie at home to West Ham United.
“It was just a brilliant reception,” he says. “I wasn’t expecting that and it hit home that the fans are all behind me. It was a bit emotional for me but it was a great feeling.”
Flanagan acknowledges that during his lengthy rehabilitation, it was the support of Liverpool’s physiotherapy team and the backing of the fans that helped him to come through the low points. “I couldn’t have got through it without the supporters,” he says. “It was always going to be mentally tough. I got told I wasn’t going to be out for as long as I was and to keep going for the length of time I have been out it is hard to get your head around.
“You always have your moments, but you just have to stay positive. You cannot go around feeling sorry for yourself. They were long days. I would be in at 8am and do a cardiovascular session with the lads in the gym, a bit of treatment and then all the gym work after that. I was there until 5-6pm each day. They were long days; tough days to get your head around when all the lads are coming in, going training and getting off within three hours.
“Matt Konopinski has been working with me every day and the two lads from the gym, Jordan Milsom and David Rydings have been a massive help. I can only thank them. You are always going to have those days when you are going to be frustrated and not in the mood and that and those three lads have been brilliant to me. They have got me through this, kept me up and kept me going really.”
Another driving force was the knowledge that his father, John, had seen his Liverpool dream die as a teenager when he was released by the club where he had cleaned Kenny Dalglish’s boots. “My dad always drills that home,” Flanagan Jr says. “He had his chance and he knew why it didn’t work out. He keeps hammering it home saying you don’t know how lucky you are. He has been a massive influence on my career.”
A more recent influence is Jürgen Klopp who singled out the 23-year-old out for praise after Liverpool’s penalty shoot-out victory over Stoke City in the Capital One Cup semi-final second leg on Tuesday. When the television cameras were trained on the Liverpool manager, Klopp urged those holding them to seek out Flanagan if they wanted to highlight the night’s real hero.
Having been scheduled to play an hour in his first start since May 2014, Flanagan went on to play 105 minutes before reluctantly leaving the field to a deserved standing ovation.
“Seeing the manager’s reaction was brilliant,” he says. “A manager like him and he recognises the struggle I have been through, a nice gesture like that is just brilliant for me and keeps me upbeat.
I got through OK but I was stiff the day after.”
