Zaf Iqbal has left the club. I wonder why?
What's up Doc? (Doctor? No)
- Thread starter Jack D Rips
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Exclusive: Liverpool FC part company with Dr Zaf Iqbal
Zaf Iqbal - First Team Doctor with Glen Driscoll - Liverpool Head of performance, Colin Pascoe - Liverpool Assistant manager and Pedro Philippou - Sports therapist Credit: Action Images / Craig Brough
Liverpool FC have parted company with first-team doctor Zaf Iqbal.
The ECHO understands his four-and-a-half year spell with the Anfield club came to an end on Wednesday.
Reds Academy doctor Andy Massey has taken on the additional duties on a temporary basis. The reasons for Dr Iqbal's exit are unclear.
Melwood-based Dr Iqbal was responsible for the medical treatment of all players. He would put prospective new signings through their medicals and sit on the bench on matchdays.
He also assisted the club's medical and sport science teams in devising daily fitness programmes for each player.
He worked for Leyton Orient and England's youth teams before joining Tottenham where he was promoted to the role of first-team doctor in 2008.
Dr Iqbal made the move to Liverpool in the summer of 2010.
“I have supported Liverpool ever since the mid-1980s and the opportunity to work with the excellent medical team set up here was an opportunity just too good to turn down,” he said.
Zaf Iqbal - First Team Doctor with Glen Driscoll - Liverpool Head of performance, Colin Pascoe - Liverpool Assistant manager and Pedro Philippou - Sports therapist Credit: Action Images / Craig Brough
Liverpool FC have parted company with first-team doctor Zaf Iqbal.
The ECHO understands his four-and-a-half year spell with the Anfield club came to an end on Wednesday.
Reds Academy doctor Andy Massey has taken on the additional duties on a temporary basis. The reasons for Dr Iqbal's exit are unclear.
Melwood-based Dr Iqbal was responsible for the medical treatment of all players. He would put prospective new signings through their medicals and sit on the bench on matchdays.
He also assisted the club's medical and sport science teams in devising daily fitness programmes for each player.
He worked for Leyton Orient and England's youth teams before joining Tottenham where he was promoted to the role of first-team doctor in 2008.
Dr Iqbal made the move to Liverpool in the summer of 2010.
“I have supported Liverpool ever since the mid-1980s and the opportunity to work with the excellent medical team set up here was an opportunity just too good to turn down,” he said.
Delete please
No way. This is the original Dr Zaf leaving thread. The other thread should merge with this.
I preferred the what's up Doc title, but left the other one too.
You're too kind for your own good.
Be interesting to know why he left. No more Zaffed pics.
Basically, and I have a source, the US physios & medics who have been treating Sturridge have reported to FSG that the diagnosis & treatment prior to him goign over was basically flawed. At the end of the day Zaf, as head of the medical team, has to carry the can
Well he'll hardly be a loss now will he?
I can't help finking the club should've done more to hold on to him. I mean, okay, maybe he's not as young as he used to be, but I'm sure you can still hold a stethoscope well into your 60s. I fink they should've just said to him, "Go out there and be a doctor. Don't worry about the photo ops and all that malarkey. You're a doctor - go and doct". We complicate fings too much these days, Jeff.
...and I cannot comprehend, Gary, why the club is willing to let him go. Who is now going to do all that medical stuff? It's important, Gary. What happens if someone's leg falls off or whatever? Who's going to see to that? The kit man? I know for a fact they've not fought hard enough to keep this fella, I really do.
...It leaves a nasty taste in the mouth, to be honest with you. I'm a fan, first and foremost. And I can never remember a time when the club didn't have a doctor. Doc Waller, Doc Brukner, Doc Martin, er, Doc Green, um, Doc Fox, er, Doc Who... There's been a tradition. So for the club to stand by and let this man leave, well, it leaves a really, really, nasty, bitter taste in the mouth, I can assure you, and I know several players think the same, because I know them, and their mouths are bitter, too...
Hahaha. Macca on top form!
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