Brady: Missing Euros in Dublin wouldn’t be right
ROBBIE BRADY insists the prospect of games taking place in Dublin during Euro 2020 without the Republic of Ireland is unthinkable, as he challenged the current squad to step up and create new memories by qualifying. After the FAI secured Dublin as one of the 12 host cities for the reformatted tournament throughout the continent, with three group games and a round of 16 tie heading to Lansdowne Road, chief executive John Delaney has stressed its added significance as it is ‘a great prize for the organisation’. However, a poor result away to Denmark in the final Nations League game will see Ireland relegated from their group, meaning there would be extra pressure on the regular European Championship qualifiers which begin in March. As he prepares for his first international appearance in a year, following a serious knee injury and complications with his recovery, Brady is determined not to miss out. ‘It wouldn’t feel right. Coming to watch games here wouldn’t be the same. Hopefully we can make those games in between count,’ he said. ‘It would be amazing, but there’s a lot of games between now and then. You
“The Ireland camp has a different feel about it now, it’s a big change”
HE CAN laugh about it now, 11 months on and with the nightmare of the complicated knee injury finally behind him. The scars remain, both physical and mental, but for Robbie Brady the brighter future he fought for over the last year has finally arrived.
There was only darkness when the collision took place 30 minutes into Burnley’s game with Leicester City in December 2017. All he saw was the imposing figure of his close pal Harry Maguire, a former Hull City team-mate, hurtling towards him as he attempted to get a shot away. Then… bang. ‘I could not have run into anyone worse in the world, I don’t think,’ Brady said with a laugh. ‘My patella tendon completely ruptured. Harry’s a good mate of mine as well.’
Despite the tortuous rehabilitation process which was to follow, the nature of the injury actually played a part in healing a previous knee condition which had blighted the Republic of Ireland international.
‘I had a little bit of tendonitis over the last couple of years before I actually hurt it. I had a bit of a burning sensation in it, day in day out. But it’s manageable and a lot of players are playing with it now,’ he explained.
‘Harry came into me after the game and then messaged me later saying that he hoped that I would come back stronger. He’s helped me in a way because the tendonitis is gone. That burning sensation is gone, I’ve just had to have a year out for that [to happen],’ he added with a smile.
‘At the start I was sort of feeling sorry for myself and thinking “why did it happen to me?”. But there are a lot worse things happening in the world than me hurting my knee. You have ups and downs throughout the thing but you just have to get to grips with it and get on with it.’
Roy Keane played a key part in that process. Brady turned 26 a month after the setback, the same age as the former Manchester United midfielder when he suffered his infamous cruciate knee ligament injury against Leeds United at Elland Road in 1997.
‘Roy sent me a few texts throughout the thing and I spoke to him after I did it.He gave me some good advice which helped, things to expect that I might not think would come, sort of giving me a heads up on things and that if I needed anything, he lives quite near me, so if I needed anything to [get in touch].
‘You sort of get your head around the physical side of things after a couple of months,’ Brady continued. ‘When you’re getting back moving you know what you have to do. But when you’re in the gym on your own day in and day out, it gets that little bit lonely. You’re literally on your own for the majority of it. It was probably 10 months near enough on my own.’
At Burnley, the majority of the players are based in Cheshire. So much so that nine of the squad chipped in for a people carrier and have a rota for driving duties to training every morning.
One of the most difficult aspects for Brady to cope with was arriving for work after those journeys and seeing his teammates head to the pitches while he slaved away in the gym.
‘I think the mind plays tricks on you all the time. If you have a bad day, you have a bad day, which there was a few of along the way but you just have to try and stay positive,’ he explained.
‘I had a lot of good people with me, a good physio at Burnley who was bending over backwards for me. Having my family [helped]. My little girl [Halle, 5], that took my mind off it a little bit and it just gives you time to concentrate on other things and get going. Physically I’m feeling really good.
‘I’ve picked up little things in the gym that I needed to do better. It gives you time to sort of fine-tune yourself over the year as well as getting the knee right. And then before you know it you’re in the home straight. And now I’m back at it.’
Brady has featured in Burnley’s last three Premier League games — including 90 minutes against Chelsea — but it was his first game back for the Under-23s which provided the sternest examination of his knee.
‘A young lad came through it, a straight leg, so that was a good test for it in the first few minutes. I had a little word, told him to calm down. But I came through it. It’s solid, it’s as strong as it’s ever been.’
Brady could have been back involved for last month’s Ireland games but hamstring and quad niggles delayed the comeback. He still made the trip over, ‘just to show my face’, and it struck him how things are changing under Martin O’Neill.
‘It’s a massive transition with older lads who have stopped playing and younger ones coming in, it’s
a big change. It’s got a different feel. A few of the lads were talking about James McClean’s goal [in Austria] and that’s a couple of years ago now. Then the qualifier with Bosnia was a year before that again, three years ago [yesterday], I don’t know where those three years have gone. The familiar faces are gone and the rebuilding stages have gone on from the start of the year.
‘We’re starting to gel now. I still speak to the lads who’ve left every day. They were great for me and helped me. I’m that little bit older now and hopefully wiser so hopefully I can help these young lads coming in, some of them have great ability so hopefully I can help them as well as the senior lads who helped me.
‘There is a responsibility to help the new lads fit in as well as possible because that will only help them on the pitch.’
The Ireland manager is glad to have Brady back, but is also cautious. ‘Asking him now to be the complete match winner again after being a year out of the game is asking a lot,’ O’Neill said.
Unsurprisingly, the player himself is raring to go with Northern Ireland on the horizon tomorrow and competitive action to follow in Denmark on Monday.
‘I feel ready and I feel that I have played enough games to start if that’s what’s needed,’ he said. ‘So I will just have to show that I am up to speed.’
BRADY ON HIS INJURY ‘ I spoke to Roy Keane about it and he gave me some good advice which helped. And physically, I feel really good now.