Daily Mirror (Northern Ireland)
I’VE ALREADY HAD MESSAGES FROM POCH WISHING ME LUCK. I’VE HAD SOME TOUGH MOMENTS BUT I’M FEELING GOOD NOW
New boss Mason ready for the latest chapter of his remarkable life by ending Spurs’ trophy drought
WERE it not for the quickthinking of Hull’s team doctor, Ryan Mason might never have spoken again.
Now, just four years after a horror clash of heads at Chelsea, which left him with a fractured skull, he will deliver a team talk for World Cup winners and Golden Boot recipients he used to consider his superiors. Firstly tonight against Southampton, then again in four days’ time before the Carabao Cup final with Manchester City at Wembley.
Yesterday’s call to take charge of first-team affairs at Spurs until the end of the season, following the shock sacking of Jose Mourinho, is another remarkable chapter in Mason’s life.
And the former midfielder, 29, revealed ex-boss Mauricio Pochettino has already wished him luck landing the elusive trophy he could not deliver in
five-and-a-half years. Mason was given his debut by Pochettino and welcomed back as a coach after calling it a day with Hull in 2018 (below).
He becomes the first 20-something to take charge of a Premier League side tonight, but already thoughts are on ending the club’s 13-year trophy drought on Sunday.
Mason said: “I have exchanged a couple of messages with Mauricio and also with other staff from his team.
“He’s very busy, understandably, but we’ve always had a great relationship. He loves this club as well.
He wished me all the best and I’m sure we’ll be in contact in future as well.”
Mason was forced to retire from playing when his skull did not knit together as doctors would have liked following a fracture suffered in January 2017.
And the problems could have been even worse were it not for the quick-thinking of Dr Mark Waller at Hull.
He told the ambulance staff to ignore the hospital nearby and head straight for St Mary’s, a specialist head-injury centre, amid fears that brain damage could be imminent.
Mason’s playing career could not be saved, but his quality of life certainly was.
Now his determination to make the most of things is to be channelled into the club he first joined as an eight-year-old.
“What I went through was huge,” added Mason. “I had to deal with an injury, a moment of health
where there were a lot of difficult moments.
“The most important thing has always been my attitude, my family, the people that care about me, the people around me that have been so humble and have helped me along all the difficult moments I had as a player.
“I just think the way I live my life, the way I think… I want to be positive, I want to be happy, I want to have experiences that I look back on and work hard.
“There’s obviously a lot of work to be done. But I feel good. I feel in a good place and hopefully that can transmit to the players.
“There are pressures, I would be lying if I said I didn’t feel it. But the most important thing for all of us is our health.”
As head of youth development, he worked at the opposite end of Spurs’ sprawling training complex.
But no fewer than eight of the players Mason used to be with week-in, week-out are still regular first-teamers.
He said: “With some in these situations there might be banter, but not with me. Yes, they are my friends, but there is already that professional working relationship and I’m sure they respect that.”
Mason has at least been saved one job this week with the Carabao Cup final looming.
“I am not sure of the ticketing process and whether I would have been given one,” he added. “But I would have definitely asked and hoped and been pretty sure of getting in there somehow.”