‘Tom can quit Turf’
A SICKENING ATTACK PROMPTED SCHOOLBOY OLLIE TO SHOW THE GAME’S KINDER SIDE
SEAN DYCHE claims he will not stand in Tom Heaton’s way if he wants to quit Burnley in January.
Heaton, 32, has voiced his frustration at being restricted to three games in the Europa League qualifiers and League Cup, and says his future may be away from Turf Moor.
The England keeper could be relegated to third choice when Nick Pope returns from his shoulder injury in the coming weeks.
“I think he’s being realistic,” said Clarets boss Dyche. “Me and Tom go back a long way. He was my first signing here, so we’ve got an open dialogue.
“He’s been unfortunate. It started with his shoulder last season and then he got injured again when Popey got injured and I had to make a decision on that.
“Whatever needs to be worked out, we will find a way of working it out.” Klopp and Mourinho press conferences before Huddersfield and Chelsea trips. THEY were rival fans on the day a milkman nicknamed ‘Moo’ was kicked to within an inch of his life.
But the savages who ambushed Nic Cruwys, leaving him with multiple skull fractures and brain injuries, were soon put to shame by a schoolboy Wolves fan with a heart of old gold.
Ollie Floyd was so appalled, when he learned what had happened to Watford supporter ‘Moo’ after the 2-2 draw at Molineux in March 2015 (below), that he launched a crowdfunding page which raised £40,000 towards his long road to recovery.
Reassuringly, after a harrowing episode that painted football’s hooligan fringe in its darkest light, the decent majority’s fightback was led by a 16-year-old student.
Tomorrow, as they were three years ago, Ollie and his 23-year-old brother Will, a Watford fan, will be at opposite ends of Molineux.
Now 20, and taking a gap year from his geography and business management studies at Queen Mary University in London, Ollie is virtual royalty among the Hornets’ fanbase.
Within a week of his fundraiser, Watford invited him to their next home game as a VIP guest.
And when Wolves make the reciprocal trip to Vicarage Road in April, Cruwys plans to thank him with the full executive box treatment.
Mirror Sport reunited the pair, in their home town of Hemel Hempstead, to find out what made a Berkhamsted school pupil, studying for his GCSE exams, become a milkman’s white knight.
Ollie said: “Maybe it’s because we were on both sides of the fence as a family, but I thought it would be a good thing to present Wolves fans in a better light.
“I felt setting up a fund would at least begin to make up for what had happened to Nic, although you can never make up completely for such a horrific thing.
“I just wanted to show there are still good people out there, and I hoped they would get behind it.
“I guess there was an element of shame to it – I didn’t want to be associated with the small minority of bad Wolves fans.” After an exhaustive investigation, police rounded up those responsible for punching and stamping on Cruwys and six were convicted at Wolverhampton Crown Court.
Cruwys, 47, was in a coma for three weeks, needed intensive care for two months and was off work for more than a year.
As if his family did not have to contend with enough trauma, guesswork on Wolves message boards circulated uncorroborated claims that Nic was a known troublemaker.
He has no convictions for football disorder.
Although he recovered well enough to rejoin Watford’s away contingent after five months, the attack left him with life-changing head injuries.
And although he looks well, Cruwys still suffers from disrupted sleep patterns unconnected with delivering pints of semi-skimmed to doorsteps in the dead of night. He was invited to Molineux tomorrow as part of Watford’s delegation in the boardroom but is unable to attend.
Cruwys remains grateful for his intensive care at Queen Elizabeth II Hospital in Birmingham and Watford General, where he was transferred after two months, although he has no recollection of how he got there.
He said: “I can recall bits of the game and being at the ground, but the next thing I remember was waking up in hospital and thinking: ‘What the hell am I doing here?’
“My brother told me I got a kicking at Wolverhampton but (thanks to Ollie and all the people who donated) I’d be all right for money.
“I get frustrated sometimes with things but I’m told that’s normal.
“I love my job and I’m back at work, which is all I wanted to be able to do.
“My brain injury is for life, and that’s difficult to accept sometimes, but I’ve asked the club about taking an executive box or something so I can say thank you to Ollie for what he did for me.”
I just wanted to show there are good people out there. There was an element of shame