‘I’m not the hero, he is’ – Lascelles
NUFC SKIPPER OPENS UP ABOUT ENCOUNTER
NUFC Editor NEWCASTLE United captain Jamaal Lascelles says he was ‘humbled’ by his meeting with an amputee exMarine that saw the Magpies skipper hailed as a good Samaritan.
The Newcastle defender – who is currently out injured and will miss the next couple of games – has spoken for the first time about the meeting, which captured national attention after a Facebook post this week.
Lascelles was heading to Newcastle restaurant Hana Hana this week when he was came across an ex-serviceman whose wheelchair had broken on the cobbled streets around the restaurant.
In ‘freezing’ temperatures, the United captain offered to give him a lift home but couldn’t get him into his car – so instead he invited him into the restaurant for drinks while they waited for a taxi to come and pick the ex-Marine and his partner up.
Lascelles gave him his gloves and promised some tickets for a future game – but he says it is his new friend, who lost his legs in Afghanistan, who is the real hero.
After the story was posted on Facebook, the Daily Mirror picked up the tale and hailed it as an ‘incredible gesture’ but Lascelles says it is the man and not him who deserves all the praise.
In an interview with MOTD Magazine – who have just named him their Hero of the year – he said: “The other day me and my girlfriend, we just went to Hana Hana for some food and as I was pulling up there was a guy kind of falling out of his wheelchair.
“So obviously I went over and helped him and his wheelchair had broken, one of the wheels had snapped off so I was trying to fix that.
“It was raining, it was freezing, it was about 8 o’clock at night. I couldn’t fix it. I felt really bad because he was with his girlfriend or wife, I think she was pregnant too, I felt really bad for him so I thought ‘Okay, I’ll try and get him in my car and I’ll give him a lift home.’
“It was only in Gateshead where he lived. I lifted him up but I think he’d just had an operation – he didn’t have any legs. I tried to lift him but it was too painful for him. My car’s quite high up so I didn’t know what to do, so I said ‘Come inside the restaurant.’ I got him a few drinks, I was chatting to him and I rang him a taxi that could take people with wheelchairs.
“That came, I got him in there and said ‘I’ll get you a few tickets,’ I gave him my gloves, gave him £20 for the taxi. I felt sorry for him.
“When it comes to things like that I’ve got a proper soft spot. He’s battling on, he said he had to push himself 30 minutes back to his house!
“It just makes you wake up and think we’re in a really fortunate position as footballers, we get things handed to us – obviously we’ve had to work hard to get ourselves to this situation, but he went to work one day and his legs were blown off.
“It gets me annoyed about this ankle, I can’t train, but he’s wheeling himself around Newcastle with no legs. I added him on Facebook and we’ve exchanged a few messages.”