Football Diary
by Patrick O'Connor
NEXT time you think times are a bit tough, spare a thought for Gary Parkinson.
The former Middlesbrough footballer was head of youth development at Blackpool when he suffered a severe stroke last year. The 43 year old has locked-in syndrome which means he is fully aware of what's going on around him but is totally paralysed apart from being able to use his eyes.
That would have appeared to have ended his involvement with football but his former team-mate Tony Mowbray had other ideas.
Mowbray, now manager of Championship club Middlesbrough, was keen to take advantage of Parkinson's knowledge of the game.
So now Parkinson, who also played for Burnley and Preston, views DVDs of potential signings for Middlesbrough and rates the players by blinking to his wife Deborah.
She told the Northern Echo newspaper: “Tony and his coaching staff, like Mark Proctor and Stephen Pears, have been fantastic for Gary. When Tony first came to see Gary, he could see Gary was still aware of everything that was going on around him. So he asked Gary if he wanted to do some scouting for him.
“A DVD comes down to us, with a sheet of paper. There is a description of the player, his name, his age, his position and the clubs he has played for."
“Gary still loves his football, knows all about youth football from his time as the youth team coach at Blackpool, and you can see he picks up when he is doing it.”
What a heart-warming story.
Becoming a professional footballer is the dream of many. They seem to have an idyllic lifestyle, loads of money, flash cars etc and if they are lucky go on to become high-profile managers continuing to earn the sort of money most of us can only dream of.
But as with the case of some film stars and other showbiz celebrities, the grass isn't always greener on the other side, at least from their perspective.
The football world was stunned over the weekend with the news that the Wales manager Gary Speed had been found hanged at his home in Chester. He was only 42.
Speed had a fabulous playing career, turning out for Leeds, Newcastle, Everton Bolton and Sheffield United becoming the first ever player to reach 500 Premier League performances. He won 85 caps for Wales - a record for an outfield player - during a 14-year international career.
Speed had appeared on BBC1's Football Focus show on Saturday afternoon, just hours before his death. He was awarded the MBE in the 2010 Birthday Honours and leaves a wife and two children.
A statement added there were no suspicious circumstances and the death is now being dealt with by a coroner.
Tributes have been pouring in for a very popular sporting personality and it may be we never know what led to his untimely death.
Finally wasn't there just a touch of irony in the grotesquely unfair penalty award made to Newcastle United during their game against Manchester United on Saturday which led the visitors to come away with a 1-1 draw.
With 75,000 odd United fans baying at the officials, those within football have always known that refereeing decisions tend to go the way of the Reds at Old Trafford.
It left United boss Sir Alex Ferguson steaming with anger but he wouldn't have got much sympathy elsewhere.