FORMER IRELAND DEFENDER Richard Dunne has been impressed with how Everton have dealt with Seamus Coleman since his serious injury.
The Toffees defender suffered a double leg-break in the World Cup qualifier with Wales back in March and, after undergoing surgery, he is on the long road to recovery.
Former international team-mate Dunne, who spent six years at the Merseyside outfit after joining as a schoolboy, accepts that Coleman has several tough months ahead but the support of his club will help enormously.
“It’s very easy for a club to move on because they are so interested and invested in what’s happening now,” Dunne said yesterday, speaking as the Aviva FAI Junior Cup ambassador.
If you get injured, they tend to stick you in the physio room, move on and replace you. It just shows how much he’s worth to them.
“As a family-orientated club, I think they like to call themselves the people’s club, they’ve really shown it this week. It was a classy thing to first go see him, then to keep up with the contract negotiations and get it signed. He’s had such a serious injury.”
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The Everton boss and his medical staff visited Coleman in Donegal. Evertonfc.comEvertonfc.com
Dunne had his fair share of injuries during a 19-year professional career in English football and missed the entire 2012/13 campaign with Aston Villa due to recurring groin problems.
As the defender explains, it was a frustrating time in his life.
“You don’t even feel part of it because the time I was there the squad changed so much,” he says. “You make your bonds and relationships out on the pitch and find out a lot about people.
“If you miss the start of the season and the changing of the guard it makes it very difficult to become a part of that. They were training at different times to me and travelling away and it isn’t easy.
It will be tough for Seamus but with the squad that Everton have there’s not going to be a huge turnover in players so he will have the lads who played with him this season, whereas for me they just changed the whole squad instantly.
“The fact that they have given him a new contract shows what a good club Everton is. From being there when I was younger, I know that they look after people well. I’m sure Seamus will be delighted to have got his contract and to know they’ve got the belief that he’ll make it back.”
Dunne with Sheriff YC supporters Jack Ogle (left) and Rhys Creane yesterday. Matt Browne / SPORTSFILE
Matt Browne / SPORTSFILE / SPORTSFILE
He adds: “You just get fed up really. From the age of seven or eight, you’ve always been involved in team sports and having comfort in groups.
“So to just go in every day and be with the physio, there is no kicking of the ball, no enjoyment and it’s all the dirty side of it – the gym work, the running and everything. It’s very difficult.
“As much as you think ‘I’ll do this step and it’s onto the next step’, every step is six weeks and it feels like six months the whole time. It drags on and it’s disheartening. I don’t think I went to one match when I was injured because missing training was bad enough but having to go and watch matches was too difficult.
“Seamus might be different as he might want to be involved in the games. It is hard and you do feel it’s never going to end, you have to be positive. He knows he’s got a place at the club and he’s got that security. I think the fact that they’ve shown so much support in him, that will be huge benefit mentally for him.”
Former Ireland international and Aviva’s FAI Junior Cup ambassador Richard Dunne is visiting the communities of Sheriff Street in Dublin and Kilkenny ahead of next weekend’s FAI Junior Cup final between Sheriff YC and Evergreen FC
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Everton have shown their class with how they've treated Coleman, says Richard Dunne
FORMER IRELAND DEFENDER Richard Dunne has been impressed with how Everton have dealt with Seamus Coleman since his serious injury.
The Toffees defender suffered a double leg-break in the World Cup qualifier with Wales back in March and, after undergoing surgery, he is on the long road to recovery.
Everton manager Ronald Koeman and his backroom team went to visit Coleman in his hometown of Killybegs recently, and the Premier League club announced yesterday that they have rewarded the 28-year-old defender with a new five-year contract.
Former international team-mate Dunne, who spent six years at the Merseyside outfit after joining as a schoolboy, accepts that Coleman has several tough months ahead but the support of his club will help enormously.
“It’s very easy for a club to move on because they are so interested and invested in what’s happening now,” Dunne said yesterday, speaking as the Aviva FAI Junior Cup ambassador.
“As a family-orientated club, I think they like to call themselves the people’s club, they’ve really shown it this week. It was a classy thing to first go see him, then to keep up with the contract negotiations and get it signed. He’s had such a serious injury.”
Dunne had his fair share of injuries during a 19-year professional career in English football and missed the entire 2012/13 campaign with Aston Villa due to recurring groin problems.
As the defender explains, it was a frustrating time in his life.
“You don’t even feel part of it because the time I was there the squad changed so much,” he says. “You make your bonds and relationships out on the pitch and find out a lot about people.
“If you miss the start of the season and the changing of the guard it makes it very difficult to become a part of that. They were training at different times to me and travelling away and it isn’t easy.
“The fact that they have given him a new contract shows what a good club Everton is. From being there when I was younger, I know that they look after people well. I’m sure Seamus will be delighted to have got his contract and to know they’ve got the belief that he’ll make it back.”
He adds: “You just get fed up really. From the age of seven or eight, you’ve always been involved in team sports and having comfort in groups.
“So to just go in every day and be with the physio, there is no kicking of the ball, no enjoyment and it’s all the dirty side of it – the gym work, the running and everything. It’s very difficult.
“As much as you think ‘I’ll do this step and it’s onto the next step’, every step is six weeks and it feels like six months the whole time. It drags on and it’s disheartening. I don’t think I went to one match when I was injured because missing training was bad enough but having to go and watch matches was too difficult.
“Seamus might be different as he might want to be involved in the games. It is hard and you do feel it’s never going to end, you have to be positive. He knows he’s got a place at the club and he’s got that security. I think the fact that they’ve shown so much support in him, that will be huge benefit mentally for him.”
Former Ireland international and Aviva’s FAI Junior Cup ambassador Richard Dunne is visiting the communities of Sheriff Street in Dublin and Kilkenny ahead of next weekend’s FAI Junior Cup final between Sheriff YC and Evergreen FC
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