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Chris
Greenacre |
Bio
A former favourite amongst Tranmere fans, Chris
left Rovers after four years on the Wirral in
June 2009, signing for Wellington Phoenix in New
Zealand.Here, Chris updates us with all the latest
goings on from the other side of the world, and
tells us a bit about life as a professional
footballer.
Related links
wellingtonphoenix.com |
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24/12/09
Greeny's blog
Injuries,
training and sunburn at Christmas!
Firstly,
I would like to thank everyone for taking the time out to read
my first blog and many thanks for your comments.
It's been a difficult couple of weeks for me personally after my
injury at Brisbane. At first we thought it was just a knock
which usually would just need a few days of rest for the injury
to settle down. Unfortunately its taken a little longer.
I was
absolutely gutted not to be involved in the Melbourne game. I
was sat in the stand with the other players not involved,
heading and kicking every ball. I tried to train in the week but
found it difficult to strike the ball (you knew that when I
arrived ha!).
I had a scan on Monday 9th December. The results came back the
following morning. To my horror I had a tear in my
posterior cruciate ligament and also a tear where my thigh
attaches to my knee. First thoughts from our medical team were
that the posterior injury was a previous injury and it had been
there a while and I hadn't noticed it. If this was the
case, I may be able to inject a steroid into the other tear and
mask the pain. The specialist examined the scans and said, in
his opinion, that the tear was new and therefore I couldn't have
the injection as it may cause further damage to the knee.
Absolutely gutted!!
At the moment a big focus for the Phoenix is our discipline. We
have had three players suspended in the matter of weeks and been
given club fines by the A-league. As a club, and as a squad, we
understand that we are entering an important stage in our season
(the business end as it were) and we need a fully fit squad for
that.
We have
a number of players with quite high booking stats so we need to
be careful. We also understand that our actions on and off the
field are viewed by the future of our game - the kids. We have a
duty to be role models and conduct ourselves appropriately, but
also be professional too.
At the moment my wife and I are finding it difficult to get into
the Christmas spirit! The weather is just too good! It
should be miserable and raining just like back in England!
Usually the Christmas lights are on in the early afternoon in
the bleak British winters. Here we are sat on our balcony until
eight at night in the sunshine, it's marvellous. I actually got
burnt three weeks ago in November, it's never been heard of!
It's been a tough week. I have been going to the training ground
to get treatment and then watching the boys train. Whenever your
not involved in training it always looks so inviting. The
session on Thursday of this week was a bit feisty and had a bit
of an edge to it. There were tackles flying in everywhere and a
few shouts of abuse to one another during the games. I
think the manager will be pleased to have seen this from the
players. I think it shows the fire and passion from the team in
focusing for the big game against Sydney.
The group of players we have here is a special group. I was told
when I arrived that they were close, but only when you actually
get involved with them do you realise how close. I am not sure
the reason why. I think that it's because everyone lives
so close to the city of Wellington. In this I mean that
the players regularly go to the gym, gather for lunch, go
to the cinema, play golf, attend after match functions etc. I
think this builds special bonds away from football and these
bonds are shown out on the pitch.
When
times have been difficult, and we have been behind in games, we
have had a desire and a will to help each other and grind a
result out. In the U.K it's been a little different.
Players are not always able to live close to where they play,
especially when you go down into the lower leagues. You
have players who could be driving anything from one to two and a
half hours to training. In the top leagues the players just buy
another house near their new club but it's not that easy for the
rest of us. The team bonding is only at training and not
at any other time.
I have had another meeting with the specialist and the medical
team and at the moment we are focusing on me being fit for
around the 9th January. It's been such a frustrating time
in the gym doing my bike work. Thankfully I am able to run now,
but it's not the same as joining in regular training.
I am
doing a lot of agility and weights work on my injured knee to
strengthen the muscles around the injury and try to prevent it
happening again. Now that I have a date in mind it has made me
focus more about my comeback. For the last couple of weeks
I have just been working hard for no apparent reason, and now I
can see light at the end of the tunnel.
The Sydney game was a horrible game to watch. The conditions
were not the best with the wind causing both teams to struggle.
I am still unsure whether or not it was a penalty. You have seen
them given on some occasions, and not given on others. I don't
think either team played particularly well, and a draw was the
more likely result. I think that if Tim Brown's shot in the
first half was not cleared off the line and we went in at half
time with the single goal advantage, I think it would of been
enough for us to take all three points.
In
fairness to Sydney, they did what any team at the top did, and
that is get a result when they have not played that well.
It was a great turnout from our fans and they were all in good
voice to cheer the boys on. Palmeston was a great venue
and the pitch looked in great shape.
We took our latest trip to Adelaide United on Friday night. We
haven't managed a result there ever since the A-League started.
I think last season the boys were punished 6-1 there, so its a
tough venue for us. We started brightly and caused one or two
problems.
Adelaide
tested our new on-loan keeper, Liam Reddy, but he showed his
A-League experience and kept a cool head. In the second half
again we started brightly, and against the run of play conceded
from what was probably a goal-of-the-season contender. That
really knocked the wind out of our sails for the next 20 minutes
or so. They got the upper hand in the game and had one or two
more chances which we dealt with well. But yet again, the boys
showed that inner strength, desire and belief to get the result.
Adrián Cáceres came off the bench and scored from an acute
angle. The game finished 1-1, and we stopped the rot at the
Hindmarsh stadium.
Congratulations to Les Parry, Shaun Garnett and Wayne Allison on
getting the job at Tranmere. With the run of clean sheets, wins
and draws I think it's the right decision. Thankfully, now the
club has some direction and everyone knows what they have to do
in order to get the team out of the relegation zone and up the
table to safety.
Everyone, including the fans, need to get behind the players and
coaching staff each week and be up for every game. It's
difficult when you are near the bottom and not getting the rub
of the green. It's twice as hard as a player when your own fans
are on your back as well. The supporters are fantastic at
Prenton Park, and on the away trips, they could be the
difference. A fantastic result against Bristol Rovers and I hope
it's a successful Christmas period.
I would like to thank you all for taking the time out to read
this and I would like to wish you all a very Merry Christmas and
a Happy New Year, and wish you all the luck in the world for
2010.
Let's
all hope it brings a grand final for The Phoenix and a
consolidation for Tranmere, sooner rather than later - then they
can then start building for next season.
All the best
Greeny
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