A Peer into Old Trafford’s New Promising Sports Medicine Unit
The level of organisation and involvement of a medical unit in football is at its all-time highest. In modern top-flight football, it is imperative to have the best facilities to compete. Football clubs with a recent history of glory on the pitch relied on their brilliance off of it, which includes the sports medicine unit. An adept medical backroom staff and complete facilities could be the difference between winning and losing, hence, success and failure.
What Do Sports Medicine Professionals Do?
Daily operation in sports medicine is a complex and very demanding job. Club doctors are responsible for preventing and managing injuries and diseases and other activities like nutrition, antidoping, and psychology. With such a wide range of activities, there is a need to establish good rapport with multiple parties (playing staff, guardians, agents, coaching staff, club management, etc.) while still upholding the medical code of ethics.
It requires weaving past several challenges thrown at them from multiple directions. They must possess immense communication, problem-solving, and leadership skills to have any chance of flourishing. It is why those with a proven track record are some of the most sought-after people in the industry, as substantiated by their agent call history.
Manchester United’s Man on a Mission
One of England’s finest in this regard is Gary O’Driscoll. As announced in the summer, the former Arsenal Club Doctor has switched allegiances up north to the Red Devils after almost 15 years with the Gunners. It is widely described as one of the most impressive coups the football club pulled off before the 25% purchase of shares by INEOS of Sir Jim Ratcliffe.
It was not just Manchester United that was interested; Liverpool F.C. was extremely close to acquiring his services in 2020 before he opted to stay put. His reputation precedes him because of his progressive approach and experience in top-level sport, having worked with the British Lions, Ireland Rugby, and British Cycling.
What Will He Oversee at Old Trafford?
After completing his move in late September, the 52-year-old has been leading the conduct of an internal audit to overhaul the ‘outdated’ sports medicine unit. One of the paths taken could be to improve the diversity of the medical team. The diverse playing and coaching staff will be happy to see a change.
Another one could be to strengthen interdepartmental relationships. In an ideal world, the club management and coaching staff will have a predetermined playing style, which the recruitment team will use to scout players and provide medical information from the sports medicine unit. Heavy metal Liverpool and Klopp bought the fittest players in the world by design. United are way off that at this moment in time. Hence, working for synchronicity is essential.
Whatever the revamp entails, the sports medicine unit looks to be in good hands. Furthermore, the INEOS revolution and the new technical and financial might that comes with it go a long way towards building a superb department.
Due to a ridiculous number of injuries to important players like Lisandro Martinez, Luke Shaw, and Mason Mount, Manchester United F.C. is limping to the finish line in a season to forget. According to BBC Sport, the 20-time Premier League champions rank a close second for teams that had a torrid time with injuries. Although the internal review is said not to be the result of the injuries, eventually, Gary O’Driscoll will be responsible for changing their fortunes for the better.
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