Soccer Savvy- Michael McBride

It brings me great pleasure to provide the first installment of Soccer Savvy, our series of interviews with people inside the world of soccer. I caught up with my old friend, Michael McBride, the physiotherapist for Coventry City FC and Scotland's national team, as he flew back from a recent friendly against Japan. He answered a few questions I had asked him, and I'm glad to have him here on the blog. 

1. Obviously apart from me ;) who is the most famous player you have put your magic hands on?

The most famous is relative, really- I suppose as what I think famous and what my dad does is different and I suppose also where you follow football. But I would probably say Darren Fletcher presently, Steve Staunton and Gary McAllister in my earlier days at Coventry. I also did a medical on Fabrizio Ravenilli but it didn’t go through.

2. What is the worst injury you have seen?

I've been kinda fortunate that I've not seen too many bad injuries, Broto (the goalkeeper at Livingston who then signed for Celtic) had a fracture dislocation of his ankle, which wasn’t great!!

3. If you had to choose an injury that you didn't want to try to come back from what would it be?

Ruptured Achilles and anterior cruciates aren’t nice either, not ones that I would want to recover from. 

4. What's the most gutted you have been in football?

I was devastated when Scotland never qualified for the Euros after having such great games against France at home and away, then losing out with the early Luca Toni goal, then the last minute Panucci header at the back post when it wasn’t even a foul on Alan Hutton. I was convinced that we would go through, nightmare. 

(Ed note: Cunt...)

5. Most happy?

At club level it's been good, there was obvious success at Livingston with the league promotions and European appearance in the UEFA cup. Coventry haven’t been near success to be disappointed with the failure. We have had reasonable cup runs last year- beating Blackburn then playing Chelsea at home. The year before, we went to Old Trafford and won 2-0.

6. What do you like most about your job?

It's being on trips like this that I realize just how lucky I am, to experience the extensive travel and see the cultures, people, and places really is a privilege and pleasure.

 
7. What's the best stadium you worked at?

San Siro

There've been loads of different stadiums I've liked for different reasons, whether it be the history, the result at the time, the atmosphere or indeed the facilities. I loved being at the San Siro when we played Italy. I grew up always hearing about it and seeing it on telly. The inside is unbelievably basic- the dressing rooms are very poor. The two Japanese stadiums were fantastic- the one last night was where the 2002 World Cup final was held, it's a huge place, absolutely vast. We trained there the night before the game and I was just messing about in the dressing room (each player has like a wee cubicle/booth type changing area). There was a white panel there that I pulled off to reveal a signed picture of Ronaldo- it was only the bloody place where he changed before scoring the two goals!!!! I tell you, Marky, what a buzz.

Nissan Stadium, Yokohama

8. Most intimidating atmosphere?

Hampden and Celtic Park are still excellent places for the atmosphere and I think I will find that hard to beat. The old Russian states are very intimidating. Moldova, Belarus and Georgia were not particularly pleasant visits but obviously great to experience.

 

9. Since you started in football, sport science has transformed attitudes, bodies and performance. What do you believe are the biggest changes and what do you see the future bringing to footballers?

Sports science has had a big influence in football definitely, we urine test the boys everyday for hydration levels, they wear heart rate monitors and we have ProZone which gives us every stat on a player you can imagine. We go a lot on distance covered, high intensity sprints passes completed, it is a fascinating area. I use it quite a bit for injury prevention and diagnosis. So for instance, I checked to see how many times in 5 games our goalkeeper kicked the ball: from ground, hand and pass backs. I then used this info to influence the coach to inform them about over-training and too much repeated kicking. This then reduced hip flexor and hamstring injuries in the goalkeepers. We review every injury that happens and look at the mechanism to help with the diagnosis and prognosis.

Lots of fitness work is now position specific and done to reproduce the stats from the ProZone stuff. Upper body weights and Olympic squats and lifts are a big thing at the moment. Technology is improving rapidly and football preparation is definitely a science. Some of the bigger clubs will start doing saliva tests to predict infection, illness and overtraining. It's exciting times.

10. What is your dream job? 

To work at this level is a dream job, but I would love to go further and work at a finals, either the World Cup or Euros- even just for those 3 group games. I think I would like to work in the premiership if the opportunity arose, but it is so difficult trying to get that opening. 

11. I recall that your favourite time of the week is 2.30 till 3.00 on a Saturday, because all the week's work is coming to a head, the nervous energy is abundant and everyone is buzzing. Is this still the same?

I cant believe you remembered that 2.30 was my favourite time!!! Yes, it still is and funnily enough, I was talking to George Burley at it just prior to the Macedonia game.

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Hope you enjoyed the interview, there will be more such as these in the future so look out for those.