‘They’ve probably hated me’ – Ben Pearson on his year out, yellow cards and what everyone says about Stoke City
Big interview with Stoke City midfielder Ben Pearson as he returns to action after the best part of a year in the treatment room
Ben Pearson had already been out of action for six months in the early autumn, he’d undergone surgery on a troublesome hamstring tendon and was hoping to be back in action within a few weeks when he kicked a football. Then he felt the pain again.
The 30-year-old midfielder had never had a serious injury before – but this one has been a doozie. He missed the last eight games of last season and couldn’t start in the first 37 of this one until last weekend, when he played the first hour of a vital win over Swansea.
It was a physical and mental challenge, not least that set-back from something so innocuous in late September. But, now he’s fit and playing again, he can reflect that actually that set-back was part of the journey to getting him moving without restriction.
“I probably didn’t realise the severity of it when I re-did it but when I got the scan results back I was almost back to square one,” he said. “Luckily I didn’t need it re-operated on, which was the main thing that probably saved me another month, but it was something I didn’t see coming.
“To be honest, I didn’t feel quite right in that period but the last three months have gone much better and I’m in a much better place now.
“The operation went well and then it was kicking a ball when it snapped again. The surgeon seemed to think that it’s sometimes when they operate and fix it quite tight, this was your body saying your tendon is too tight, it’s just pulling away a bit. Since then my leg has actually felt a lot better. Although it’s given me an extra three months of rehab, my leg’s a lot better now.”
If it’s been a tough year for Pearson, he can appreciate he hasn’t been a particularly chirpy patient at times for Stoke’s medical team.
“They’ve probably hated me over the last nine months,” he said. “I’m a moaner. If I don’t think something’s done right I’ll moan and they’ll all hear it. The medical department have been good with me. I’d like to thank Matt Reddell, who’s left now [to take up a role in Manchester City’s youth set-up]. He’s really helped me over the last nine months and has gone through the tough times with me. A big thanks to him, he’s been a big part of getting me back fit.”
There were a couple of cameos for the under-21s to get back in the swing of things, then a first team sub appearance against Cardiff in the FA Cup that stretched through extra-time.
He felt good through the first 45 minutes of the Swansea game and admitted that he didn’t want half-time to come – and if he felt it a little bit after that, he is confident he will be able to build himself back up by playing more over the next three or four weeks.
When he sat down with local media this week, Angela Smith suggested to him that she knew he was properly back when he picked up a yellow card.
He laughed guiltily at that and said: “It probably doesn’t look great but it’s stopping an attack. If they go and score on that break I would be kicking myself if I hadn’t done it. I’m quite good, once I get booked, to be able to toe the line a little bit. It’s one of those when I wanted to protect the team and then deal with it afterwards.”
He added: “It’s been a long journey. Last March was the last time I played properly so it’s been a tough year. It’s my first major injury and it’s taken a while to get going again but it’s nice to be back.
“It’s difficult. The main thing is getting what my injury was, right. I had quite a few complications throughout the year and then probably the last month, six weeks, it’s been getting fitness, then match fit still. After a year out you probably need three or four games before you can actually get into the swing of things fully. That process has only started probably in the last couple of weeks.
“It’s not easy when you can’t have any bearing on a result. We had changes of manager and I didn’t even get a chance to play under the last manager, which was a new thing for me. It’s dark times but you kind of get used to it after three or four months. Results haven’t been as we wanted, which made it tougher in that aspect, but onwards and upwards – let’s see if we can start picking up results.”
Steven Schumacher was manager when Pearson picked up his injury against Norwich but he left in September and his replacement Narcis Pelach left in December.
Mark Robins used to watch Pearson coming through at Manchester United while he was working as a pundit on MUTV and, even if it is clear that Pearson and his experience could be invaluable considering Stoke’s predicament, their first conversations were about making sure the comeback was completed right rather than fast.
Pearson said: “It was more telling me to get fit and stay fit rather than rushing me in those first couple of weeks. It was making sure I was ready, which is why I played under-21s games. There’s no point coming back and breaking down. Hopefully I’ve stood myself in good stead for the three or four months left this season, making sure I’m robust to last.”
So Pearson is back, hoping to stay back and hoping to properly kick start the Stoke chapter of his career that has squeezed in too much drama and
