The Saturday Interview

PROFESSIONAL sportsmen walk a thin tightrope between success and failure -- just ask Paul Lake.

At the beginning of the decade the ex-Manchester City star was one of the hottest properties in the modern game.

Made captain of the team he supported as a boy, a regular in the England Under 21's alongside the likes of Paul Ince, and tipped to be a future leader of his country, he was a footballer who had the whole world at his feet.

The midfield general, who played with a maturity well beyond his tender years, was a natural leader on a fast track to stardom.

I caught up with him this week on the day he celebrated his 30th birthday -- a time when he should have been at the peak of his powers.

Had his career gone to plan, he would have rolled up in a top-of-the-range sportscar, the remnants of a sun tan acquired in the Italian Riveira still fading from his face.

Ince went on to fame and fortune, spurned on by a trophy laden spell across Manchester at Old Trafford, securing a mega-money deal at Inter Milan, as well as captaining his country.

Lake -- potentially -- was just as good.

But there wasn't an Armani suit in sight when we met up in the physio room at Burnley Football Club -- his new workplace.

It was September 5 1990 when his whole world came crumbling down.

Man City were playing Aston Villa in front of a full house at Maine Road. The new England boss Graham Taylor was sat in the stand checking up on the form of the midfield star.

Lake had been named in England manager Bobby Robson's provisional squad of 30 in preparation for Italia '90, though missed out on a ticket for the plane.

An impressive performance would push Lake up the pecking order.

But an innocuous looking incident left his dreams in tatters when crumpled to the ground after damaging his knee attempting to turn.

"It hurt like mad to begin with but the pain was probably not as bad as breaking your leg, or something like that," said Lake.

"Your hamstrings and all your muscles contract and you get a dull ache.

"The first stage of diagnosis said I had twisted my knee.

"That progressed into a partial rupture of my cruciate ligament and I then spent five months rehabilitating."

That was just the beginning. During the next six years, the number of appearances he made on the operating table outnumbered those on the pitch by five to one.

Comebacks quickly became setbacks.

"Every time I tried to make a comeback I had associated problems.

"One time, for instance, my medial ligament went.

"It snapped again when I just hit a ball in training and basically by the end I was pretty much playing without a cruciate ligament."

Two unsuccessful attempts at repairing ruptures in Britain eventually led to a trip to America.

Players like Ian Durrant and Burnley's Brian Reid -- who were both at Rangers at the time -- had crossed the Atlantic when similar injuries were first diagnosed and made complete recoveries.

"Unfortunately, I went out to the States after a lot of cajoling by Peter Reid to the then chairman Peter Swales.

"I'd already had two failures over two and a half years and my knee joint was deteriorating rapidly.

"I'd been through a hell of a lot of trauma and heartache and I knew pretty much it was going to be my last chance.

"I flew over to Los Angeles in Club Class, which was very nice, but I was sent home in Economy Class by the football club.

"I had spent nearly a fortnight rehabilitating to regain early mobility and range of movement.

"But in the nine hour flight back I was sat in Economy Class and lost all the range."

He didn't have room to straighten his leg!

"I had to get a wheelchair out of the airport.

"That was the kind of people I was working with. They didn't appreciate that I could have been a mainstay of their football team.

"But I'm not bitter," said Lake.

He underwent 17 operations in total during six years of rehabilitation, in which time he made just three appearances.

Eventually the dreaded day came when it was time to pack it in -- a moment all players fear. "The lads had a get-together and actually bought me a Rolex watch -- a retirement present as it were.

"I was touched by how much they felt towards me.

"They realised there but for the grace of God go I.

"In fact I had two letters of a similar ilk from Robbie Earle at Wimbledon and Mark Bright at Crystal Palace.

"That's why I decided to speak to the manager, which at that time was Alan Ball.

"He said, in a way that only Alan Ball can, that I should get on with it -- there's more to life than football.

"I resented him for that because I didn't need him to tell me to get on with my life.

"I'd spent five years rehabilitating and doing other things.

"I've learned -- the hard way I suppose -- in spite of people like that how to get on, how to be positive and to look to the future.

"And all that sort of upset has been cancelled out by being given this opportunity at Burnley."

It was during the latter stages of his rehabilitation that he decided to undertake a course in physiotherapy at Salford.

That at least allowed him to stay involved in a game he had loved since his childhood, when he finally hung up his boots in 1996.

Now, in his new role as physio for the Clarets, he finds himself on the other side of the fence.

"I cannot tell you how grateful I am for this opportunity.

"There are very big similarities between Man City and Burnley.

"They are both sleeping giants, they have an excellent fan base, and strong tradition.

"And the excitement which surrounds both clubs about the prospect of being in the top-flight is something anyone with any ambition would want to be part of.

"My new job is very rewarding and I get on well with the players.

"I'd like to think they would appreciate and respect somebody who has been part of the game in the top flight."

As for his time at City, he still has fond memories of those halcyon days -- during the inflatable banana terrace craze -- when he shared the limelight with a host of players who graduated from the youth team at around about the same time.

Ian Brightwell, David White, Steve Redmond, Paul Moulden and Andy Hinchcliffe were all part of the class of 1990 which tore Manchester United apart in a 5-1 Maine Road mauling -- the scene of his finest hour.

"I'm not envious of what those guys went on to achieve.

"When David White won his first England cap I was made up for him.

"I'm not one of these people who downs five pints and thinks I could have been captain of my country.

"No-one knows what might have happened so there's no point thinking about it.

"I don't look at my life like that because it gets you nowhere."

Converted for the new archive on 14 July 2000. Some images and formatting may have been lost in the conversion.