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Wayne Harrison


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My mate has come across him today and said he is completely on his arse in general. He asked me if I would like to help him organise some kind of do to raise a bit of help for him.

 

Not a clue what he is thinking of doing. Any ideas welcome :)

Unfortunately not........... I already paid to go to his testomonial V Liverpool.

 

I know its harsh but, tell him he has to sort himself out like the rest of us have to.

 

I know that sounds bad, but he has had more chances to succeed than most on here will have had!

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My mate has come across him today and said he is completely on his arse in general.

 

So are millions of other people in the country but we ain't gonna arrange a benefit (no pun intended) match for them.

 

If Chris Taylor became paralysed tomorrow, then sure. If Alex Cisak lost an arm, then yeah, arrange a benefit match, but don't see why we have to give charity to a guy who's still capable of earning a living like the rest of us, just because he had to retire from football 20 years ago.

Edited by PlayItLivo
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Not sure what that 'help' could be.

 

Not knowing whether he has learnt any kind of trade, the obvious thing is to suggest that he gets himself into a position where he can try and get into coaching kids football or something. That, in itself, has to be very rewarding. Also, does he have anything from his playing days (either from OAFC or LFC) that some would find of value.

 

I presume that he's contacted the PFA (or someone else has on his behalf if he's really struggling).

 

Finally, to throw in an inappropriate bit of flippery, is he still in touch with anyone from LFC? They're always harping on about never walking alone.

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He was going to be what Wayne Rooney became. The article below is a decade old.

 

Apologies for oddities of copy and paste editing!

 

 

 

IT IS a tale of two strikers. A tale of two Waynes. They are linked by

name and deed, but separated by a generation and the vagaries of fate. Now one

of them is getting his teenage kicks by living out a schoolboy fantasy while the

other drives a wagon for a brewery. It is a long way to fall from the top of

Wayne?s world.

 

Wayne Rooney?s winning goal for Everton against Arsenal last Saturday has

established him as football?s newest wunderkind. He has won over pundits and

cynics alike with his burgeoning talent and the road ahead is paved with gold.

At the tender age of 17, his future looks secure.

 

Meanwhile, on a cold, drizzly street in Stockport, Wayne Harrison delivers

Robinson?s beer to a pub. The bitter cargo may seem apposite.

 

In 1985, Harrison was the name on everyone?s lips. He had made just two

appearances for Oldham Athletic, then in the old second division, but promise

coursed through the 17-year-old?s veins. Manchester United, Manchester City and

Aston Villa were interested, but he chose to join Liverpool, the team he still

supports. The £250,000 fee was a record for a teenager and he appeared destined

for international honours. But the next big thing faded to footnote status

thanks to 25 operations, a shattered greenhouse and a Bradford City goalkeeper.

 

?It was 1991 and Graeme Souness, the manager, called me in,? Harrison said. ?He

told me the doctors had said I wouldn?t play again. It was soul-destroying. My

head was spinning and I didn?t know what to do. To think that was it. I got in

the car and just drove around for four hours.?

 

Some black years followed during which, by his own admission, Harrison did not

do much. More operations ensued and there were dark days. ?It?s not like now,

where everyone is earning big money,? he said. ?I knew I had to do something and

it was tough for a bit.?

 

He disappeared from football?s fickle theatre. In a transient world, he soon

became the forgotten man as other prodigies came along to dazzle the headline

writers. In October 1995, he turned out for Offerton Green reserves in the

Stockport Sunday League and provided a glimpse of what might have been with a

strike from the halfway line. One man and a dog were impressed, but the pain in

his bad knee meant football soon became impossible.

 

Even the most prescient of pessimists could not have foreseen the way Harrison

would suffer after his move to Liverpool. Joe Royle, the manager of Oldham at

the time of his transfer, still enthuses about his ability. ?He was a natural

goalscorer,? he said. ?The way he timed his runs was magnificent. Bill Urmson

was our youth coach then and he didn?t have to tell Wayne much. The kid was

going to be a player.?

 

Harrison struggled to settle at Anfield. Liverpool were the European champions

and, within five months, Kenny Dalglish, his boyhood hero, was his manager.

Harrison admits that he did not even read the contract, but such starry-eyed

naivety was understandable. ?People will compare Rooney to Wayne, but they are

very different,? Royle said. ?Wayne was a boy when he went to Liverpool; Rooney

is a man at 17.?

 

Joe Fagan, the Liverpool manager who signed Harrison, believed that his talent

could be nurtured rather than neutered by his daunting surroundings. He

remembered the virtuoso performance that had helped Oldham to a 4-0 victory over

Liverpool in the FA Youth Cup.

 

He also knew of the 35 goals Harrison had scored for Oldham?s junior and reserve

teams and how he had made his first-team debut just six months after signing

apprentice forms. But the intense competition and an avalanche of injuries

conspired against him. ?I had a lot of problems with my groin, then I had a

hernia, knee trouble, a bad shoulder, you name it,? Harrison said. ?On a

pre-season tour, I was larking about, got into a scuffle and fell through a

greenhouse. I slashed my arms badly.? That there was an ambulance strike at the

time seemed typical of his capacity for calamity.

 

The run of bad luck reached its nadir in May 1990. Harrison, by now 22, was

impressing in the reserves and there were signs that he might be ready to repay

Liverpool?s investment. A collision with the goalkeeper during a reserve match

against Bradford quashed those hopes. The ligaments in his right knee were

irreparably damaged and Harrison?s career was over. ?I felt sick when I tried to

get up,? he said. ?I knew it was bad because I couldn?t feel it. It was wobbling

from the inside.?

 

Several operations later, Souness summoned Harrison to his office for that

fateful meeting. The injuries were so bad that Harrison could play only a cameo

role in his testimonial match between Liverpool and Oldham the following year.

Now, after 12 operations on his right knee, he cannot even help his friends out

in their local league matches.

 

He still lives in the house he bought in Stockport when he was a football

starlet and still loves the game. ?Nobody recognises me these days, but I?m not

bitter,? he said. ?I wish I?d never gone to Liverpool and that I?d had more

luck. It was nobody?s fault, but you do think about it all sometimes. Steve

McManaman was my friend and look at him ? he plays for Real Madrid. But I?ve

been at the brewery now for 5½ years and I love it.?

 

Rooney and Harrison could scarcely lead more different lives. One is 17 with a

glittering future and the other is a 34-year-old with fading memories. But the

pair were cut from the same cloth and the drayman?s story is a cautionary tale

of how the sweetest dream can turn sour.

Edited by opinions4u
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All too vague Chaddy brother. For anyone to feel the desire to help, firstly we would have to know exactly what's wrong. Secondly enough people would have to feel that he couldn't possibly help himself with it. He did have a benefit years ago which Lancy lad pointed out. I am all for compassion but without knowing the details that feeling just isn't there.

Edited by Lags
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Wayne Harrison was the Rooney of his era. I remember him scoring 5 and Mike Cecere getting 3 in a reserve game I was a ballboy at. £250000 at the time for him was a phenomenal amount of money (of which he would have got a cut?) United were interested in in him and I remember Ron Atkinson coming to a reserve game and the few Latics fans who turned up singing 'Munich' related songs. Big Joe went apoplectic at them.

 

Horrific injury at Liverpool notwithstanding, should he not have a PFA pension and insurance payout?

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TBH most have replied with what I was thinking. Life can sometimes throw a big rock at you with a large smearing of dog tish, if up to you to either dodge it or take it in the face.

 

I thought I was helping a mate but I was wrong.

 

This isn't what you was refering to on Facebook is it?

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