Lee-p of faith for injury victim

LEE Cartwright's eyes roam Deepdale like it is some sort of burial ground.

Not one reserved for the old warriors of Preston North End, Alec James, Bill Shankly and Tom Finney.

But one that threatens to entomb his dreams.

Alone and dispirited, he ponders his future, a future made uncertain by the cruciate knee ligament injury he sustained several weeks previously.

The snap that reverberated all around Glanford Park, where North End defeated Scunthorpe by two goals to one - he immediately dismissed it as an innocuous twist - is echoing in his ears as the horror is relived.

Before he had made his way off the pitch, assisted by Preston physio and former Blackburn Rovers full back Mick Rathbone, he realised it was serious, much more serious.

The end of his season, the end of his career? He did not know. But now the doubts, the fear, the isolation and despair are closing in like vultures on a carcass.

Just 24 and facing this kind of crisis?

Lee Cartwright was not prepared for soul-searching like this.

"I felt low, at times I felt despondent," reflected Cartwright, who still lives with his family in Rossendale, when I spoke with him earlier this week in the same stand that had been the site of his self-examination and eight months after that fateful February afternoon.

"And I just didn't know what to do.

"It's still a career-threatening injury and I certainly thought at one point that my career was in jeopardy.

"Several years back it would have been finished.

"But advances have been made in medical technology to deal with these types of injuries - Paul Gascoigne and Alan Shearer continued their careers after suffering the same problem. "At the time, though, you fear the worst."

Two months passed before Cartwright could resume light running and it is a further two months down the road before he will be ready again for hard tackling.

On the morning of my intrusion, he was checking, running, dribbling with the ball and betraying few signs of being inhibited.

Frustration occasionally surfaces when the timescale for recuperation seems like it is only ponderously diminishing.

It says much for the character of a man whose frame hardly exudes robustness that he wants to resume playing right away.

Whippet-like, his pace down North End's right flank frequently constituted the work of two men.

Cartwright's injury and Preston's subsequent dramatic slump in form, which, despite promotion, has extended into this season's Second Division campaign, are not coincidental. "I still haven't been able to find a suitable replacement for Lee," admitted manager Gary Peters.

"He was and is central to our plans and his injury, a blow to the lad himself, has been a huge blow to the club.

"His recovery is going well but we don't want to rush things.

"He'll return when the physio is convinced he's ready to return and not before."

A solid family foundation provided a rock for Lee when he was at his lowest.

His mum and dad - a football follower but not a follower of any particular team - convinced him that fighting through his adversity would make him a stronger man.

There were other incentives.

Cartwright's insurance policy enabled him to purchase a Toyota MR2 - if he was only able to hobble around on foot, he was going to make sure that he could drive in style. His predicament brought about a certain enlightenment and it is only in the past few months that he has contemplated seriously what he will do after his career in football.

"I am considering going to college to study for a diploma - a computer course or something similar," he said.

"The injury has made me realise that life as a footballer is short and can be further cut short through injury or whatever.

"It does no harm to have some alternative in place to fall back on."

It will come as welcome relief to those who know Cartwright that the past eight months have not transformed him at all into a bitter man.

In the past Cartwright's easy-going nature even went as far as exchanging banter with opposition fans.

One incident (while Lee had grown his hair long) involved away fans chanting "Pamela, Pamela (Anderson), show us your chest". Cartwright obliged and raised his shirt to reveal ... well, a lot less than Miss Anderson.

Naturally, there had to be some element of mischievousness while in the company of this reporter who fell, unwittingly, into the trap.

Lee was taking his car to the garage to receive some fine-tuning following training and, as he'd be passing through Blackburn, he'd be able to spin me back.

When I reeled out of the car, not very much later, I realised what fine-tuning it needed.

It needed to be clamped.

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