Michael Appleton

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Michael Appleton
Personal information
Full name	Michael Anthony Appleton
Date of birth	December 4, 1975 (1975-12-04) (age 32)
Place of birth	Salford, England
Height	5 ft 9 in (1.75 m)
Playing position	Midfielder
Club information
Current club	West Bromwich Albion (assistant academy manager)
Senior clubs1
Years	Club	App (Gls)*
1994–1997 1995 1997 1997–2001 2001–2003	Manchester United → Lincoln City (loan) → Grimsby Town (loan) Preston North End West Bromwich Albion	000 0(0) 004 0(0) 010 0(3) 121 (12) 033 0(0)
1 Senior club appearances and goals counted for the domestic league only. * Appearances (Goals)

Michael Anthony Appleton (born December 4, 1975), is a retired English footballer who played as a midfielder until his playing career was cut short by a serious knee injury. He is now Assistant Academy manager of West Bromwich Albion, one of the teams he served as a player.

Contents 1 Playing career 1.1 Manchester United 1.2 Preston North End 1.3 West Bromwich Albion 2 Injury damages court case 3 Coaching career 4 Notes 5 External links

[edit] Playing career

[edit] Manchester United

Appleton started his playing career at Manchester United, earning a professional contact in 1994. In 1995-96 Appleton was loaned out to Lincoln City for a month to get first team experience, playing four Division Three matches and one match in the Football League Trophy, before returning to Old Trafford. In October 1996, Appleton made his Manchester United début in the 2–1 League Cup victory versus Swindon Town. Appleton's second and last game for The Red Devils was the 2–0 defeat at Filbert Street against Leicester City. In January 1997, Appleton joined Grimsby Town on a two month loan from United, scoring three goals in 10 league matches for The Mariners against Swindon Town, Barnsley and United's Manchester rivals; Manchester City. He returned to United in March 1997.

[edit] Preston North End

In the 1997–98 pre-season, Appleton joined Preston North End for a (then) club record fee of £500,000. In his 3½ years at Deepdale, Appleton played 145 first team games, scoring 15 goals. He also played an important part in The Lilywhites promotion to Division One in 2000 as Division Two champions.

[edit] West Bromwich Albion

In January 2001, Appleton moved from Preston to West Bromwich Albion for a fee of £750,000, signing a 3½ year contract.^[1] Appleton made his début in a 2–1 victory versus Sheffield United, picking up a yellow card. He went on to play an important part in The Baggies play-off chase, although they ultimately lost to Bolton Wanderers in the semi-finals. At the start of the 2001–02 season, Appleton was a regular in the first team, but on 19 November, 2001, Appleton tore Posterior cruciate ligaments in his right knee, after an accidental training ground collision with team mate Des Lyttle. He was initially expected to be out for the rest of the season.^[2] With West Brom getting promoted to the Premier League, Appleton had to wait until February 2003 for his return to football, 28 minutes into a reserve team match against former club Manchester United.^[3] In November 2003, at the age of 27, Appleton was forced to retire, after losing his two year battle against injury. West Brom manager Gary Megson described Appleton's retirement as "One of the saddest days I've had as a manager, Football can't afford to be losing a player of his ilk."^[4]

Appleton, who played his last game of football in a 1–0 win at Birmingham City on 7 November 2001, made a total of 38 appearances for West Bromwich Albion.

[edit] Injury damages court case

In June 2005, Appleton announced that he was going to sue the surgeon that he believed had ended his career early. The surgeon's name was not announced, and the case was set to start in early 2007.^[5] In June West Bromwich Albion Football Club began a £1,000,000 compensation claim against knee specialist Medhet Mohammed El-Safty, the surgeon who operated on Appleton, who West Brom described as "negligent".^[6] It was said if West Bromwich Albion had won the case, it could result in many similar cases, the appeal court was told.^[7] Mr Appleton's case against Mr El-Safty was heard by a high court judge in Manchester, with evidence provided by Appleton's former manager Sir Alex Ferguson and former team mates Ryan Giggs and Gary Neville, Manchester United's captain. Mr Appleton won his case but had to wait to hear how much many he would receive for his damages.^[8]

"I am relieved finally to have received judgment and to be able to put this chapter of my life behind me" Michael Appleton[9]

On March 23, 2007, Appleton was awarded £1.5 million in damages for his injury as Mr El-Safty had admitted he wrongly operated on Mr Appleton. It was said that he could have earned £500,000 a year in the Premiership and the High Court also commented that his career could have lasted until 2009.^[9]

[edit] Coaching career

"Having had my playing career taken away from me prematurely, I am all the more determined now to make a success of my coaching career" Michael Appleton[9]

Appleton is West Brom's academy coach and hopes that his early end to his playing career means that he can become a successful football manager.^[9]

[edit] Notes

[edit] External links

• BBC Sport profile
• Michael Appleton career stats at Soccerbase

Persondata
NAME	Appleton, Michael Anthony
ALTERNATIVE NAMES	Appleton, Michael
SHORT DESCRIPTION	Football (soccer) player & coach
DATE OF BIRTH	December 4, 1975
PLACE OF BIRTH	Salford, Greater Manchester, England
DATE OF DEATH
PLACE OF DEATH