First things first, I want to reiterate a message from last week:
Best of luck to @DroghedaUnited Gary O'Neill #loi
— Raf Diallo (@Raftastico) September 13, 2013
Drogheda United's Gary O'Neill was diagnosed with testicular cancer last week and the goodwill that has been extended towards him is sure to be heartening in what is a difficult time for him and his family.
Former Everton and Celtic defender Alan Stubbs is a man who knows the pain of a cancer diagnosis. In 1999, during a routine drug test after a game with Celtic, it was discovered that the Kirkby-born player was suffering from testicular cancer.
However the cancer returned in 2001 and he had to undergo yet more treatment. But he beat cancer again and signed for Everton, becoming a fan favourite and returnign to Goodison Park as a coach after his retirement in 2008.
Stubbs has released a new book called How Football Saved My Life where he details his battle with cancer. Last night he was on the line to speak to Ger and Joe about the experience.
"Caner gives you a vulnerability. It's the one illness that can wipe you out. It's all about how early you're diagnosed. I look at myself as really lucky. I got the testicular one which now has a 95 per cent survival rate if it's caught early. I wasn't so lucky with the second one as it required a nine hour operation. A few bags of blood later and I was out on the road to recovery. So I look upon myself as very fortunate."
Stubbs was in his late 20s and in seemingly perfect health when he went attended a routine drug test. It turned out he did not have a lump, but an indentation going inwards into the affected area.
"I didn't feel very fine because we'd just been beaten by Rangers in the Cup final. That was hard enough to take. But when you find out, you've been chosen for a random drug test I didn't think that would go on to save my life at the time. But when I look back now, it definitely did."
Stubbs admits that Lance Armstrong - a fellow survivor of cancer - was an inspiration at the time as a fellow sportsman. But with the revelations about the Texans doping, Stubbs' view has changed.
"I've got to admit that after I found out what he'd done, everything that I thought of him as a sportsperson totally changed. At the end of the day, you can never take away from the fact of what he had to deal with when he was going through his cancer. You have to respect him from that point of view. As a sportsperson, I don't respect him whatsoever because he knew what he'd done when he sold that book."
However, his manager at Celtic at the time of his second diagnosis is a man he has the utmost respect for. And for that reason, he believes Martin O'Neill would be a good choice for Ireland.
"I've got the utmost respect for him. I hope he gets the Ireland job. It would be a great appointment. What he did for me, I'll never forget. He's a brilliant person first and foremost and sometimes you forget that as a player. Managers are people as well and Martin was in touch with that side. He understood what made players tick and the family side. Martin was great at that. He also went through cancer as well with his wife."
Stubbs also discussed some of his most prominent team-mates from Paul Gascoigne who was a "privilege" to play with to Di Canio who liked looking at himself in the mirror but was a good character in the dressing room.
And then there was a young Wayne Rooney. Stubbs saw the then-phenomenon breaking through. Does he think he fulfilled his career?
