Oatway delighted to be back for pre-season training
By Andy Naylor
The wind was biting and there was a distinct chill in the air, yet for Charlie Oatway it seemed as if all his summers had come at once.
Albion's erstwhile captain took another significant step along what has been a horribly long and painful road to recovery when he took part yesterday in the start of pre-season training.
In years gone by it would have been an ordinary event for Oatway, 33, a combative midfielder for Brentford, Torquay and Cardiff before he teamed up with the Seagulls. This time it was extraordinary.
On Boxing Day 2005 the lifelong QPR fan broke his right ankle during a Championship match against Rangers at Withdean.
It has taken four operations and untold heartache and soul-searching for Oatway to reach the point he did yesterday - able to join in with the rest of the squad as they were eased back into action by manager Dean Wilkins and his coaching staff.
After a light morning session followed by lunch, Oatway broke away from the customary first-day-back banter to speak frankly and openly about what it has been like to sit on the sidelines for so long, wondering whether he would ever play again.
"For the last 18 months I haven't been part and parcel of the team," he said. "You try to make out that you are but you are not, so for me it's like a breath of fresh air.
"It was nice to be back around the players and to be part of it, to get back to having a laugh and a joke before you start training.
"When I've met players who have been out for a year or longer you think you just get on with it but it isn't like that.
"Maybe for me it has been a little bit different. It wasn't cut and dried how long I was going to be out for.
"I've had operations, been told it's 50-50 and things like that. You cannot put into words when you are a footballer that your career might be over or that you are going to be out for that length of time.
"You are virtually coming in every day banging your head against a brick wall and that is what it feels like."
Oatway, a self-confessed loudmouth, is as chirpy as they come but there have undoubtedly been some dark moments when he has depended on the support of those around him.
There are still no guarantees, just a contract through to the end of August to try to prove his fitness.
"We are very fortunate at this club," he said. "The medical staff have kept me going and without my family and them I don't know what would have happened.
"The facts are I have been out for 18 months and it is going to take me a little while to get back into it.
"I don't know if that will be within that length of time. There is only one thing that I can guarantee and that is that I will be giving it my best.
"I have got to play catch-up. Hopefully now I can get fit. The ankle feels great at the moment. I have got a few aches and pains but I am going to get that because I am doing something which has been totally alien for 18 months.
"Hopefully it will just get stronger and stronger and the pains will go away."
Hope springs eternal and, even if it doesn't work out, Oatway is grateful for a promise from chairman Dick Knight that he can finish his career elsewhere and then return to Albion in a non-playing capacity.
Oatway said: "That is fantastic. He hasn't got to say that or do that, whether the club cuts its ties with me or I cut my ties with the club.
"He has been honest to me from eight years ago when I signed, so I have got a fairly good relationship with him in that sense, but I have that with the majority of people.
"I am who I am, as loud as you like at times, but I don't mean to burn bridges with anyone."
Only time will tell whether a comeback with Albion is a bridge too far but only a fool would write Oatway off.
Charlie is Back
By Andy Naylor
The wind was biting and there was a distinct chill in the air, yet for Charlie Oatway it seemed as if all his summers had come at once.
Albion's erstwhile captain took another significant step along what has been a horribly long and painful road to recovery when he took part yesterday in the start of pre-season training.
In years gone by it would have been an ordinary event for Oatway, 33, a combative midfielder for Brentford, Torquay and Cardiff before he teamed up with the Seagulls. This time it was extraordinary.
On Boxing Day 2005 the lifelong QPR fan broke his right ankle during a Championship match against Rangers at Withdean.
It has taken four operations and untold heartache and soul-searching for Oatway to reach the point he did yesterday - able to join in with the rest of the squad as they were eased back into action by manager Dean Wilkins and his coaching staff.
After a light morning session followed by lunch, Oatway broke away from the customary first-day-back banter to speak frankly and openly about what it has been like to sit on the sidelines for so long, wondering whether he would ever play again.
"For the last 18 months I haven't been part and parcel of the team," he said. "You try to make out that you are but you are not, so for me it's like a breath of fresh air.
"It was nice to be back around the players and to be part of it, to get back to having a laugh and a joke before you start training.
"When I've met players who have been out for a year or longer you think you just get on with it but it isn't like that.
"Maybe for me it has been a little bit different. It wasn't cut and dried how long I was going to be out for.
"I've had operations, been told it's 50-50 and things like that. You cannot put into words when you are a footballer that your career might be over or that you are going to be out for that length of time.
"You are virtually coming in every day banging your head against a brick wall and that is what it feels like."
Oatway, a self-confessed loudmouth, is as chirpy as they come but there have undoubtedly been some dark moments when he has depended on the support of those around him.
There are still no guarantees, just a contract through to the end of August to try to prove his fitness.
"We are very fortunate at this club," he said. "The medical staff have kept me going and without my family and them I don't know what would have happened.
"The facts are I have been out for 18 months and it is going to take me a little while to get back into it.
"I don't know if that will be within that length of time. There is only one thing that I can guarantee and that is that I will be giving it my best.
"I have got to play catch-up. Hopefully now I can get fit. The ankle feels great at the moment. I have got a few aches and pains but I am going to get that because I am doing something which has been totally alien for 18 months.
"Hopefully it will just get stronger and stronger and the pains will go away."
Hope springs eternal and, even if it doesn't work out, Oatway is grateful for a promise from chairman Dick Knight that he can finish his career elsewhere and then return to Albion in a non-playing capacity.
Oatway said: "That is fantastic. He hasn't got to say that or do that, whether the club cuts its ties with me or I cut my ties with the club.
"He has been honest to me from eight years ago when I signed, so I have got a fairly good relationship with him in that sense, but I have that with the majority of people.
"I am who I am, as loud as you like at times, but I don't mean to burn bridges with anyone."
Only time will tell whether a comeback with Albion is a bridge too far but only a fool would write Oatway off.
Charlie is Back
