After so long on the sidelines, Owen Hargreaves was elated to be
back in action for United Reserves. MUTV's Mark Sullivan caught up
with the United midfielder for an exclusive dressing-room chat at
Moss Lane after his 45 minute cameo...
Owen, finally you got onto the pitch... how did it
feel?
It was lovely to be back in a team environment. It's been about 16
months, I think, while I've been having surgery and individual
rehab, so having team-mates around you, getting used to playing on
a bigger pitch and having opponents was great. It's been a very
long time and it was great to do that first step.
It's the first step on the road to recovery, but an
important one psychologically to get out on the pitch and play in a
competitive match...
Absolutely. I don't think I
could have anticipated the rehab and the whole thing taking as long
as it has. It's been incredibly frustrating but I guess you just
have to deal with it, take it step by step, try to be patient and
and try to do what's best. Sometimes you can't force things. Today
was the first step and hopefully I can kick on from here.
There's a lot of work you have to do in your rehab,
isn't there? A lot of training on your own, lot of fitness work and
this hard work is starting to pay off now... can you see light at
the end of the tunnel?
Well it's been an incredibly long 16 months! I've invested a lot of
time and so have a lot of people who have become very close
potentially would have expected just to be available for the
squad, so I'm looking forward to getting back into a more normal
training pattern and hopefully get back to playing some games.
And you can see by the number of fans that have turned
up here tonight how much they want to see you back in a United
shirt. That's got to be pleasing for you, to see
them?
Well the reception has been fantastic. It's been disappointing for
me, really. I came and we had a good first season and I came back
early to do some training to hopefully be fit for the start of my
second season and it just didn't work; it had an adverse affect to
it and it just snowballed from there. The fans have been great.
Always when they see me they ask when I'm going to be playing and
tell me they want to see me play. I've been doing my utmost to be
able to play, so I look forward to being able to run out on Old
Trafford again in front of the fans and being able to repay the
faith the fans have shown.
So what's the next step for you now?
Well I think I'm doing some injections, actually, which is part of
my training and part of the whole protocol, so I think we'll try
and get as much training in me as possible with this treatment and
just continue on as I have. Obviously this was the first step and
from here we should try to progress and go further. That's the
plan.
And do you think first team football between now and the
end of the season is a possibility for you?
I would like to think so, absolutely. That's what I'm aiming for.
I'm not to me as well. They've helped me a lot. But it has been a
lot more time than I coming back just to be back, I want to come
back and have just as much of an impact as I did in my first
season. It means a lot to me, so those are my targets and it will
happen when time's ready.
First and foremost we want to see you in a red shirt,
but there's a World Cup at the end of the season - is that a
realistic possiblity?
A lot of people talk about it
and it's obviously a topic. You know... we'll just see. I just have
to take it day by day. In a perfect world, obviously I'd love to be
a part, but I have to do what's best for me, best for Man United
and then England. Then we'll see. Obviously it's something I would
like to be able to do and I'll just see how I progress in the next
month.
