Could Glenn Murray be fit to face Wolves?
For more than a few minutes at St James’ Park on Saturday, it looked like Glenn Murray was seriously injured.
Brighton and Hove Albion’s talismanic striker was out cold before he’d even hit the ground following his sickening clash of heads with Federico Fernandez in the 1-0 win over Newcastle United. Players from both sides were in visible distress; Beram Kayal rushed the stretcher on, Bruno had his hands over his mouth and Shane Duffy and Newcastle’s Jonjo Shelvey had their heads in their hands.
Murray was down for nearly 10 minutes before being stretchered off while wearing an oxygen mask. He received a great ovation from the entire crowd, testament to what a class set of supporters Newcastle United have.
The good news was that after a number of tests at hospital, Murray was found to have “only” suffered a concussion. Chris Hughton said he’ll be sore for a couple of days and now it is just a question of getting him recovered. A bit like our heads after Saturday’s 17 hour drinking session.
While the Albion’s medical staff will focus on getting Murray ready to resume action, the big question is will Murray be fit for this weekends clash with Wolverhampton Wanderers and if not, how long can Hughton expect to be without the services of his top scorer?
Concussion is a hot topic in the world of sport with a whole host of retired individuals linking brain problems such as dementia to head injuries suffered in their playing days, particularly in hard-hitting contact sports such as American Football and rugby.
Football isn’t immune to the problem either. Germany’s Christoph Kramer infamously asked the referee whether he was playing in the World Cup Final after smashing heads with Argentina’s Ezequiel Garay in 2014. Kramer admits to having no recollection of the game, despite the fact he ended it a world champion for his 30 minutes work before the Germans finally replaced him with Andre Schurrle.
As a result, the FA has tried to clamp down on what happens when a player suffers a concussion over the last few years. A player has to be substituted immediately should there be any signs of concussion and their return to action follows what is called a graduated return to play protocol. There are five stages that have to be completed without any concussion symptoms recurring before full contact football can be resumed.
Stage one of that protocol involves rest. Grassroots footballers cannot partake in any physical activity for 14 days from midnight on the day of the injury. For those in an “enhanced care setting” such as Murray, the rest period is just 24 hours.
Stage two is the light-exercise stage which takes another 24 hours. This involves light jogging, swimming or a spin on an exercise bike at 70% effort for at least 15 minutes.
Stage three again lasts for 24 hours and features at least 45 minutes of football specific exercise such as running drills that don’t involve much head movement at 80% effort – something Brighton’s record buy Jurgen Locadia, who will probably replace Murray if he fails to make the Wolves game, excels at.
Stage four is non-contact training. The player can partake in small sided games and passing and shooting drills which must last at least an hour and be at 90% effort. Again, this stage takes a day to complete.
At that point and providing there have been no complications in the process, a doctor can clear the player to return to full contact training. He must partake in at least one full session – stage five – and is then free to return to competitive action. That boils down to 120 hours from concussion to being able to play competitive football again – five days.
What does that mean for Murray? The Albion players had Monday off and returned to training on Tuesday. Murray had stayed in the north east as part of a prearranged agreement in order to see his parents which would have ticked off stage one.
Presuming he returned to the American Express Elite Football Performance Centre (training ground to you and me) at the same time as the rest of the squad, then he could complete stage two of the graduated return to play protocol on Tuesday, stage three on Wednesday, stage four on Thursday and stage five on Friday.
With no complications, Murray could therefore feasibly be cleared to play against Wolves. Whether Hughton would want to throw him in with just one day of full training under his belt and after such a blow to the head is a different matter, but from when Murray was lying prone on the turf at St James’ Park and we were all seriously concerned about his health, even a place on the bench at the Amex on Saturday would be a miracle of sorts.
