Bolton Wanderers: A Man Like One Other

Article by e-Bolton Wanderers Correspondent Adam Brabbin

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A man lies on the muddy bank of a river, panting for breath and soaked through to his skin. His eyes: wide with shock, his arms: shaking like a dog shitting razor blades. He takes a deep, stuttering breath and looks across the lake, the gently rippling water betraying the disaster it had just witnessed. The train in which he sat, until moments ago happily lumbering along, now entrenching itself in the lakes bed having derailed; claiming the lives of seventeen people in the process. But not he, the man now lying on the bank. This man is Frane Selak and this is to become the first of seven occasions in which he would come to cheat death.

Not many footballers can count themselves quite as unlucky as Bolton midfielder Stuart Holden. The perennially plighted American is currently staring down the barrel of yet another lengthy layoff after re-tearing his anterior cruciate ligaments during his long anticipated return to action, some weeks ago. At the time, many Wanderers fans greeted the news with grim acceptance and unwelcome familiarity, ‘here we go again’, was the wounded cry reverberating around the Reebok. Many suspected that Holden would take this latest injury as a signal that time was time on a career that never really got off the ground. But like the camel that furrows its brow, locks its knees and welcomes straw after straw to its creaking, crippled back, Holden has refused to allow himself to be beaten by his own body and has vowed to fight on, to play again. Holden epitomises optimism and the American will to succeed in the face of adversity. He has been knocked down more times than most would care to count and fought back each and every time. His will to survive; to keep going; to cheat fate is uncommon to say the least, and it is this that makes me believe that he will once again step out onto the pitch at the Reebok.

A man looks up into a clear sky, the vapour trail of a plane the only blemish on an otherwise blank canvas of blue. He watches the plane as it crosses the sky, tumbling erratically, spiralling out of control and then disappearing from his line of sight. He is engulfed by hay, it cradles his body and he struggles to stand, fighting to get free from its prickly clutch. Frane Selak has just been sucked from a plane, mid-flight. He plummeted like a stone and landed, flat on his back, in a haystack thousands of feet from where he sat just minutes ago. This was to be the second time he would come to cheat death.

Of course, there are always players that suffer from injury. Michael Owen famously enjoyed a very successful career despite his frequent visits to the treatment table. Ledley King accumulated close to three hundred appearances for Tottenham in a thirteen year career. King was so blighted by injury he was barely able to train with his teammates; his knee would swell for up to a week after a game and cause him immense discomfort. For players like Owen and King, it was the quality of their natural footballing ability that made the effort to overcome the injuries worth it. Lesser players might not find the motivation to play on, knowing the strain it puts on their body, but cream always finds a way to rise to the top, however fleetingly and inconsistently. During his playing days, Harry Redknapp said of King, “even if he only plays 20 games a season, he's worth having because he's so good we have a much better chance of winning”and I echo these sentiments about players like Stuart Holden. Even if it is less than 20 games, even if it’s 20 minutes, his is a talent that is worth the wait.

Three years pass by and a man now finds himself riding the bus. Staring out of the window, he watches as the river that once kept pace alongside the bus gets closer and closer. The bus is careening into the water and soon with an all too familiar gurgling assertion, the river is consuming the vehicle and everyone in it, “here we go again”, thinks the man. The fate that Frane had once absconded had now reared its soggy, sodden head again, he has been here before. It didn’t kill him the first time, Frane is sure it will be second time un-lucky. Before he knows it, the man finds himself once more on the bank of a river, in eerily familiar circumstances, with only cuts and bruises as evidence for his show down with death. Three strikes you’re out, death. You’ve got to try harder than this, the man gloats.

Holden appeared on American TV this week - I suppose he has quite a bit of time to kill now he’s back, state side – expressing his gratitude to the Bolton manager Dougie Freedman for sticking with him throughout his time on the side lines. It’s hard to guess what Freedman will decide should become of Holden in regards to his time at Bolton. Once his contract expires at the end of the season it would be understandable for the manager to bid the midfielder a cheery farewell. He didn’t sign him, he’s always injured, he can’t even be sure if there is a place for him in the team he is trying to assemble, but Freedman has indicated that Bolton will stand by Holden throughout his recovery process and possibly beyond. Holden, when asked of the situation with his ongoing involvement with the club, stated “we have spoken a few times and he's [Freedman has] said that if I'm going to give this a go then they're going to be there with me”.

An unfathomably lucky man is driving with a smile on his face; he is contemplating the last ten years of his life in bewilderment. Since that day on the bank of the river… the second time, he has evaded the grim spectre of death three more times. He is beginning to suspect he is invincible, a superman that simply doesn’t know how to stop living. Neither the recent explosion of his fuel tank (sending flames through the air-conditioning vents in his car), nor the firestorm of an oil spill blaze could claim his life. Most of his hair is gone; his face is battle scared and aged beyond his years from the harrowing life he has lived, but he is still going. Not even the bus, that had run him down one year earlier, could put an end to this man’s incredible streak of luck. Frane has lived longer and on an edge narrower than any man in his circumstances has ever lived, and he feels alive. But just then, he sees a light. Approaching fast in the dark is a van, the road is narrow, too narrow to pass and the van shows no sign of slowing. To his left is a solid wall, to his right; a vertical ledge. “So this is how it comes to pass” thinks Frane, “death has finally caught up with me. It was a hell of a chase”, and with a jolt of his wheel, the man’s car plunges off the road and shatters to flaming rubble, three hundred feet below. Frane, perplexed, sees it all. Every detail. He has been thrown from his seat and into a tree, hanging from the cliff ledge. Frane – 7, Death – 0.

I believe that Holden has the strength of character to come back and star again for Bolton. He is currently on track to return to the club shortly after the start of the next season and, having only four games left at this stage of the current campaign to go; this time will surely fly by. There is, in my mind, only one real concern for Holden on his inevitable return: will he be able to live up to the hype? It has been so long since we have seen him play that we, the fans, run the risk of having immortalised Holden in his absence, much in the same way that artists are only really appreciated after they are dead. Can he come back and compete with the same fire and resolve that became a trademark of his game?

The man, finally, is at home. He attempts to maintain a quite life, free from further jeopardy and danger. He holds in his hand a lottery ticket, the only lottery ticket he has ever purchased. His eyes are vacant; he stares into the middle distant, his mouth slightly ajar. Frane Selak, the man who cheated death seven times, has just won the lottery... on his first, and only, attempt.

I suppose the lesson to take away from this lecture – and yes, it is a lecture, so pay attention as there will be a test – is that hardships can be overcome by extraordinary people. To paraphrase the great Jeff Goldblum in Jurassic Park, ‘life, uh, finds a way’; it finds a way of triumphing in misfortune and it is the misfortune that makes the triumph all the more glorious for having had to endure it. The Frane Selaks and Stuart Holdens of the world know that every time you fall, you get back up and that if, in life, you’re dealt a bunch of lemons, you have to take those lemons and stuff them down somebody’s throat until they see yellow!

Frane Selak fell seven times and got back up each and every time. The final time he stood back up, he was rewarded beyond logic and beyond belief. Holden has only to get back up once more; hopefully the payoff will be just as rewarding.

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