Paul stepping forward
Tuesday, 11th Oct 2022“He will be like a new signing when he comes back because he has not played much.“
Last week James McPake reported the welcome news that midfielder Paul Allan is recovering from a stress fracture in his foot. It is hoped that the 22 year old will be back on the training pitch next week and the manager feels that Paul can be an important player for his team this season:-
“I really liked working with him at the start, he is a very good footballer. He is fit, good on the ball and he will be another really good option for us when we get him back.
“We are mindful that we don’t want him to break down because it has been a long period out for him mentally as well. At the time he thought that he could play on but these are the worst ones.
“I have had injuries where you know when you are on the stretcher coming off that you are going to be out for six months or a year. When it is an injury where you are not quite sure what has actually happened, and you are waiting on a scan or an x-ray that shows an injury that in your head doesn’t feel that bad, you have got to be looked after. We have had done that with Paul.
“He is itching to get going, itching to get back into training and help and be involved in the squad. We are having to rein him in a wee bit but as soon as the time is right it will not take him long to get up to speed.”
Paul played in all the Premier Sports Cup matches this season and started the first two league matches before picking up the injury in his foot. It was either existing or aggravated by a twist in training and although he re-joined the session thinking that it was okay, a subsequent scan confirmed the extent of the injury.
Now out of his moon boot, he has been doing conditioning work in the gym. Nobody would want Paul to suffer a setback but it has reached the point now where he can accelerate the rehab and prepare himself for a return. James McPake added:-
“I don’t mean to belittle the injury but it is these little ones where you think you are okay, we have all had them in when you kick the bottom of somebody’s foot or you twist your foot and you get away with it 99 times out of 100. Unfortunately for Paul it showed the stress fracture but we are over the hurdles now and it is just a case of getting the foot and ankle strong.
“I like him - he is a really good player and a good person. He will be like a new signing when he comes back because he has not played much. He sets standards in training as well so it will be good to get him back.”
When just seventeen years old, Paul spent a month training with Benfica in Portugal. Paul was selected out of Fife Elite Football Academy for the trip to Lisbon in May 2017. The Pars Supporters’ Trust were delighted to name Paul as the first recipient of an award from the Margaret Ross Memorial Fund.
At the Benfica camp there were players from nineteen different countries as far away as South Africa and Brazil, Tunisia as well as the UK. The players from Africa and America all played differently so Paul could pick up things from them.
The coaches pushed the young players to try and help them improve as much as they could and on returning Paul told the website:-
“I learned different movements to get on the ball and lots of different ways to play, especially going forward. I adapted to different formations. It was just a great experience for me."
That experience has shone through for James McPake who likes the style Paul brings:-
“The way he keeps the ball, the way he moves the ball lends it to another player, gets it back - you can play through him. I have seen him a lot for Dunfermline in youth teams coming up and he is certainly one that we rate very highly. He was excellent in pre season when we came in but that wasn’t a surprise really.
“Matty Todd he has been excellent, Chris Hamilton and Joe Chalmers as well. Paul will add to that and when you have those players in there, then they push one another to keep others out of the team and that helps. The more quality we have in the squad the better, Paul certainly adds to that.”
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