When Charlie Wyke collapsed with a cardiac arrest mid-session at Wigan Athletic’s training ground on Nov 22, his manager saved the striker’s life by giving him CPR, and since that day Leam Richardson has wondered at the good fortune that he and his staff were trained in emergency first aid a few weeks earlier.
For Richardson, 42, overseeing a remarkable renaissance at the recently financially-ravaged Wigan it has felt strange to be inundated with requests to talk about the moment that Wyke approached him and then went into arrest a few yards away. Wyke himself has been clear about the circumstances of Nov 22. “My life has been saved,” he said in a statement, “by the actions of the gaffer and the doctor [Jonathan Tobin]”. Wigan’s new owners have announced there will be a stand at the DW Stadium named after Richardson for all he has done.
The last few weeks have been a bit overwhelming at times, not least because Wyke’s path to recovery is not yet clear and it is that upon which Richardson first focuses. The 29-year-old came to the training ground on Tuesday for the first time since Nov 22 which was a profound moment for the player himself, his team-mates and the staff. Wyke’s cardiologist has given him a plan and the player was, Richardson says, in good spirits. “The main thing that we are all really pleased with is his health,” he reflects this week. “He has his family and from there anything else will be a bonus.
“I know his character and there won’t be any day that goes by when he is not working to full recovery. Whether that is to be a really good dad, husband, brother, son or a really good footballer. I am sure he will cover all of the above.”
Richardson, when we spoke, was preparing for Wigan’s game against Ipswich Town on Saturday, with the club second in League One and in the hunt for promotion little more than one year after being plunged into administration. Yet also occupying Richardson is the feeling there is something to be learned from this moment that no-one at Wigan that day will ever forget.
As his playing career, spent at the likes of Bolton, Blackpool and, for the most part Accrington Stanley, came to an end, Richardson studied for a diploma in social work at the Open University, a degree-level qualification. In his native Leeds, he worked as a volunteer for more than two years in the youth offending service where he trained in many disciplines including mental health, substance misuse and learning difficulties. Social work was his post-football career choice until the game offered opportunities. He worked as an assistant to Paul Cook at Chesterfield, Portsmouth, and then Wigan, where Richardson was last senior coach left after last year’s chaos and took the reins.
