‘He’s not that kind of player’ – The oldest defence in the book.
Alan Judge’s hopes of making Ireland’s Euro 2016 squad came to a shuddering and painful halt on Saturday afternoon as he suffered a suspected broken leg following a sickening challenge from Ipswich’s Luke Hyam.
The midfielder has been in stunning form for Brentford and made his Ireland debut in the recent friendly against Switzerland.
Brentford have yet to confirm the full extent of Judge’s injury, but it seems certain that he faces a lengthy spell on the sidelines and will not be involved in France this summer.
Hyam escaped a red card for the challenge and his Ipswich team-mate Luke Varney has leapt to his defence saying he’s not the kind of player to deliberately injure an opponent.
“At the time, I didn’t think anything of it, and I’ve had a few of those off him in training so I know he’s a committed player,” Varney told the Ipswich website.
“Hyamsy would have meant no malice behind it, he’s not that kind of player and we were hoping Judge was here because the lads were going to go to see him, but we wish him all the best.
“It was unfortunate for Judgey, obviously he’s a great player, but I wish him well and a fast recovery because I’ve been there myself, it’s a tough thing to take at this stage of the season
“Luke is a great figure in the dressing room and he’s an Ipswich lad so it will probably affect him much more [being sent off].
“We’re all disappointed for him, but there will be nobody more disappointed than him.”
We’re going to go out on a limb and say that Alan Judge will be more disappointed than him.
But at least it’s nice that they made the effort to try and go to see him.
