Decent article from the Telegraph on Appleton’s recent cancer experience and also a bit more about his football career for those who maintain an open mind.
Michael Appleton exclusive: 'They told me I had cancer and all I could think about was if I would miss pre-season'
Decent article of Appletons cancer story from the Telegraph.
Just 10 days after surgery to remove a tumour, Lincoln manager Appleton was back coaching
ByJohn Percy25 November 2021 • 8:00am
It is a summer's afternoon in a Wilmslow hospital, and Lincoln manager Michael Appleton has just been told he has testicular cancer.
Appleton is a 45-year-old in otherwise rude health, with a wife and children, and has just guided Lincoln to the League One play-off final. For a man with everything to live for, the consequences should have felt too catastrophic to comprehend; instead, the only thing on his mind as he tried to digest the news was the impact it might have on Lincoln's pre-season.
“My wife [Jess] was very concerned, but I was just thinking about what games I would miss with the operation,” he says. “If it had been Jess or any of my kids I’d have struggled a lot more and had to step away from things.
“I wasn’t undermining the illness at all, it was just my way of dealing with it: by concentrating on football. A lot of family and relatives were a lot more worried than I probably was, but I wanted to keep myself busy.”
Appleton first suspected something was amiss in March, when he noticed a lump on his testicle. He had suffered from similar pain two years before, which was monitored for 12 months, but this was something more serious. Indeed, he can still recall, with pin-sharp clarity, when his doctor confessed that the tumour appeared “a nasty one”.
“If I was in the shower, sat down awkwardly, or my jeans were on a bit too tight, it felt sore,” he says. “I went to my consultant, through the NHS, and because of Covid there was a backlog of people needing referrals. I was waiting for quite a while, but living with it.
“It wasn’t affecting my life but it got to a point where my wife said ‘I’m not having this, anything could be happening’. We contacted the consultant through his clinic and stumped up the cash to go private. We thought it was better to know.”
Testicular cancer is on the increase in the UK and much more common in younger men: the average age of those diagnosed with this form of the disease is 28. Not that it made the process of dealing with it any easier for Appleton.
“I’ve seen a lot of cancer in my life, with grandparents, step-parents, uncles and aunts, and I’ve lost a lot of relatives to it, to different types,” he says. “At my age, prostate cancer is the one which is more prevalent, but cancer doesn’t discriminate. Anyone can get it at any time and any kind.”
Appleton had the operation to have the tumour removed in July, and it was announced by Lincoln that he would take a leave of absence.
The support from Jess and other close family members was significant, while his son and ‘head of morale’, Ned, kept him entertained at home.
Appleton’s mobile phone beeped incessantly with messages and calls from his former managers, team-mates and players from spells at clubs including West Brom, Portsmouth, Oxford, Leicester and now Lincoln. All were deeply appreciated, although
one in particular stood out.
“I remember Sir Alex [Ferguson] calling me after the statement, he left me a voicemail as I was still struggling with the codeine after the operation," Appleton reveals.
“I called him back a day later and had a joke about it, saying I didn’t realise I was so popular. He said: ‘You make sure you text every single one of them and ring every single one of them back’.
“I couldn’t ignore him, could I? It was like the old days when he was my manager at United! It took me four days to get back to everyone."
The operation to remove the tumours - subsequently revealed to be a non-seminoma - was a success and Appleton, who freely admits he comes alive on the training field, wanted to get back immediately. Just 10 days after surgery, he was back at Lincoln, even if he had to delegate much of the work early on to his staff.
Appleton will have a final scan next month, and is hoping for the all-clear with the news that he will not need chemotherapy. But while he might be winning his own battle, he wants to use his experience to raise awareness of the disease: he started close to home with his own players, many of whom got themselves checked out by doctors after hearing about his diagnosis.
“If anyone is unsure, whether they think it’s a sensation or whatever, just ask the question. It takes five minutes,” he says. “For the sake of some embarrassment, and dropping your drawers, it’s the difference between life and death. I got lucky because I found it early, but sadly some others might not be so fortunate.”
Appleton was, to a degree, already battle-hardened when it came to coping with health issues. A combative, all-action midfielder in his playing days, he suffered a serious knee injury in an innocuous training ground incident at West Brom in Nov 2001. He was later forced to retire due to medical negligence, after a botched operation, at the age of 27.
“To lose 10 years of my career was tough. My career was on the up at the time and it hit me very hard,” he says. “I went into the operation with one injury and came out with four, due to the complications.
“I found solace in the gym, and I was training hard, getting bigger and bigger. I was aggressive and there was grief, anger and frustration.
“The doctor at West Brom, Kevin Conod, said I was definitely depressed, and that he should have sent me to someone. I was lucky I’d found something which didn’t steer me down the wrong path.
“That’s why I have a massive understanding over why people - and particularly men - need to talk. Mental health is right up there with things that need to be addressed. Fortunately it’s better now than a few years ago but we still need to be doing more.”
As a result of early retirement, Appleton has now been coaching for nearly two decades. He secured his Pro-License badges when he was only just into his thirties, and while there were early struggles in spells in charge of Blackpool and Blackburn, the last seven years have been transformative.
He achieved promotion and reached two Football League Trophy finals with Oxford, worked in the Premier League at Leicester, and has revitalised Lincoln since his appointment in September 2019.
Last season they finished fifth, establishing an exciting, unique style of play. Appleton recruited smartly, with key signings such as Morgan Rogers from Manchester City and Brennan Johnson from Nottingham Forest, until they were narrowly beaten in the play-off final by Blackpool.
This season has proved a slow-burner: they are currently 16th in the table but have lost only three of their last ten league matches. There are hopes of funds to spend in January to bolster the squad.
“Our budget is modest but we always promised the board that wherever we sit on the financials we’ll finish higher," said Appleton.
“People know the style of play and philosophy we’ve created, where players develop and big clubs are happy to send their youngsters to us on loan.
“We’ll lose games by trying to play how we play, we’ll get the ball nicked off us in areas where people wouldn’t dream of playing but that’s what we do here.
“I’m totally driven to be a success here. The players are up for a fight and overachieving again.”
And if those players are searching for a role model, Appleton - one of football's great warriors - is the perfect choice.
