Ex-Portsmouth, Bournemouth and Brighton man Wes Fogden: At 18 I was warned I'd never play again. Then a surgeon saved my football career

Yet having been informed as a teenager that he may never play again, the former Pompey man cherishes every appearance.

No wonder, at the age of 34, he refuses to contemplate retirement. Now at Poole Town, he’s wringing every game possible out of a body which has creaked under devastating set-backs and freakish misfortune over the years.

It was 2006 when the highly-regarded Brighton youth-team graduate was diagnosed with a potentially cancerous tumour in his spine.

Although subsequently declared benign, the 18-year-old was warned the complex medical procedure to remove it could finish a promising career before the opportunity of a first-team debut.

Some 16 years later, despite persistent injury issues, Fogden has amassed more than 400 matches during spells at Dorchester, Bognor, the Hawks, Bournemouth, Yeovil, Dorking and, of course, Pompey.

And the tireless midfielder continues to charge into each challenge with characteristic energy and positivity.

‘Bearing in mind the amount of time injured, I’ve missed out on about five seasons of football,’ Fogden told The News.

‘I’ve had pretty much every injury going. Cruciate ligament damage to both knees, hamstrings, ankles, I’ve broken my nose four or five times, I fractured my cheekbone when going up for a header in the FA Youth Cup against Andy Carroll.

‘There was even the time when the ball smacked me in the private regions, requiring an operation and putting me out for four or five weeks. A real variety of injuries.

‘But I wouldn’t have it any other way. As long as I’m fit, I want to be playing every game, especially after what happened at Brighton.

‘When you’re told at 18 that you probably aren’t going to play football ever again, it changes your mindset.

‘Before that I’d get nervous and anxious for matches. As soon as that happened at Brighton, my whole attitude was “I have nothing to lose”. Just go out and enjoy every moment you’re out there.

‘It was pre-season, I had just signed my first-year pro forms and was running around a cricket boundary, yet having to almost pick up my right leg. I had no power in it.

‘Everybody was expecting me to come back for the summer flying, my fitness was always very good, but I was struggling and seeing chiropractors for the answer.

‘Then I went for X-rays, something showed up but they couldn’t tell what. A scan discovered an aggressive benign tumour growing within one of the bones in my spine.

‘It wasn’t cancerous, but had to be removed because it was growing at such a rate. It had already grown through the bone, crumpling the bone away.

‘Considering how big the tumour was, they thought they might need to go in through both sides of my back, actually taking out the spinal blocks.

‘I travelled to Harley Street and the surgeon was brutally honest: “Look, I’m not going to say you’ll be fine, you might struggle to ever play again”. This wasn’t the worst-case scenario – it was reality.

‘I appreciated that honesty. Of course it was hard to take in, but, after 48 hours, it was “Let’s get the operation done and see where it takes us”.

‘That surgeon saved my football career. It was performed in a special orthopaedic hospital in Stanmore and luckily they managed to get all the tumour out by going through the back, rather than removing spinal blocks.

‘As a consequence, they didn't have to put any metal work in, instead taking bone off my pelvis and using it to fuse together bones in my spine.

‘I had three months in a restrictive back brace, from my chest down to my knee. I was going to sleep at 4-5am and waking up at 1-2pm because I wanted interaction and, with nobody around in the day, slept as much as I could while alone.

‘I was out of action for football for nearly a year – it could have been forever.’

Fogden returned in 2007, playing on loan at Dorchester and Bognor, while broke into Brighton’s first-team for a debut at Swansea in the Johnstone’s Paint Trophy in January 2008.

The midfielder finished the season with three League One outings to his name, including starting a 1-1 draw at Oldham.

However, he departed his home-town club in September 2008 to join Dorchester and then, five months later, was snapped up by Hawks boss Shaun Gale.

While at Westleigh Park, the 20-year-old Fogden was five weeks into his second year studying sports coaching and PE at Chichester University when Bournemouth offered a return to the Football League in October 2011.

During his second Dean Court season, he made 31 appearances and scored three times as Eddie Howe’s team won promotion from League One as runners-up behind Doncaster Rovers in 2012-13.

Within nine months, though, he was tempted into quitting the Championship to join Richie Barker’s Pompey, languishing 20th in League Two.

He added: ‘After promotion to the Championship, I was sidelined following a hernia operation, missing the first half of Bournemouth’s season.

‘When I returned, Eddie (Howe) wanted me to try out at right-back. I could play it, but it’s not a position I really enjoyed and I knew chances would be limited.

‘After the injuries, all I wanted was to play football, I love it too much to not be playing on weekends. I still had 18 months left on my contract, so had a chat with Eddie.

‘I wasn’t in any rush to leave the Cherries, certainly Pompey were the only club I would be interested in moving to because it would be closer to home in Brighton, while not far away from Bournemouth.

‘I was also aware of the club’s fantastic fan base, having a lot of friends who were season-ticket holders, knowing them either through my time at the Hawks or Chichester University.

‘The message to my agent was “Please get me a move to Pompey, that would be perfect”. Thankfully they were interested and I didn’t need to seek anywhere else.

‘I walked straight into a League Two relegation battle under Richie Barker and it wasn’t until Andy Awford took over for the final seven matches that it came together.

‘At Bournemouth, I saw Eddie come back from Burnley and bring the whole squad together, he knew how to manage everybody. It’s one of the most important things in the makeup of any manager.

‘As soon as Awfs took over from Barker, he held individual meetings with a lot of the players, giving it that personal touch. It’s about handling the situation in the right way, getting the players immediately on your side.

‘He made it about the team, bringing everyone together, training felt a bit more buzzy, it was more intense, and that uplift in the environment snowballed.

‘During that end-of-season run, I scored the winner against Bristol Rovers in April 2014. I didn’t start that match after hurting my medial knee ligament against Hartlepool, causing me to miss a game.

‘So I came off the bench wearing heavy strapping which was so thick I could hardly move my leg and managed to tap in a winner in front of the Fratton Park, even if I didn’t get very fair into the celebration, being pulled down to finish at the bottom of a bundle.’

Fogden played a pivotal role as Pompey finished the season unbeaten in seven matches under caretaker boss Awford.

Remarkably, they preserved their Football League status with three games to spare, eventually claiming 13th spot, nine points clear of the relegation zone.

With Awford appointed permanently, Fogden was earmarked for a key presence in his midfield for the 2014-15 campaign.

However, the day before the opening pre-season friendly against former club Hawks in July 2014, he snapped the ligaments in his right knee during training at Furze Lane.

He returned later that season to feature 10 times, yet was not offered a new deal in the summer of 2015 following Paul Cook’s arrival as Awford’s replacement.

‘My injury was 10 days into pre-season, just a nightmare start,’ he added.

‘I was making a forward run, taking a touch as I met the ball in the air, and, as I landed, tried to push off straight away. My leg was straight, hyper-extended, and my cruciate snapped. No-one was near me.

‘I heard it pop, my leg was numb and I knew something wasn’t right. I didn’t know quite what at the time, but it was a tell-tale sign.

‘It wasn’t the worst injury I suffered, but in terms of where my career was at that stage, it was the worst-timed.

‘I’d had a strong end to the season, then came back flying in the summer, really fit. This was going to be a great year for me – then it was cut short.

‘From that moment, it was a race to be fit by the end of the campaign, and then my contract was up. Paul Cook came in and wanted his own players, most didn’t get a new deal.

‘It would have been nice to be given another chance to come back fully fit, but that’s football, you have to be resilient and know decisions and opinions of certain people aren’t going to be the same as others.’

Fogden made 28 appearances and scored twice during his 18 months at Fratton Park.

He subsequently spent one season with League Two Yeovil, where he damaged the cruciate in his other knee, restricting him to 18 appearances, before returning to non-league football with the Hawks in July 2016 – five years after his departure.

He later joined Dorking and, in June, linked up with Poole Town, so far with 21 appearances and seven goals for the fourth-placed Southern League Premier Division side.

The day job is working as head of football for Elite Skills Arena, based in Poole, but the 34-year-old is far from ready to relinquish his playing career.

He added: ‘Poole is nice and local, I’m feeling fit, I’m feeling good, I love football so much, I don’t want to give it up. It's a long time retired, as they say.

‘All the time I can move about the pitch and be involved, playing as well as I can, then I’ll stay in the game. I’m still playing central midfield, right in the action, attacking and defending. I’m still going.

‘When you’re a footballer, injuries are going to happen, the way I play is always twisting and turning, being involved, action packed. Freak injuries occur for me because of that – I can’t change my playing style.

‘Considering I’m a bit shorter than a lot of players and at elbow height, it doesn’t help with my facial area. The same for dead legs, my thighs are knee-height compared to most players, it’s just one of those things.

‘As I’ve got older I’ve learnt to get away from some of the injuries which maybe I could have avoided previously. I’m still all-action, but sometimes it’s a case of pulling out of tackles I know I haven’t got any chance of winning.

‘Are my injuries connected with the back? I don't think anyone can really know, there might be a bit of a lack of mobility in that area, which could cause hamstring injuries and give less knee support, and perhaps a pelvic imbalance. I don’t know, I’m not really sure.

‘It has been 16 years since that back operation and I’m still playing. Without football I wouldn’t be anywhere near the person I am. It's strange thinking back to how it could have been, had it not been for a fantastic surgeon.’