October 30 – Lord of the Manor of Frodsham

WHEN Gerard Houllier was winding down his time as Liverpool manager, the club still allowed him to press on with one of their most expensive signings ever. Houllier had been casting flirtatious glances at Djibril Cisse for months and finally managed to negotiate a deal to bring the Frenchman to Anfield for around £14m in the summer of 2004.

Houllier was ‘mutually consented’ before he could see his new striker kick a ball with Rafa Benitez brought in as the new man. It seemed that Rafa was not quite as taken with Cisse as Houllier had been, and he was often used on the wing, rather than in his favoured role up front. Being played out of position was soon to be the least of his worries though and it was on this day in 2004 that Cisse’s leg was broken during a Premiership match with Blackburn at Ewood Park.

Late on in the first half Cisse was chasing a ball when he tangled with Blackburn Jay McEveley who caught the Frenchman’s left leg with his own. In the replay below you can see the leg bend the wrong way as it breaks in horrific fashion. Cisse immediately knew it was serious and was carried off the pitch.

As the fans clapped the stricken man off the pitch, they were not to know that Cisse was in grave danger of actually losing his leg altogether.

He said afterwards: “When I was taken from the field, what they did next was so important for my career, what they did in those first few moments was vital. If they had waited until I had got to the hospital I might have lost my leg, it was that serious.

“My bones were overlapping and I had no circulation in my foot. They had to give me drugs to help with the pain and then they had to pull my bones back into place with their hands.”

Luckily for Cisse, the injury was treated well and did not spell the end of his career like David Busst, although it was thought he would be out injured until the following season. However, his recovery went well and he returned at the end of the season, just in time to take a successful penalty against AC Milan in the European Cup final shoot-out.

It was also around this time that he became the Lord of the Manor of Frodsham when he purchased a home overlooking the Mersey that came with the title which was recorded in the Doomsday Book. He immediately caused controversy by banning the Cheshire Hunt from using his land. “I will not allow hunting on my land,” he said, possibly waving a pitchfork at the same time.

Despite Liverpool’s success in Europe, the 2005/06 season did not go that well for Cisse with Benitez often playing him out of position and it was widely speculated that he would leave the club. Amazingly, before that could happen he broke his other leg while playing for France against China in June 2006, to put him out of the World Cup.

Happily the break was not as bad as the first and he was back on the field by October, by now at Marseille on loan, where he would eventually move permanently, until Roy Keane and Sunderland came-a-calling this summer.

Also on this day the world of football got a little bit smaller with the retirement of one of the biggest players the game has ever seen. Don’t forget to come back tomorrow for another exciting installment of On This Football Day.