Blog Achive: Player Link: Physio and Yeovil Player

In this Article we will look at what could link the Tranmere Rovers Physio to and on loan Yeovil Player. Now I imagine many of you will be able to guess the two people in question, let's take a look.

Meet the Physio.

Recognize him? Yes, that's Gregg Blundell.

Who is Gregg Blundell? He is a scouse born ex footballer who played as a striker for many teams. He started his career as a youth at Tranmere Rovers before dropping into non league football with Knowsley United and then Vauxhall Motors, he was known during his time here as being able to find the back of the net, he left Vauxhall Motors in 2001 and signed for Northwich Victoria. His stats whilst at Northwich were impressive too making 90 appearances and scoring 39 league goals. He attracted a fair amount of interested and in 2003 moved from his bottom half club to Doncaster Rovers who were closing in on promotion. Shortly after this move he was playing in the play-offs against Chester City and in the final Dagenham & Redbridge, in which saw Rovers earn promotion back into the football League. Many can remember Gregg sustaining an injury to his head, in which he carried on playing with his head strapped up Paul Ince and Terry Butcher style.

The next season, with Rovers favorites for relegation, Blundell helped earn back to back promotions, scoring 18 in what was the Division 3, this season he won Doncaster player of the year.

Unfortunately, Gregg wasn't quite up to the League 1 level and dropped down to League 2 when he left Rovers for Chester City in 2005, which was reportedly a then club record fee of 105,000 pounds. Gregg made 86 appearances scoring 28 goals for Doncaster. He continued his impressive record at Chester making an immediate impact, however his season took a turn for the worst after picking up an injury against Rochdale, in October, this saw him miss 3 months of action, when he came back he struggled to find his form and on January deadline day 2007 he moved to Darlington to play under his ex boss from his Doncaster days, Dave Penney. He made 71 appearances here scoring 10 goals before leaving Darlington in 2007 to rejoin Chester City who were now back in the Conference, he remained here for half a season making 18 appearances scoring 3 goals. With financial trouble at Chester, Gregg moved to Barrow in 2009 before signing for them preeminently. This would be the last club he played for, and towards the end of his career was a Player/Physio for them, would of been interesting to see what would happen if he picked up an injury. Previously in 2008 he has picked up a degree in Physiotherapy for the University of Salford.

In the summer 2011 he joined Tranmere Rovers as their Physio, a position he is still in today.

So what about the on loan Yeovil Player?

Many will remember this guy, It is John Lundstram

Who is John Lundstram? John is a 19 year old midfielder, who is on loan from Everton. Having coming through the academy there, in February 2013, he was loaned to Doncaster when we were in League 1, following our relegation the year before. John became an important part of our team making 14 appearances. He also played during the match at Brentford, which we can all remember. At the end of the season he returned to Everton and in November was loaned to Yeovil Town, who were promoted with Doncaster the year before. He is currently still at Yeovil, where he plays with ex Rovers players Bryon Webster and James Hayter. He has also gained caps for England at u17, u18, u19 and u20. He has recieved praise by Steven Gerrard for his tackling and passing. John looks to have a promising career ahead of him, and seems like a good lad.

The Links

So lets have a look at what links these two.

Now there is the obvious, they have both played for Doncaster Rovers, they were both born in Liverpool.

They have also both won promotions with Rovers, Gregg in 2003 Conference Play-offs and in 2004 Division 3 champions. John in 2013 League 1 champions. Also they both played in the only two doncaster teams that were crowned league champions since 1969.