Dunney says thanks
Last updated : 31 October 2002 By
Dunne was suspended from the club just prior to the Blackburn home game after apparently turning up for training in a condition that was described as worse for wear. It looked like his days were numbered at Maine Road before he agreed to go on a special training regime with an aim to improving his fitness and general attitude.
Dunne decide to issue his thank-you after making an impressive comeback in Saturday's 2-0 win at Birmingham. He told the official site what it was like to be back in the side.
"I was delighted to play again you have to go back to April to the last time that I played a full first team game. Things went well at St Andrews, we got a clean sheet and a win so it worked out well for me."
"It was a great relief to be back as there had been so much pressure at times and the truth as to what happened never really came out. It was rumour and counter rumour so to put all that behind me was a nice feeling."
"You train all week and all you want to do is to play a match at the end of it. It has been so long since I was able to do that so it was great on Saturday. Things went well we got a clean sheet and a win so it worked out well for me."
Dunne went on to talk about the training regime he followed as part of his rehabilitation and of his need to change his lifestyle.
"The hardest part of it was the for four weeks training on my own. Since the week before the Chelsea game I have been back training with the squad and the lads have been supporting me."
"They have been building me up and encouraging me to keep going. The training on my own was something I know I had to go through. The training we do here is enough to keep you fit but if you are not fit in the first place then it was always going to be hard."
"It is the fittest I have ever felt since I came here. We were out running on Tuesday morning and I was almost up at the front so it must be working!"
"All the coaches here have helped me, I have had a really hard month's training but it seems to have paid off. The key now is not to let it slip."
"As the manager said there has to be a change in my lifestyle. The change has had to come from within myself and everything I did in the past has to remain there and I have to build up a new way of living my life."
"There was a lot of talk about my drinking. The problem was not that I was drinking excessively but that I was drinking at the wrong times. You have to learn that it you are going to have a drink then there is a right time to do it."
"When I lived in Liverpool I had all my friends there who were the same age as myself and I suppose at my age it was natural to want to go out a lot. But I have had to realise that I am a professional, that people are paying to watch me play and that is something I have to respect."
This site can only wish Dunney the best of luck and hopes that he continues to buckle down and secure a first team place.
