DAVID Livermore has revealed how a strange case of mistaken identity ruined his chances of a move to Southampton during his playing career.
The former Millwall midfielder, who is back in the Den dugout as assistant to Neil Harris, was ready for a move away from the Lions during the mid-noughties.
Livermore had struggled with a knee issue since his teenage years but was surprised when he was told by a specialist that he had “ruptured” his ACL after a scan ahead of a potential move to Southampton.
Livermore had gone in for the scan directly after a youth player who did have a serious cruciate injury and a mix-up in their files saw him fail his medical at St Mary’s.
He told Millwall’s Wall Talk podcast: “I go to see the specialist, he reads the report, gets me on the bed, has a little fiddle with my knee and goes ‘you’ve ruptured your ACL’.
“I’d injured my knee back in the late 90s before I came to Millwall. But I didn’t agree with it. I failed the medical and they tried to change the deal to a pay-as-you-play contract which I wasn’t going to accept.
“I wanted a second opinion so I got the films from Southampton, took them to Harley Street to see a doctor that operated on Paul Gascoigne’s knee. He got the films out, put them up on the screen and then circled my cruciate. He said they were fine.
“I got the second set of films out and he said ‘oof, you’ve got a snapped cruciate’. Looked at the name on the top hand corner… and it was the youth team player.
“I wanted to sue. I lost out on a great opportunity to play for Southampton under Harry Redknapp because of someone’s incompetence.”
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