George Burley
George Burley, a 68-year-old former player and manager for Ipswich Town, discussed his battle with cancer in an interview. He revealed that he has already undergone six rounds of chemotherapy treatment as part of his journey to recovery.
George Burley said “Yeah, I’m good, it’s been a difficult time. I wasn’t very well for a few months and then I got a diagnosis of cancer and it was a was case of where do we go from there? I’ve been fortunate, I’ve been through six cycles of chemo and that’s gone well, to shrink the tumour, and my next step is getting an operation. I’m speaking to the specialists later in the week to try and sort out a date. So it’s one step at a time but at the moment I’m feeling well – I played golf today and enjoyed that, so that was good getting out. And I’ve been to every Ipswich home game, so it hasn’t stopped me. It was a big shock, but having my family behind me has been immense – they’ve supported me and kept me positive. There’s always somebody worse off than yourself. I’ve always been fairly positive. I had a really bad injury when I was a player and got told in 80/81 that I would never play football again and I managed to get to a World Cup Finals in ’82 so as I say, my family give me strength and I’m always fairly positive day in and day out. People I haven’t spoken to in ten or 15 years have texted me to say how are you, so that’s been great. Everybody round the area and even one or two players from Ipswich Town – and Kieran – have texted me as well to wish me luck and a quick recovery. So that’s been very kind of everybody.”
Burley emphasized the importance of maintaining a positive outlook throughout his cancer treatment. He shared that he has received messages of support from many people, including former Ipswich Town players. He discussed the broader context of cancer, noting the prevalence of the disease.
George Burley said “They’re talking about one in every two people will get cancer at some point in their life, so you’ve got to deal with it.”
In another context, Burley spoke about his long association with Ipswich Town, noting the publication of a new book titled “All to Play For” that commemorates his remarkable career in football.
George Burley explained “A lad called Neil Prentice came and spoke to me a few months ago to say that he’s been looking at my career and kept detail, I’ve been involved in 913 games as a manager and a player, which I didn’t realise. 500 appearances I did as a player and 413 as a manager. So that’s the most anybody has been involved and he wanted to do a thing for the Ipswich fans. I live in Ipswich, been back here 11 years. I went to a few different clubs but I came to Ipswich when I was 15-years-old, went through the youth policy, played 500 games from ’72 to ’82. So I’ve been an Ipswich man virtually my whole life and to have that many games involved with the club has been incredible. I’ve enjoyed doing it – but Neil’s done all the hard work and spoken to 20 to 25 ex-players and people who have been around the club. We won 11 home games and nine away games and then I won manager of the year.”
