Dalian Atkinson Aston Villa
Aston Villa striker Dalian Atkinson was using hyperbaric therapy unit, which pumps more oxygen into the blood, to speed up his rate of recovery in an effort to overcome a groin strain in time to play against Ipswich. Villa did have the machine which cost £25000 at the time on trial and even though manager Ron Atkinson did not expect it to perform miracles he said he would “pay for it himself” if it worked. Atkinson had joined the midlands side in a deal worth £1.6 million from Real Sociedad in the earlier summer.
