{"id":444622,"date":"2025-09-23T01:55:26","date_gmt":"2025-09-23T01:55:26","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/444622\/"},"modified":"2025-09-23T01:55:26","modified_gmt":"2025-09-23T01:55:26","slug":"northern-ireland-football-former-ni-manager-ian-baraclough-opens-up-on-honeymoon-accident-agony","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/444622\/","title":{"rendered":"Northern Ireland football: Former NI manager Ian Baraclough opens up on honeymoon accident agony"},"content":{"rendered":"

The 54-year-old replaced Michael O\u2019Neill as boss of the national team in 2020, only to be sacked in 2022 to make way for O\u2019Neill\u2019s return.<\/p>\n

But the pain of losing his job with the Irish FA pales into insignificance when compared to what unfolded on the subtropical island just two days after he married his long-term partner Alexia three months ago.<\/p>\n

The newlyweds were relaxing on an idyllic beach when he was hospitalised after being slammed into the sand by a wave.<\/p>\n

\"Ian<\/p>\n

Ian Baraclough led Northern Ireland to a Euro 2020 Play-Off Final during his tenure as boss<\/p>\n

Baraclough recalled: \u201cI thought I\u2019d try to swim in with a wave and it obviously took me by surprise.<\/p>\n

\u201cAs soon as I went to go with it, it flipped my feet and legs over and my head just spearheaded into the sand.<\/p>\n

\u201cI knew I was in trouble. I wasn\u2019t in deep water but it was above my waist. I was sort of bent over and just had to try and get out as quick as I could. I got to the edge of the water and then I kind of dropped on my knees.<\/p>\n

\u201cPeople realised there was something wrong. I managed to get close to my wife and said, \u2018I need help\u2019.<\/p>\n

\n

If I had been knocked unconscious, I can\u2019t imagine what would have happened.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

\u201cThere was pain at that point. I think shock takes over. I knew something wasn\u2019t right because I heard a crack as I went over and I couldn\u2019t lift myself up.<\/p>\n

\u201cIf I had been knocked unconscious, I can\u2019t imagine what would have happened, because I could have gone under the water.<\/p>\n

\u201cPeople were trying to make me comfortable and my wife knew not to move my neck as I waited for the ambulance.<\/p>\n

\u201cShe could see that the bone was not exactly protruding out of the skin, but that something wasn\u2019t right.<\/p>\n

\u201cBy that time I couldn\u2019t feel anything from the waist down. The movement was gone. I was telling my wife, \u2018I can\u2019t feel my legs\u2019. You start to panic.\u201d<\/p>\n

After a 45-minute wait for the ambulance, MRI and CT scans revealed Baraclough\u2019s spinal cord was impinged by the fractured vertebrae in his back.<\/p>\n

Baraclough told The Times: \u201cStupid things go through your mind. I vividly remember going down to surgery. I was holding my wife\u2019s hand and I started to get upset because there was a fear that I wouldn\u2019t have this normal life, and she wouldn\u2019t have a normal life having just married me. Really strong feelings.<\/p>\n

\u201cI wouldn\u2019t have wanted her to have gone through that sort of start to life.\u201d<\/p>\n

Thankfully, the surgery was a success.<\/p>\n

\u201cI couldn\u2019t lift my legs but they were happy with the foot movement. They kind of thought that there\u2019s a chance things would be okay to some extent. Later, they said, \u2018Look, we\u2019re going to get you out of bed\u2019.<\/p>\n

\u201cYou start to think, \u2018I might be okay\u2019.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe doctors, the nurses, the surgeons, they were great. They pushed me. The surgeon saved my ability to walk. Undoubtedly.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"Ian<\/p>\n

Ian Baraclough is now Sporting Director at Scottish Championship side Partick Thistle<\/p>\n

Sadly, Ian\u2019s father Roy \u2013 aged 90 \u2013 died whilst he was recuperating from surgery in Mauritius.<\/p>\n

The ex-QPR player admitted: \u201cWhen I knew I wouldn\u2019t be getting away from the hospital for a few weeks, I realised it was going to be touch and go whether I\u2019d see him again.<\/p>\n

\u201cThat doesn\u2019t make it any easier when that phone call comes through, but I was kind of relieved as well because I knew that he was a proud man.<\/p>\n

\u201cHe dressed well, he always wanted to look after himself and make sure that he was respectable for others. I don\u2019t think he wanted other people to see him if he was anything different to that.\u201d<\/p>\n

Thankfully, the man who guided Northern Ireland to a famous Euro 2020 Play-Off Semi-Final win over Bosnia and Herzegovina at the height of lockdown has made a full recovery from surgery.<\/p>\n

He has since returned to work in Glasgow, where he is the Sporting Director of Scottish Championship side Partick Thistle.<\/p>\n

\n

When I knew I wouldn\u2019t be getting away from the hospital for a few weeks, I realised it was going to be touch and go whether I\u2019d see him again.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

The club \u2013 managed by ex-Celtic star Mark Wilson \u2013 sit fourth in the table and lost 4-0 to the Hoops in a League Cup Quarter-Final tie on Sunday.<\/p>\n

Reflecting on the horrific accident four months on from his trip to Mauritius, Baraclough added: \u201cI can\u2019t imagine what was going through my family\u2019s mind. They\u2019re thousands of miles away wondering whether their dad or their brother\u2019s going to walk again.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe response was pretty overwhelming, to be honest. When I was in the hospital bed, my family told me that it had been on Sky News, on the yellow ticker along the bottom of the screen. I didn\u2019t think it was newsworthy, to be honest.<\/p>\n

\u201cBut a lot of really nice messages were coming through, even from people I\u2019d forgotten I had in my contacts. I was taken aback. At times, I put my phone down and I got a bit teary.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The 54-year-old replaced Michael O\u2019Neill as boss of the national team in 2020, only to be sacked in…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":444623,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5011],"tags":[150039,58911,1144,16,15],"class_list":{"0":"post-444622","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-northern-ireland","8":"tag-ian-baraclough","9":"tag-keith-bailie","10":"tag-northern-ireland","11":"tag-uk","12":"tag-united-kingdom"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@uk\/115251126459967480","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/444622","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=444622"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/444622\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/444623"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=444622"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=444622"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=444622"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}