Ex-Premier League star Andros Townsend has admitted he was extremely fortunate to escape unscathed after being run over by a pitch roller in Thailand.
The former England international, who joined Thai Premier League outfit PT Prachuap during the summer transfer window, looked to have suffered a freak injury when a manned pitch roller ploughed into him as he warmed up at half-time against Pattani.
Footage of the incident quickly went viral on social media, but Townsend later made light of the ordeal on his Instagram story, posting: ‘It turns out Stoke away wasn’t so bad after all. Swipe to see why.’
Remarkably, the former Crystal Palace winger was able to walk away from the incident unharmed and even came on as a second-half substitute.
Appearing on Piers Morgan‘s Football Uncensored on Monday night, Townsend admitted it was a ‘terrifying’ experience but is very grateful to have escaped with only a few ‘bumps and bruises’.
‘I didn’t see it coming,’ he said. ‘It was at halftime, we were going out to warm up. I saw two rollers on either side of the pitch.
Former Premier League winger Andros Townsend has admitted he was extremely fortunate to escape unscathed after being run over by a pitch roller in Thailand on Saturday
‘I remember thinking to myself, “I’ve never seen that before in my career, what are they doing?” But we got called to warm up. Didn’t think anything of it.
‘The next I saw him was when I was literally underneath him and thankfully no serious damage. A couple of bumps and bruises but managed to walk away unscathed, luckily.
‘Every time I see it, I’m cringing, I’m in disbelief. When I sent it to my kids, my kids thought it was AI. Literally, I had to explain to them, for the next ten minutes, that it was real.
‘It’s horrible to watch back and to see what could have been but, like I said, thankfully I was fortunate I did manage to fall onto the floor at the right time, so nothing snapped as the roller went over me. And I’m here today to laugh about and tell the story.’
As host Morgan pointed out, Townsend’s team-mates reacted in horror as the roller mowed him down, fearing the worst for the former Premier League man.
Footage showed the driver of the roller struggling to control the vehicle, with Townsend kicking a ball away, not looking in that direction.
‘They (my team-mates) were very surprised that I continued the warm up! They were telling me to go to the doctor. They were calling for the stretcher. But listen, I’ve been around the block, I’ve had my setbacks, I’ve had my injury issues. A roller is definitely not going to stop me from continuing, that’s for sure, so I was able to carry on.
‘It was quite heavy, but I was able to kind of lift [it], force it off me. So when it was completely on me, I was getting crushed a little bit.
‘But I was able to push it up, as you can see, as it falls on me, I was able to get my left arm up and relieve some of the pressure… and then I was able to get my team-mates around me who were able to lift it, and I was able to squeeze out but at that moment where it was crushing my left leg, it was quite terrifying, I must say.
Townsend was bizarrely run over while warming up for a game at this new club in Thailand
‘I was thinking I was done because it was my ankle, which I’ve had operated on. It was up my left knee, which I’ve had operated on. So I thought, either my left ankle was going to snap or my left knee is going to snap. I thought I was done. I was very fortunate that I was able to hobble away and recover within a few minutes.’
PT Prachuap – based in Prachuap Khiri Khan province, 150 miles south of Bangkok – appeared to have leaked Townsend’s arrival two weeks before he joined when they asked if anyone had a three-bedroom house available for the player to live in. They are the 17th club of his career.
Townsend made 29 appearances for Kanchanaburi Power last season, scoring three goals.
He has previously played for Spurs, Newcastle, Palace and Everton, and moved to Thailand after a short spell with Turkish side Antalyaspor.
Townsend making the move comes after he worked for ITV as a co-commentator during the World Cup.
The ex-England winger went viral at the tournament for his unconventional diet – which includes eating raw steak.
He released a slew of videos promoting his all-natural diet including steak, sardines and boiled eggs.
