Preston’s Paul Gallaghers personal tragedies means Man Utd tie is only a game

For Paul Gallagher, stepping out for Preston against Manchester United tomorrow night will be a real football highlight.

A Fifth Round FA Cup tie which pits a League One side against the Premier League giants is an occasion to savour.

But Gallagher knows it’s just a game. A great game, but a game nonetheless.

That’s because the forward who was capped for Scotland against Wales in 2004 has had to overcome two personal tragedies which have had a profound effect on his life.

He lost his younger brother, Daniel, aged nine months, to meningitis.

Then in April, 2012 while playing for Leicester City, his son, Luca James, was stillborn. Luca was a twin, and his sister Ava only survived after a month in intensive care.

Naturally, Gallagher was rocked by those events. So while he’d love to be a giant-killer against United tomorrow night, it gives him a real perspective on what truly matters.

He recalls: “My wife, Hayley, went in for a scan at 30 weeks.

“We were playing West Ham that night, and I was supposed to go and meet for the game. But we found out that Luca had stopped breathing.

“I lost my brother when I was seven years old to meningitis. My eldest daughter, Maddy, was seven when we lost our kid.

“I was thinking: ‘Have I done something bad for this to happen?’

“I had to ring the Leicester manager at the time, Nigel Pearson, and tell him I couldn’t play. Nigel just said: ‘Do what you need to do, and make sure the other baby gets here safely’.

“I knew I had to be strong for Hayley and for Maddy. We had to tell her that the little boy wouldn’t be coming back. And that the other baby was in intensive care, fighting for her life.

“Luckily Ava is fine now in fact, she’s a little terror! But it was a hard time.

“Now I go out and express myself on the pitch and I’m happy my three kids can come and watch. I have come through the grief a stronger person, and hopefully a better person.

“Some supporters see you as a robot, and think you have a great life with a big house and no worries.

“We’re just the same as everyone else. We do have a great job but you always go home and have other things to deal with.

“You will be down if you lose a football game but there are bigger things in life.

“For a while I didn’t really want to see anyone, and didn’t want to speak to anyone. There were times when football was so far from my mind.

“But I now have the desire back. I want to play every minute of every game because you miss it. It’s the only thing I know.”

Gallagher is particularly grateful to his old boss at Leicester, Pearson. He has had a difficult week after criticism over his actions towards Crystal Palace’s Scotland midfielder James McArthur, but Gallagher won’t have a bad word said against him.

“Nigel can look very hard-faced but he’s one of the nicest guys you could possibly meet,” he says. “He was the first person on the phone after I had lost Luca, saying: ‘Whatever you need, tell me. Football doesn’t matter right now.’

“He’s a family man himself and he knows family is the most important thing. He then helped me get the loan move back to Preston because I wanted to be nearer my family again.

“Nigel has always been great to me and for that, I can’t thank him enough.”

Gallagher’s two goals beat Championship Norwich City in the Third Round. Three more over two matches saw off Sheffield United to set up the glamour tie tomorrow night.

“A lot of people are saying it is not the Manchester United of old, but if you look at their teamsheet, they still have world-class players,” Gallagher adds.

“But this is a massive chance for us to go and cause an upset.”