Long-serving Manchester United head physiotherapist Rob Swire has won the Fabrice Muamba Award at the North West Football Awards.
The ceremony was held at The Point at Emirates Old Trafford, home of Lancashire County Cricket Club, on Monday night.
Swire is the second winner of the ‘Fabrice Muamba Award for Medical and Sports Science Professional’, which was awarded for the first time last year.
It was created to honour the hard work of medical professionals in North West football and named after the Bolton Wanderers footballer who suffered a cardiac arrest on the pitch in 2012.
Swire has been on the backroom staff at United since joining from Halifax in 1991, progressing to the role of Head Physiotherapist in 1999.
He qualified at the Salford School of Physiotherapy and has been an integral part of the Old Trafford staff for over two decades.
Swire works on a match day to help any player who suffers an injury and the rest of the time is based at the club’s Carrington training ground, monitoring and treating the fit and injured.
“My role involves keeping up to date with advances in treatment and rehabilitation,” Swire tells the club website.
He believes the toughest part of his role is ‘telling a player when they have picked up a serious injury’ while the best is ‘seeing that player eventually back playing again’.
The North West Football Awards were launched six years ago to recognise the work and achievements on and off the pitch in the region’s football.
Apart from Swire, there were three other awards given to Greater Manchester representatives this year.
Bolton Wanderers midfielder Jay Spearing took home Championship Player of the Year while Sir Alex Ferguson won Manager of the Year and also Lifetime Contribution to North West Football.
