Rachel Greenley surrounded by the Shrewsbury Town squad for the 2005/06 season, which included future England goalkeeper Joe Hart (back, four from left).
Neil Thomas meets a therapist whose new business stands more than a sporting chance of success
When he was manager of Shrewsbury Town, Gary Peters remarked to the football club’s physiotherapist Rachel Greenley: “The biggest compliment I can give you is that I forget you are a woman.”
Rachel recalls the comment with a chuckle. It is, on the face of it, rather an odd remark when you consider that Rachel is petite, attractive, soft-voiced and looks every inch a girl. However, you kind of know what Gary was driving at. Beneath the feminine charm must run a tough streak, for Rachel worked for seven years as one of a handful of women in the testosterone-charged, male-dominated world of professional football.
Many a time she left the pitch after treating an injured Town player only to run the gauntlet of wolf-whistles and sexist catcalls as she walked in front of opposition fans.
“I learnt to shut it out. It never really bothered me. You just ignore it,” she says with a smile.
That was symptomatic of the level of professionalism that Rachel brought to her role. At one time she was the only female lead physio in League football in England.
“Premier League clubs have teams of five or six physios, of which some will be women, but when I joined Town there was one other lead physio who was at Bristol City. When she left I was the only one.”
Rachel is a qualified acupuncturist.
However, the start of the new football season this month co-incides with a new chapter in Rachel’s life. For the 39-year-old is busy building her own business, Therapy Works, a physiotherapy clinic run from a smart new studio. Fully fitted with the latest equipment, it was converted from the garage by her builder husband Lee Asken, at their home in Baschurch.
“It seemed the right time to start working for myself,” says Rachel, as we chat in the garden of her home on a warm summer afternoon.
For one thing, it will allow more flexibility in that work-life balance, particularly important since the couple’s three-year-old daughter Leah came along.
“As physio at a football club, you are there more than anybody, and family life revolves around it. After a match on Saturday you will be in on Sunday morning assessing injuries. There are matches at Christmas, Easter and other bank holidays, long trips at night and so on. I didn’t realise that until I started working at Town. The intensity took me by surprise a little.
“Also, being female in the job is a bit unusual so I used to get recognised when I was out. People would stop me in Tesco and say ‘hello’, talk about the club and ask after the health of players who were injured.”
Experience
After she left Town, Rachel started working at Shrewsbury School, which helped her gain experience treating a range of sports injuries aside from football ones.
“People were asking if they could come to see me for treatment but I had no facilities. If I was to take it forward I really needed a treatment room, so we started in January this year putting the plans together and I opened in June.”
As a consultant, she offers a range of services including post-operative treatment and muscular/skeletal physiotherapy.
“I’ve got all the equipment here so I can deal with a full range of conditions from chronic rheumatoid arthritis and back pain to strains and sprains. I’ve also just qualified as an acupuncturist which is very useful for treating several conditions. It is important to keep developing, reading about new research and adding strings to your bow,” she says.
Indeed, the string of letters after her name - MCSP, SRP, PGCert, MACPSM, BSc (hons) - attests to Rachel’s wealth of experience and qualifications, despite the fact she embarked on her training relatively late at 27 after several years in the travel industry.
“I worked as a rep for a ski company in the Alps. Of course, people were picking up all sorts of injuries skiing and I just got really interested in the treatment of sports injuries as a result.”
She followed up her interest by attending night college in Kingston-upon-Thames before becoming a full-time mature student for three years at St George’s Hospital Medical School in London. She then returned to her home town to work at the Royal Shrewsbury Hospital as an NHS physiotherapist.
Shrewsbury Town’s club doctor, Chris Tomlinson, was also at the RSH at the time and one day asked the staff if anyone was interested in becoming a football physio.
Dream job
“We had always been supporters in our house. My dad was a fan and my elder brother and I can remember wandering around the Wakeman End at the old Gay Meadow when I was little more than Leah’s age,” recalls Rachel with a smile. “It seemed like a dream job.”
And so it proved. In fact, looking back over seven years, Rachel was certainly a part of the club’s history during one of its more turbulent periods, with Town fans experiencing a rollercoaster of emotions thanks to FA Cup victory over Premier League Everton, relegation from the Football League after 53 years, immediate promotion back, and League Two play-off heartbreak at Wembley.
In an industry notorious for easy dismissals and clean sweeps by new regimes bringing in their own backroom staff, she survived the departure of managers Kevin Ratcliffe and Jimmy Quinn and worked successfully with Gary Peters before departing during the reign of Paul Simpson, himself sacked in May this year.
Rachel admits that the resignation in May 2003 of Ratcliffe, her first boss at the club, in the wake of relegation from the Football League, shocked her by its suddenness.
“That kind of instant resignation or instant sacking doesn’t happen too often in other areas of business. We lost that night to Carlisle, confirming we were down, then I had a call on the Wednesday morning from Kevin. He said: ‘Rachel, I’m not with the club any more and neither is Dave Fogg [assistant manager].’ We were going to a Reserves game at Bury that day and it seemed like everything had been turned upside down very quickly.”
Despite working in such a precarious environment, with its culture of easy comings and goings, Rachel loved her time at Shrewsbury Town.
“I always had a great relationship with the club. I found it a lot easier place to work than in hospital. You have very fit, highly motivated patients who want to recover as quickly as they can, which isn’t always the case on a ward,” she says with a smile.
Relaxing with daughter Leah.
“Also, I have huge respect for the chairman [Roland Wycherley] for all that he has done for the club. He really does have Shrewsbury Town at heart.”
Rachel believes now is a great time to launch her business, despite the general economic squeeze.
“I think some health authorities will be outsourcing to quality clinics. Also more value may be placed on prevention of medical conditions, which, in some cases, physiotherapy can play a part.”
Exciting plans for Rachel’s business include using her large network of local football contacts to develop a mobile soccer clinic.
“As clubs like Ellesmere Rangers, Ludlow Town and Market Drayton Town develop, more and more of them are taking a very professional approach to fitness and dealing with injuries.”
So there is likely to be no shortage of work for one of the region’s more high-profile physiotherapists.
“I’m very excited about my new business and the challenges ahead,” she says.
Then she smiles tenderly at Leah as the little one plays happily around us. “Also, it means I won’t miss out on seeing my daughter grow up . . .”
• Therapy Works: Telephone 01939 261700 or email therapyworks@live.co.uk
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