How Chris Basham’s horrific injury could inspire Sheffield United to get survival bid up and running

Sheffield United will look to use Chris Basham’s horrific injury at Fulham as motivation to kickstart their bid for survival. The 35-year-old Blades legend is facing a lengthy rehabilitation process after the freak fall on Saturday, which required an initial operation before a subsequent one followed.

Now in his 10th season as a Blade, Basham is one of the most popular figures at Bramall Lane and seeing him in such trouble on the Craven Cottage turf was a difficult sight for everyone connected with this football club. After lengthy medical treatment he was taken to a nearby hospital on gas and air, and with his left leg in a brace.

In an update via social media, Basham described himself as “devastated” and thanked the “football world” for their messages of support, as well as United and Fulham - plus their skipper Tim Ream, who stayed by Basham’s side until, and after, medical attention arrived following his horrific fracture. United’s players will have been hit hard by the sight of a teammate and friend in such strife but initially recovered from the blow of going 1-0 down to level up, before goals from Tom Cairney and Willian ensured their winless start to the season continued.

In a purely footballing sense it was another bitter blow to boss Paul Heckingbottom, who lost John Egan, Tom Davies and Basham to lengthy injuries within the space of seven days. Probably the only positive on another afternoon to forget was the performance of Auston Trusty, the former Arsenal man handed a full Premier League debut in the absence of Egan and who, with Basham also out, is now set for an extended chance to prove himself at top-flight level.

Supercomputer’s surprise United survival prediction after horror start

“To see him down for 15 minutes was pretty sickening. I really hoped it’s not bad but being down for that long, you can tell it’s bad,” Trusty said afterwards. “I just hope it’s not as bad as everyone thinks. It’s scary, especially with your family around. That’s the only way I can describe it as sickening, it’s not something you ever want to see.

“But at the end of the day, it’s football and these things happen. We had to move on and play the game and it honestly makes you play harder when you see your teammate go down, to get the win for him. We said that at half-time, after seeing seeing our mate go down. I wanted to come in this press conference with you guys being hyped about the game, and talking about Bash and his injury was not what I planned.”

“At the end of the day football is a game and to see someone that hurt, in that level of pain, is not good,” the American international added. “You start thinking about the human element. You wouldn’t wish it on anyone and even worse when it’s your teammate. We’ll use it as motivation now to get one for Egan, get one for Bash and for the other guys who are injured. We’ve just got to find a way as a team.”