John Fleck: Hospitalised Sheffield United man asked to know the final result as Reading manager sends midfielder his best wishes
John Fleck asked for the final result of Sheffield United’s game against Reading, his manager Slavisa Jokanovic confirmed, after the midfielder was taken to hospital via ambulance having appeared to collapse during the second-half of the match at the Select Car Leasing Stadium.
The midfielder required urgent medical treatment, and was administered oxygen by paramedics, following the incident which occurred soon after Jayden Bogle scored what proved to be the only goal of the game.
Although Jokanovic was unable to provide the exact details of Fleck’s condition when he briefed journalists on the situation afterwards, the Serb revealed the 30-year-old was keen to learn if his team mates had been able to hold on to the lead they secured early in the second-half.
“He is conscious, he asked for the result,” Jokanovic said. “He wanted to know and we hope that everything is going to be okay.
“Everything happened really quickly and he is in good hands now. I can not comment any more. But, I repeat, he is in safe hands and we clearly hope everything is going to be okay.”
Jokanovic admitted he did not want to be drawn into discussing what had happened to Fleck “because this is not my area of expertise” and was still visibly shaken when he attended the post-game media conference.
Veljko Paunovic, the Reading manager, said: “The experience was traumatic and it was horrible. I hope that John will return to normal life very soon and be back playing football as well as I know he can and has been playing.”
“We send the best to him and his family,”Paunovic added. “We sincerely hope everything is okay.”