A Liverpool fan who suffered life-changing injuries after an attack at the 2022 Champions League final is set to benefit from a charity event next month
Liverpool fan Danny Smith was left with life-changing injuries after an attack outside the Stade de France last year
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A Liverpool fan whose life was thrown off course after being attacked at the 2022 Champions League final is set to benefit from a fundraising football event next month.
Danny Smith suffered life-changing injuries when he was set upon by thugs outside the Stade de France before the Reds' 1-0 loss to Real Madrid four years ago.
Danny, who was with his young son Daniel at the European showpiece, was ambushed and assaulted with a hammer, leaving him with a catastrophic knee problem that left him out of work as a manual labourer.
X-rays showed Mr Smith had actually suffered as many as three tibial plateau fractures, which are defined as breaks in the upper part of the tibia. He was transferred to Aintree University Hospital for surgery and was told his knee injury - on a scale of one to six - was rated at the maximum, such was the severity of the issues.
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Danny was been forced to leave his two roles at a car manufacturing company and as a weekend carer for autistic children as a result of the problems suffered after the incident.
Extensive rehabilitation was undertaken at the Rehab 4 Performance centre in Speke, which was founded by former Liverpool physiotherapist Matt Konopinski, but months of intense physiotherapy were unable to provide the lifelong match-goer with a route back into employment.
Four years later, and having suffered considerable post-traumatic stress as a result of the attack, the Reds fan has pivoted to a career in the mental health sector and begins the final year of a psychotherapy course in September.
With the help of Liverpool-based charity An Hour for Others and Les Wright, the director of Supply Chain Solution, Danny is set to be aided by an event at Goals' Netherton site on June 6.
Sixteen five-a-side teams will take part in the day's action with the money raised to enter being used to ease the cost education fees for Danny, who is looking to use his story in a new profession to help others who suffer similarly traumatic experiences.
"Following Paris, I received physiotherapy for a year and a half and went from a wheelchair to weight bearing," says Danny. "I had Psychotherapy for PTSD and had to leave work on medical grounds.
"I had a burning desire to give back and I thought the best way to do this and to get back into gainful employment was by helping others with their mental health as I believe my journey could inspire others and my experiences would enable me understand what others were going through.
"I have undertaken a number of mental health courses and I'm now trying to be a psychotherapist, which I have funded myself. It is an expensive and timely process but I'm giving it my all."
An event that featured a private video message from Jurgen Klopp and a Q&A with John Barnes, Alan Kennedy, David Fairclough and Howard Gayle helped raise £22,000 in 2023 and the latest charity day has been designed to ease the burden of studying costs.
Speaking to the ECHO in 2023, Danny said: "As we left the ground there were about 10 lads latching on to us and they kept getting closer. One of them tried to grab my lad's bag, so there was a bit of a stand-off with them.
"Police were letting tear gas off in the distance and they sort of backed off a bit but I didn't want to turn my back on them. So the stand-off continued and I started getting worried about it all.
"My mate was then hit over the head with a crash helmet and then Daniel was trying to pull me one way but I didn't want to turn my back on them. They were all whistling and before we knew it there were about 50 around us.
"This one guy pretended to be a peacemaker but he had a hammer that I didn't see at all. He reached out and struck me on the knee and I was left incapacitated. It must be his little party piece because he could've hit me over the head if he wanted.
"I tried to put my leg down. The lad has done that and then someone else has tried to come in with a punch. He got me in the side of the head and as I have tried to put my foot down it's been just like a piece of rope. The knee gave in and then it was like a Formula 1 team changing tyres. They have all picked me up, took everything I had off me, dropped me and moved on to the next one."
More information on the day's action can be found here.