Barnsley v Huddersfield Town - Matty James finally ready for a festive feast of football

The Barnsley loanee’s injury strife over several seasons at parent club Leicester City has been much-chronicled with the midfielder famously spending the entire 2015-16 season – the most momentous in the Foxes’ history – on the sidelines with an anterior cruciate ligament injury as his team-mates stunningly won the Premier League.

It has meant that festive football has often been off the menu.

Given that, it is no great surprise that the 29-year-old cannot actually recall the last occasion that he stepped out competitively on Boxing Day.

You have to go back six years for when that happened with James part of a Leicester line-up who lost 2-1 at home by Tottenham Hotspur six years ago today.

The Lancastrian hopes to end that wait this afternoon against Huddersfield Town, with he and his team-mates having trained on Christmas Day in preparation for today’s derby.

It meant that an extra slice or two of Turkey, decent serving of Christmas pudding and additional glass of wine will have been off the menu for James – but his sense of fulfilment will have been considerable.

He commented: “I have had the last few (Boxing Days) off and have probably eaten and drunk a little bit too much as you do when you are not involved.

“But it has been tough (professionally) over this past few years around Christmas time. It is one of the favourite times to be around your family, but also to be a footballer as well; as hard as that is depending on where you are travelling and missing other things. Certainly, over the last few years, it has been more negative than positive for me.

“There have been times in the past where you have been dragged in (on Christmas Day) and you know you are not playing and that is difficult. But it is part and parcel of the job if you go in and you get used to it.

“For me now being 29, I have had times where we have been off and won Boxing Day games. It all depends on the manager and what their beliefs are, but as a player, you just get on with it.

“You push your turkey (dinner) to a little bit later or get up a bit earlier with the kids to get their presents open.

“You just get used to it. It is a young group anyway (at Barnsley), so there are not many commitments with kids or anything.”

On struggling to recall his previous appearance on December 26, he continued: “It is a toughie... I will probably have to dig that out... I remember once around the Christmas period that we played Watford away on Boxing Day and I came back in on New Year’s Day against Huddersfield when we won 3-0 in the Premier League under Claude (Puel).”

Due to the situation with Covid-19, Christmas celebrations are being tempered across the land after a tough 2020, but for the James family, there is cause to count their blessings this year.

Matty and his younger brother Reece, who has impressed for a Doncaster Rovers side making an impact at the top end of League One, are both flourishing at their respective Yorkshire clubs, much to the delight of the brothers’ parents Lynton – an ex-non-league player with Bacup and Rossendale Borough – and Maxine.

Both have been there during more difficult times in the careers of their sons, as has James’s wife Leah during her husband’s fraught times at Leicester.

The sight of him stepping out at Oakwell will constitute an extra Christmas present.

James added: “With the way that Reece is playing at the minute at Doncaster and the form that they are in – and we are at Barnsley at the minute, it makes it a really enjoyable time for my mum and dad to see us both playing.

“Certainly for my wife (as well), she is a lot happier to see me playing and be a lot happier at home, for sure.

“I am not being the ‘humbug’ that I have been in the past. So she is pleased!

“I am blessed in a way that I am back playing football and enjoying it.

“It is just a shame at this moment in time with the pandemic going on and the fans not being here because they are such good games.

“But certainly, for myself, I am relishing these moments to be fit and out on the field, especially around this time.”

Support The Yorkshire Post and become a subscriber today. Your subscription will help us to continue to bring quality news to the people of Yorkshire. In return, you’ll see fewer ads on site, get free access to our app and receive exclusive members-only offers. Click HERE to subscribe

Link to use: https://www.yorkshirepost.co.uk/subscriptions