2GS The Sunday Times November 14, 2021 15Zoom with the lads, and on Zoom with
the captains. The manager ringing me
about a lot of things as well. It was
busy,” says Ben with a rueful smile.
“I was on Zoom at one point in the
hospital corridor with the Premier
League and the captains, sat on the
floor under the window, while Sarah
was in the room with Olive. That
summed things up.”
How did he cope? “Football was a
release. To go and run around for a
few hours and take my mind off things
was good for me — although when
Olive was having a bad day it was diffi-
cult to go into training and not straight
to hospital.”
He focused on staying as strong and
as even as possible. “Sarah had been
so much — she didn’t need me being
emotional,” he says. However, there
were times when feelings poured out
publicly. One came in a post-match
interview when he spoke with raw dis-
may against Burnley supporters who
flew a ‘White Lives Matter’ banner
over Turf Moor. Another was when he
marked a goal against Crystal Palace
with a cradle-rocking celebration.
“I was at home with Ben’s mum and
dad, and it was a special moment. A
lot of the girls [other players’ part-
ners] sent me texts and it was really
emotional to read them,” Sarah says.
That closeness within the Burnley
squad was one source of strength.
Their parents were another. Towards
the NHS, and especially the staff
involved in Olive’s care, the Mees
feel a gratitude beyond descrip-
tion. Ben was already a footbal-
ler who kept things in per-
spective and is even more so
now — all those trivialities,
like the noise of transfer specula-
tion, or a refereeing decision, or even
a mistake in a game, matter much less.
“I recover more quickly now from set-
backs like a bad performance,” says
Ben. “I think I’ve enjoyed my football
more than ever since Olive came.”
Speaking of football, someone
wants him to play. Jaxon is in the play-
room, smashing a ball around. He’s
already mad for his father’s sport.
“We’ll have a little game and he’ll say,
‘Right, Daddy, take the knee.’ ‘All
right, I take the knee,’ ” says Ben. “We
had a minute’s silence at Turf Moor
[before Burnley’s win against Brent-Dean Smith is expected to be named
the new head coach of Norwich City,
possibly as early as today. He will
sign a 2½-year deal with the Premier
League’s bottom club.
Norwich turned to the former
Aston Villa head coach after Frank
Lampard apparently pulled out of
the running. His first match will be at
home to Southampton on Saturday.
Smith was sacked by Villa last
Sunday, a day after Norwich
dismissed Daniel Farke, who left his
job after the Canaries’ first league
win of the season, 2-1 at Brentford.
Smith joined his boyhood club
Villa in 2018 after a spell in charge of
Brentford, where he developed a
reputation for playing exciting,
attacking football. He guided them
back to the top flight via the play-offs
in his first campaign, with a club
record ten-match winning run at the
end of the season, and then took
them to the 2020 League Cup final,
where they lost to Manchester City.
He was sacked by Villa after five
straight league defeats. Those losses
came after a 1-0 win at Manchester
United in September.says Ben. “He just came toddling
through and to see them together was
amazing.
“When she was in hospital he
always asked for pictures,” says Sarah.
“‘See Olive’ — that’s what he used to
say.” Ben smiles. “We’d show him
pictures and videos and he’d say,
‘Can’t come home?’ ‘Not yet,’ we’d
say, ‘she’s too little.’ ”
Olive still needed additional oxy-
gen and they had two tanks at home
and a portable one in a backpack for
going out. Last New Year’s Eve,
brought another milestone, when
hospital called to say she could finally
come off the oxygen. “We had a Zoom
call with the family and just put Olive
down in front of the screen. It was
special for everyone. ‘Woooh ... her
tubes are out!’” Sarah says.
Eleven months on, you’d never
know Olive had a different start to life
from her peers. Ben and Sarah are
low-key, strong and grounded sorts.
They’re not ones for fuss but publicis-
ing Olive’s story may help others.
Ben is fronting a campaign for
Tommy’s, a charity that funds
research into premature birth and
offers support and information
for parents. November 17 is
World Prematurity Day —
60,000 babies are born
prematurely in the UK
every year, 5 per cent of
whom, like Olive, are born
before 28 weeks and classed as
‘extremely premature’.
“When we were going
through it we struggled to find
stories,” says Ben. “Every sce-
nario is different and we’re for-
tunate we got a really positive
outcome. We want to speak
about the journey to let families know
that if your baby is born prematurely,
or if you’re at risk, there’s hope.”O
live arrived on the day Ben’s
squad returned to
training after
the 2020
Covid shut-
down. Burnley
still had relegation
concerns and, as
their skipper, and one
of the prime movers
behind the Premieryg
flew a ‘Wh
over Turf M
marked ag
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lot of the
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es for fuss but publicis-
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nting a campaign for
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and information
ovember 17 is
urity Day —
s are born
n the UK
per cent of
live, are born
ksand classed as
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e were going
truggled to find
Ben. “Every sce-
ntandwe’refor-
a really positive
want to speak
ney to let families know
by is born prematurely,
isk, there’s hope.”ved on the day Ben’s
returned to
after
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e movers
PremierSMITH SET FOR
NORWICH HEAD
COACH JOB
‘Coming away
from hospital was
hard, those drives
back home were
difficult. I was
more vulnerable
than normal’
Ben and Sarah
with daughter
Olive who was
born “extremely
prematurely”
only 24 weeks
into Sarah’s
pregnancy just
when Burnley and
Ben, right, were
preparing to
restart after the
first lockdownTIMES PHOTOGRAPHER BRADLEY ORMESHERthen, every day began with a nerve-
racking early-morning call to hospital
to hear how Olive had been overnight,
before going in to see her. When she
moved from intensive care to the high
dependency unit it felt a big mile-
stone, so too when she was trans-
ferred to Wythenshawe Hospital and a
lower dependency ward.
September 2, 2020 — the eve of
Olive’s actual due date — was the red-
letter day when she came home,
meeting Jaxon for the first time. Pure
magic. “It was in the hallway there,”
ford] and so at home Jaxon and I had
to stand with our hands behind our
back before we could kick off. When
we finish, he’s, ‘Right, clap the fans.’
He’s funny. He takes everything in.”
One more milestone: in August,
when Burnley hosted Brighton &
Hove Albion, Olive attended her first
game at Turf Moor and now she’s get-
ting into her football too. She comes
to most home games and watches, sit-
ting on Sarah’s knee or Ben’s dad’s
knee. She particularly loves the flood-
lights and watching the crowd.
“I want to walk out with her ...” says
Ben. “It all depends on the Premier
League because they’re still strict
[because of Covid] about who is
around the tunnel. But that will be a
big moment. I can’t wait.”League captains’ NHS initiative, his
plate was already full.
Sean Dyche gave him compassion-
ate leave and he was off training for a
week. “The manager was good to me,
he understood the scenarios. He’s a
big family man himself. The season
was restarting and there was a lot
going on football-wise and then there
was all the captains’ stuff and speak-
ing to the club on behalf of the players
about wages and so on. It was being in
contact with the chairman, being on