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BBC News1 min read
Footballer in mass train attack reveals he was stabbed seven times
TL;DR
Footballer Jonathan Gjoshe was stabbed seven times during a mass train attack on November 1, leaving him and 10 others seriously injured. He has since chosen to focus on his recovery rather than media attention.
Key points
- Jonathan Gjoshe was stabbed seven times
- The attack occurred on November 1 last year
- 11 passengers were seriously injured
- Gjoshe is focusing on recovery
- He declined media interviews
Mentioned in this story
Jonathan GjosheScunthorpe UnitedCambridgeshire
"I was on the train, just chilling. Suddenly, someone's come over my shoulder, and stabbed me."
Footballer Jonathan Gjoshe pauses as he recalls the harrowing events of 1 November last year.
Just weeks into his first season at Scunthorpe United, the 23 year-old had been travelling from Doncaster back to his home in London. But about an hour into the journey, the unimaginable happened.
Gjoshe was among the 11 passengers seriously injured in a knife attack on a train as it travelled through Cambridgeshire.
While it soon emerged that Gjoshe had been hurt in an incident that made headlines around the world, the defender chose to decline the many interview requests received by the club, and focus instead on his long road to recovery.
But six months on, he is finally ready to speak publicly about his ordeal for the first time. And why he is now looking for a new club.
'Running for my life'
"I got stabbed on the shoulder first", he tells BBC Sport.
"I remember jumping over the table, jumping over the chairs. I was just running down the corridor, telling people, 'there's a guy with a knife, run, I've been stabbed, run, run, run'. I was screaming. I think I was the first person that got stabbed. I felt the pain. But adrenaline kicked in.
"That split second, me jumping over the table, saved me. All I thought about was just running for my life, getting off that train. As I got down to the first or second carriage, I pulled the alarm, and was just drenched with blood."
"I was thinking I wasn't going to see my family again, if I died, and that was the main worry for me", he says. "Normally I would drive back down to London. That was the first time I got on a train to go back. What's the chance of that happening? It's crazy."
The train made an emergency stop at Huntingdon where it was met by armed police. Having been given first aid by a fellow passenger, Gjoshe managed to get himself out to the station car park, from where paramedics rushed him to hospital.
It was only after surgery that he learned he had sustained seven wounds to his bicep, shoulder and arm.
The knife, he was told by the medics, "had gone through my muscles" coming fractionally close to hitting a nerve in his arm.
When asked if he feared his footballing career could be over, he says, "I was very worried. Just thinking, 'what damage has happened to me?' I didn't have a clue until I had the surgery. They said, 'It's not much from the nerve. You're very lucky'."
In the days that followed, Gjoshe recalls: "They had to move me from ward to ward because of the media that were coming there looking for me."
Q&A
What happened to Jonathan Gjoshe during the train attack?
Jonathan Gjoshe was stabbed seven times during a knife attack on a train traveling through Cambridgeshire.
How many people were injured in the Cambridgeshire train attack?
A total of 11 passengers were seriously injured in the knife attack on the train.
When did the knife attack on the train occur?
The knife attack occurred on November 1 of last year.
Why did Jonathan Gjoshe decline interview requests after the attack?
Jonathan Gjoshe chose to decline interview requests to focus on his long road to recovery.
