Former Wigan Athletic star on the verge of completing another fairytale comeback with Carlisle United - 'Whatever it takes'

The likeable Teessider, who turns 33 next month, was hoping his well-documented misfortune was over after returning to Carlisle United when leaving Wigan in the summer of 2024.

Wyke's three years with Latics was overshadowed by the cardiac arrest he suffered at Christopher Park which required then-boss Leam Richardson and club doctor Jonathan Tobin to save his life.

Sadly for Wyke, fate intervened again within weeks of him rejoining Carlisle, when he was stretchered off after suffering a severe leg break as well as a dislocated ankle and damaged ankle ligaments.

Wyke admitted to Wigan Today at the time he was unsure he could face another long-term struggle to return to the field, and he was advised by a specialist to call it a day.

But after 13 months of hard work behind the scenes, Wyke - complete with wires and pins holding together his reconstructed leg - can finally see light at the end of another very long tunnel.

"Over the last few weeks, it's just starting to get a bit better, so I'm back on the grass, which is great for me," he told BBC Radio Cumbria. "It's nice to be outside.

"I'm at the point now, or I was a few weeks ago, where if I played one more game, that would be enough.

"There's still a long way to go with the extent of the injury and how bad it was. But I'm a bit more positive than I was last week, so things are looking up."

Wyke is no stranger to the mental battle of trying to beat the odds to pull on his boots again.

"It's been horrendous," he said. "I've spoken to professionals about it. I've had a lot of help off the pitch, mentally.

"I don't think anyone will ever realise how bad it is until they're in this situation. For me, I just want to get back to playing football, so I'll do whatever it takes.

"I'm not the sort of person to give in. Obviously with the stuff that's happened over the years with the cardiac arrest, I've worked so hard to get back. Then this, out for another year, it's been hard, but I'm not ready to give in yet."

There could yet be a fairytale finish to the season - and possibly his career - with Carlisle sitting proudly on top of the National League, bidding for a return to the EFL under Mark Hughes.

"That is the plan, to get back for Carlisle," said Wyke, whose close friend Jordan Jones is a key member of the Cumbrians' promotion push. "The last few games, 10, 20 games. But if someone said to me, you could play the last game of the season, I would do it."

Wyke would certainly have taken this chance at a return when, speaking shortly after suffering the injury, his glass was very much half-empty.

"It's a really bad one...I've fractured my fibula, all the ligaments and tendons are ruptured,” he told Wigan Today.

"As soon as it happened, I had shooting pains in my shin where the bone had snapped...I looked down and my ankle was facing the wrong way...it was horrendous, to be honest.

"After everything that's happened over the last few years...I must be the unluckiest person on the planet.

"All I can think of at the moment is: 'Why has this happened to me again...how unlucky can one person be’?

"I'd just started to feel good about myself again, it was starting to click on the field, and then this happens.

"It's part of life, but I'm going to have to be strong, there's nothing else you can do in this situation.

"I know I'm going to have to speak to a few people, because I'm under no illusions as to how tough the next few months are going to be.

"But the people I'm going to be leaning on...my family, it's so hard for them as well to see me like this, lying in bed screaming in pain all the time.

"I'm booked in for the operation on Monday, but it keeps getting delayed because the swelling's so bad."

Wyke acknowledged the amount of support he was receiving from his former colleagues at Wigan.

"I have to say I've had so many messages from the Wigan lads,” he added. “Jason Kerr, Scott Smith, Harry McHugh, James Carragher, Jonny Smith, Cal Mac, Jimmy Barrow, Jack Winnard...so many others...Callum Lang, Josh Magennis, Stephen Humphrys, Max Power, Tom Naylor, Will Grigg (team-mate from Sunderland)...I could go through them all really.

"We had such a close group at Wigan, and I can't thank the lads enough for sending their messages, they've really kept my spirits up...it really means a lot.

"I suppose when you're not getting messages, that's probably when you know you've not been a good team-mate, but I've been absolutely overwhelmed.

"But probably 80 per cent of all the players I came into contact with at Wigan have been in touch, and I can't tell you how much that's meant to me and my family."

Wyke scored 15 goals in 57 appearances during his time with Latics, and picked up a League One title-winners’ medal on a famous afternoon at Shrewsbury in April 2022.