Peterhead striker Russell McLean has lifted the lid on the injury nightmare which has seen him sidelined for eight months and had him questioning his career.
McLean has battled back from tendonitis in both his ankle and knee, with an operation on the latter resulting in an infection and regular trips to the doctors.
The 24-year-old last played against Dumbarton on April 9, scoring in a 1-1 draw, but struggled to walk afterwards due to the pain.
Due to delays with getting the operation done on the NHS, McLean did not undergo surgery until late-July and endured setbacks in his recovery.
He was able to resume non-contact training with Peterhead this week as he finally looks to put a nightmare chapter of his life behind him.
“I had tendonitis in my patella tendon in my knee and the doctor asked if I’d had surgery before,” said McLean. “I had an operation on my ankle at Montrose and I went back to see the surgeon, who said the bone spur they had removed last time had grown back and it was restricting my movement, which affected my knee.
“They did keyhole surgery last time and said they wanted to do an open surgery this time and I said fine, because I was in that much pain.
“I got the surgery and expected to be out two or three months. But when I got the dressings off after three weeks it had got infected, which delayed the whole process by two months.
“My skin was being held together by stitches and if I was to do anything which might stretch it, the stitches could burst.
Frustrating
“When the wound got infected, I was going into the doctors every three or four days getting it checked. I felt like an old person, like this is what my grandad had to do every time he got a cut.
“It got frustrating, as the wound wasn’t getting any better. It was just my body trying to fight the infection.
“I did say to my girlfriend at one stage ‘I don’t know if I’m going to get back’. Having two surgeries on my CV at the age of 24 isn’t great.
“But I’ve been in contact with Libby (Emmerson) from Back Onside and I’ve got good support around me, from my friends, family and my girlfriend. It’s not something I would wish on anybody.”
When the knee problem seemed to be on the wane, the issue with his ankle flared up again.
“It was a catalogue of disasters, to be honest,” said McLean. “When I started running again it felt like my ankle had exploded and the physio reckoned it was tendonitis in my ankle.
“It didn’t calm down so I got sent for a cortisone injection and at the moment, I’m as pain-free as I’m going to be.
“When I got the surgery at Montrose it was nine weeks, which wasn’t too bad. But this has been a disaster from start to finish.
“There’s no real rhyme or reason with tendonitis and every physio I spoke to had a different way of dealing with it.”
Performances on the field – and his inability to affect them – have further frustrated McLean and during his time out, Peterhead have undergone a pretty seismic change off the park.
Long-serving manager Jim McInally, who signed McLean twice, departed the Blue Toon 10 days ago and the club is on the lookout for his replacement.
“He gave me my opportunity to get back into senior football,” said McLean. “That summer nobody contacted me and I thought I’d get back in no bother.
“We played a friendly against Peterhead and Jim thought I’d done well. I thought I was hopeless. He took a chance on me and threw me in the deep end.
“I perhaps didn’t get the game-time I was wanting and maybe being a naïve, young footballer I made my opinions known to Jim and Davie.
“The next year I didn’t get the game-time I needed and Jim said I could leave. I learned my trade with Montrose and when Jim called me to go back, I thought I’d give it another chance.
“Most boys who’ve played under Jim won’t have a bad word to say about him. He was as good as a full-time manager at the club.”
