Posted by: Richard Lee 20/07/2008
Inactive In Austria
We’re back in the UK after what was, for most, a gruelling week in Austria.
Unfortunately this wasn’t the case for me. Within a couple of days of training over there I woke up to feel that my knee was stiff and quite swollen. It’s a problem I’ve been dealing with for some months now; it meant that I trained very little towards the end of last season and it was just a case of doing enough to get by without aggravating it.
Being at the start of the season I don’t want to go down that road again as it can be tough to hit top form when doing minimal training and the physios have advised against that anyway.
This, though, means that I’m likely to be a couple more weeks out with this while the swelling goes down and I strengthen the knee, therefore there’s a good chance I’ll miss the start of the season. Not ideal at all but thankfully the boss has been understanding and it’s been made clear to me that I’ve got to get my knee right before resuming training.
It makes sense because, as much as I hate sitting on the physios bed, I do realise that I could have 10 more years ahead of me, so if it means taking a few weeks to rehabilitate my knee then I’ve got to do it. I’ve been told I am in danger of having an arthritic knee and, to be honest, I don’t really fancy walking with a limp in a few years time!
The trip itself though was very good; the hotel was excellent, great food and plenty to do. The trip was also good for Jon Harley to integrate himself into the squad and he seems to have settled in very quickly.
The weather was very similar to England out there, to be honest, nice one day then raining for two days! I managed to watch a few films on the rainy days, including Transformers and Lord of War - for anyone who hasn’t seen these I’d definitely recommend both!
The lads did take part in some water rafting on Wednesday, again unfortunately my swollen knee meant a day in the hotel for myself but by all accounts everyone had a good day. There was also a friendly arranged against a local team out there on the final night. We came out 1-0 victors, it was quite a comfortable game though, in truth, and many positive signs for what is ahead regarding the style of football we will be playing.
On that note we did have several meetings regarding our style of play and all the lads are in agreement that this could be a very exciting season if we can perform it well and it's something I’m sure the fans will take to warmly. For a goalkeeper it means more variation in terms of distribution, something I am excited about.
We arrived back at Heathrow mid-Saturday afternoon and have been given the Sunday off. I’ve also been given Monday off and told to rest. I will be coming to the game on Tuesday night but only as a spectator. Hopefully the swelling in my knee will subside and I’ll be well on my way to recovery by the time I write next week. Fingers crossed.
(Be sure to check the photos as I’ll be adding a few from Austria in the near future)