This time last week Newcastle United had a settled defence. Now, captain Fabricio Coloccini is likely to miss today’s game against Norwich, while Steven Taylor might not play again this season. It is the latter for whom we are in this article, as Taylor has been candidly talking BBC Sport’s Richard Conway about his injury and the tough times that lie ahead of him in his recovery from a ruptured Achilles tendon.
Steven Taylor has had a few injuries in his time, but this appears to be the most serious by far. He faces months and months of rehabilitation, on his parents’ sofa watching daytime TV. As you can imagine, apart from obviously getting fit, boredom is something he’s going to have to overcome, but hopefully the team can help him by continuing to perform well at the top of the table.
As with many injuries, it seems like the worst ones are when no other players are involved as Steven explains to the BBC. “When it happened I didn’t realise that I was injured. I immediately thought I had been kicked hard in the back of the leg. I felt a sharp pain and I turned around expecting to see the blue shirt of a Chelsea player. But there was no-one there.
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“I couldn’t understand it. I thought it was my calf muscle and I bent down to feel it. Then I noticed that my foot wasn’t right. It was floppy but there was no pain. I tried to walk but my foot just wouldn’t work. I checked my boot to see if any of the studs had come out but they were all there. All the time my foot was flopping inside my boot, independent from my ankle and out of my control. That’s when I knew something wasn’t right – I just didn’t know how bad it was.”
If Taylor was at all uncertain about how bad his injury was at that point, Newcastle physio Derek Wright left him in no doubt. Steven continues “I hobbled off to the dressing room and Newcastle’s physio, Derek Wright, took a look at me. I asked him what was wrong.
When he said, ‘It’s not too good Steven’, my heart sank. I’ve known Derek for years and he doesn’t sugar-coat bad news. He told me I needed surgery as I had likely ruptured my Achilles tendon. I knew from other players who had suffered similar injuries that it spelt the end of my season. I was pleased Derek was so honest but the news devastated me.”
Taylor has now had his surgery and faces some tough months ahead of him. As Steven says “The fight starts here.” I wish him well and if you want to read his thoughts in full, click here.
