Stu Holden was fantastic tonight for the U.S

[Vertigo]

He must he must be devastated...I am devastated. But if anyone can recover, Stu can. His positive attitude is incredible. Such a bloody shame his season is over before it has started.

[bobo the clown]

There has to be some link between this and the previous injuries. If only that it makes the 'good' knee more susceptible due to extra strain put on it during rehabilitation.

It's a terrible shame for the lad .... and the club of course ... but as said above it'll be four years out more or less. How much can you retain and how strong can you be as a person ?

I doubt I'm on my own having feared this and now believe he will either never return or certainly not anywhere near where he was. I think many of us doubted he'd get back to his old self this time .... let alone now.

I also wondwr, somewhat like Sean Davis, whether he got the best treatment initially. There were suggestions that we'd lost the ultra professional medical team and systems we'd once had and these issues were part of the recent changes.

That tackle by Evans was the beginning of a whole series of terrible events and probably cost this club tens of millions of £'s.

[Bruce Rioja]

Well, if this doesn't force the Spearing issue then I don't suppose that anything will.

[BWFC_Insane]

Well, if this doesn't force the Spearing issue then I don't suppose that anything will.

Holden signed a contract on the same terms as he was on before, so DF says. Which means we are paying him for a season on full whack. Trouble is who can we release to free up funds for Jay?

[Bruce Rioja]

Well, if this doesn't force the Spearing issue then I don't suppose that anything will.

Holden signed a contract on the same terms as he was on before, so DF says. Which means we are paying him for a season on full whack. Trouble is who can we release to free up funds for Jay?

Do we not take out insurance for such eventualities though? Genuine question - I've no idea.

[BWFC_Insane]

Well, if this doesn't force the Spearing issue then I don't suppose that anything will.

Holden signed a contract on the same terms as he was on before, so DF says. Which means we are paying him for a season on full whack. Trouble is who can we release to free up funds for Jay?

Do we not take out insurance for such eventualities though? Genuine question - I've no idea.

Gartside was asked this around the time of Muamba and said clubs don't anymore as its too costly and often hard to get payouts. In the main apparently it stopped years ago.

[Bruce Rioja]

Well, if this doesn't force the Spearing issue then I don't suppose that anything will.

Holden signed a contract on the same terms as he was on before, so DF says. Which means we are paying him for a season on full whack. Trouble is who can we release to free up funds for Jay?

Do we not take out insurance for such eventualities though? Genuine question - I've no idea.

Gartside was asked this around the time of Muamba and said clubs don't anymore as its too costly and often hard to get payouts. In the main apparently it stopped years ago.

Suppose it makes sense really in that all footballers are high-risk, high-earners. The premiums must be enormous.

[Madrigal]

Well, if this doesn't force the Spearing issue then I don't suppose that anything will.

Holden signed a contract on the same terms as he was on before, so DF says. Which means we are paying him for a season on full whack. Trouble is who can we release to free up funds for Jay?

Do we not take out insurance for such eventualities though? Genuine question - I've no idea.

Is there an agreement where if a player is injured playing international football the national FA stand some of the costs? Owen-Newcastle-England comes to mind or was that a 1 off situation?

[Bruce Rioja]

Is there an agreement where if a player is injured playing international football the national FA stand some of the costs? Owen-Newcastle-England comes to mind or was that a 1 off situation?

Good call. I dunno. Found this on Owen's Wiki page;

Owen's long injury absence after the 2006 World Cup resulted in a dispute between FIFA and The FA and Newcastle United, and eventually resulted in an unprecedented £10m compensation award to Newcastle, and brought changes to the compensation arrangements between club and country regarding injuries sustained by contracted club players while on international duty.

[boltonboris]

We'll get money for him as compensation, but probably not enough to cover his contract.

[bobo the clown]

We'll get money for him as compensation, but probably not enough to cover his contract.

... which, all the "was it signed or not" stuff to one side, was for one year I believe.

We really have seen the end of him on thepitch playing, haven't we.

[Athers]

Speaking with a mate he reminded me that Essien did manage to kick a ball after serious injuries to both knees, but was never the same player.

Indy, 9 July 2011

Essien tore his anterior cruciate ligament in his right knee in September 2008 and missed six months, returning in March the following year.

Then he tore the medial ligament in his left knee while training with Ghana before the African Cup of Nations in January 2010 and suffered complications following surgery. The knee continued to swell up and the player underwent four operations in a fortnight before he was eventually ruled out for the remainder of the season, including the World Cup finals in South Africa.

He recovered last season and played 43 games in Chelsea's disappointing campaign, but he never seemed to play at full power.

Looks like Stu will struggle to play any of this season, and will be consequently released next June. I remember DF mentioning that he has to step back from Holden as everyone else is so emotional about him.... means he'll make the business decision if he has to.

[Bruce Rioja]

Speaking with a mate he reminded me that Essien did manage to kick a ball after serious injuries to both knees, but was never the same player.

Read also Riccy Gardner

[LeverEnd]

I think mentally he seems very strong, has come back twice and played well for a short time before it went again. That looked like nothing, but he went down for 6 months so for me it's physical and sadly I think he's had it. Real shame for a very likeable player.

[plymouth wanderer]

It's a crying shame I feel for the lad. He's the sort of player I would've expected to be the next BWFC legend, ala SKD.

[bwfcdan94]

Why have we got so many seriously injury prone players on our books Holden and Riley have played about 6 games between them in the last 3 years.

[m_taylor]

It's a crying shame I feel for the lad. He's the sort of player I would've expected to be the next BWFC legend, ala SKD.

Maybe he can still do that. (Trying to be positive here)

Maybe this is third time lucky. Maybe he can do this all again, come back March/April next year play one or two games at the end of the season. We could then offer a stupidly low one year contract where he helps us stay in the premiership (as we might get promoted this season since I’m trying to be positive) and then we can march on with Captain Stu-S-A

[BWFC_Insane]

Why have we got so many seriously injury prone players on our books Holden and Riley have played about 6 games between them in the last 3 years.

Holden wasn't injury prone until that tackle from Jonny Evans. As someone mentioned earlier once you do your ACL in, you tend to suffer from further injuries. Joe Riley I'll give you though.

Before the Evans tackle he'd had his leg broken by De Jong and missed a big chunk for us there as well (and the world cup for himself).

I think it's harsh to say he's "injury prone". It's not soft muscle tissue injuries he's picking up like hamstrings or calf strains repeatedly, where you could perhaps say a player is injury prone.

But he has been unlucky with injuries, and had a lot of them. And as you say seems like now may be more susceptible.

[Athers]

The only one I can think of pre-De Jong was the injury which resulted Sunderland released him (the ankle one, as opposed to having the shit kicked out of him in the Bigg Market or whatever)

[Dave Sutton's barnet]

He must he must be devastated...I am devastated. But if anyone can recover, Stu can. His positive attitude is incredible. Such a bloody shame his season is over before it has started.

This. Good luck Stu - again.