Former Fulham keeper Magnus Norman was just getting into full swing during pre-season when a knee injury derailed his preparations, and leaves him waiting to make his Blues debut.
With the first two games of the season already played, and with the lads heading off to Cambridge for their first league fixture this weekend, he admitted this week that it was tough not to be involved.
“It’s obviously frustrating to be out because I just want to be playing games,” he said. “Injuries are part of the game and you’ve just got to get on with it. I’m working hard to get back fitter and stronger.
“Pre-season is probably the worst time to get injured. It came just before the start of the season so I’ve missed out on the first two cup games and I’ll miss the first league game of the season.
"I just want to get back sooner rather than later and do whatever I can to help the team."
Having initially felt like he'd taken a knock to the knee, it was the club's physio who spotted that something was amiss at one of the earlier friendly fixtures.
“I would probably have carried on training with the injury, but Ross [Goodwin] saw my knee as I came off the pitch at Gateshead," he explained. "With the way it had swelled up he said he needed to have a look at it.
"I don’t really know when the actual injury happened, it was strange, but I think it was really early on in pre-season. Like I say, Ross noticed it after Gateshead, so I had an MRI scan and went to see the specialist, and he told me what it was.
“I went back to London last week to see the specialist and I had it drained at that point. I’m going up to Edinburgh on Thursday to get it drained again. After that it will hopefully just be a case of doing as much in the gym as I can and letting it heal itself."
“No player wants to be in the gym while the others are playing," he continued. "We all want to be out on the training pitch.
"When I’m sitting on the bike when the rest of the lads are out training it does feel like the worst thing in the world, but I’ve just got to get on with it so I can be back as quickly as possible.
“It’s annoying to have to watch the lads like I did against Fleetwood. I was actually at the ground on Saturday when the bus left to go to Oldham, so I just watched them drive off wishing I was on there.
"I walked back home and had some food instead, so it is frustrating. You can’t do anything about it, you’ve just got to work hard to get back."
Having talked to the official site about how much he enjoys the dressing room environment just a few weeks ago, he commented: “I want to be involved in the games and I want to be involved in the dressing room.
"I haven’t had the chance to do that yet, but once I’m back hopefully I can influence the dressing room and hopefully the team on the pitch as well.
“Steve [Collis] and the gaffer have been really supportive. At first we thought it was more serious than it is, so everyone was putting their arm around me a bit, but it was better news than we thought from the specialist and it shouldn’t be too long.
“As frustrating as this is, it’s just made me even hungrier to get back playing. I just can’t wait to get back out training, and once I’m back I’ll be doing everything I can to get back in the team.
"I’ve been working hard in the gym and I feel stronger than I did in pre-season already, so I can’t wait to get back. It's a great set of lads and even though the first two results haven't gone our way we know we have the quality in there to turn this round."
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