Paul Simpson spoke at his Thursday press conference about Callum Guy’s injury which will see him face an extended period on the sidelines after it was confirmed he had damaged his ACL.
“He’s not great, it’s not great news. He has damage to his ACL and if I’m going to be honest we didn’t expect it to be good news. He’s been in to see the surgeon today after getting the results of his scan and basically he wants him to have two or three weeks to try and get his full range of movement back into his knee.
"The idea will be that we’re probably looking at surgery for him around about 5 December if he gets his full range of movement, but with this type of injury it will be a nine or ten month recovery, so he is done for this season. The challenge for us now is to make sure we look after him properly.
“Callum is a big part of the group and he’s been here for a good few years. Unfortunately he’s had a couple of MCL injuries in the past so he knows how to deal with long-term injuries. I don’t think that makes it any easier, it’s still going to be tough for him. It’s up to us and the rest of the players to make sure we all rally round him and look after him. I think he’s coming back into the club next Monday, and we’ll just help him as much as we possibly can. Whatever support he needs, we will make sure he gets it.
“He’s got a good family behind him. He’s now got an opportunity where he can really make himself physically stronger, do all his upper body stuff, when he comes back he can make sure he’s got real power in both legs and come back in a really good physical state. When you get this sort of injury you have to look at it as an opportunity to try and come back better. I’m sure that’s the way Callum will address the situation.
“He feared the worst straight away. When I spoke to him on the coach on the way back, he said it felt worse than the MCL he had years ago. On Monday he seemed in a not a good place, but he seemed quite set on what needs to be done. He understands the rehab that goes with it, and I would imagine his mind now is more about just let’s get the surgery done, let’s get it all dealt with and then he can properly start on his rehab.
"The difficulty now is he’s got three weeks where he’s got to try and build up the strength in the area around the knee, start to get his range of movement back, and then the surgery can take place. Then he knows he’s got that lengthy period after it. He seems ok, or as ok as you can be knowing you’ve got 9-10 months out.
“We’ve got other options, we do have players who can go in and do that role. It’s just about finding the right mix in that midfield players and getting the right blend in there. It also puts us in a position where it’s probably now another area where we are going to have to strengthen.
"I was already looking for another midfielder to come into the club whether that be now or January. Now this scenario has just given us another little issue. We can’t get upset about it, we’ve just got to deal with it as quickly and as well as we possibly can.”
And on the other injuries within the squad, he said: “It’s been really good to see JJ back in the building with us. Today is his first day back and he’s come in with a real spring in his step. He’s not able to join in with the rest of the group yet but today was his first session on the grass, and even though he’s not available to play, I think everybody got a lift just seeing him back.
"We’ve just got to start building up his movement and his running because he’s done no running at all. Everything so far has been about protecting the shoulder. Hopefully we can get a really good rehab with him and we can him back in the time we expected. We’re still looking at the end of December at the earliest.
“Hunts is back in and he’s trained all week with no issues. Taylor Charters has had another full week of training so we’ll just keep building him up with a view to him maybe being involved off the bench against Harrogate on Tuesday.
“Jack Ellis has started to do some running now that his issue around his groin has settled down. He’s been out today, and is running tomorrow. He’ll probably do a little bit more on Saturday then the plan is to build him up next week with a view to him being involved in our Central League Cup game against Barrow the following week.
“Fin Back is still not in a good place which isn’t ideal. We’ve tried to get him back out on the grass but it looks as if there’s more damage there than we originally thought. We’re still waiting to get a definitive answer on Fin. Chris [Brunskill] is liaising with Forest and they assessed him about ten days ago as well.
"Apart from that I think everybody else should be available from last weekend, and we obviously now add Jack Armer back into the group after his suspension as well.”