Fryatt suing Forest over injury which ended career
MATTY Fryatt is suing Nottingham Forest after he claims the club mismanaged the injury which ended his career.
The former striker alleges the club was negligent in treating an Achilles problem he suffered during the 2014-15 season and is seeking substantial compensation.
Fryatt – who says his mental health has been affected by the experience – insists his pleas were ignored and he was pressured to play through the injury which ultimately forced him to retire early at the age of 31 in 2018.
Forest have denied any wrongdoing and the club have said they will be “defending” their actions.
The ex-Hull forward – who scored in the top four divisions and netted 135 career goals – had to quit after developing chronic left Achilles tendonitis.
He told the PA news agency: “It feels like my career has been taken away from me, stolen.
“There was no care. You were an object. I was put under pressure to play and forcing me to play caused the damage which ended my career.
“I feel sick with it all, frustrated, sadness. I’ve felt alone, abandoned and let down. It hurts. How was I left in this situation? It’s something which shouldn’t go on and I wouldn’t want it to happen to anyone else.
“Forest’s lack of understanding and their ignorance to it is so hard to take.
“They don’t want to take responsibility and for it to be dismissed the whole time, it’s like they weren’t listening to what I was saying. I find it appalling.
“It was like, ‘take the pills, get through it and you’ll be fine.’ I was taking pills in the warm up, before the game, half-time. I wasn’t thinking about the football, just ‘when will it be over?’
“They didn’t listen to the injury or treat it as serious. I was telling them how much pain I was in.”
He did not play in his final two seasons at the City Ground after first suffering pain while walking on the pitch during a game against Birmingham in November 2014, just six months after playing in Hull’s FA Cup final defeat to Arsenal. The 34-year-old played and trained until March 2015 – featuring in 12 Championship games – despite being in pain, while he also underwent surgery three times in May 2015, August 2015 and February 2016.
He claims he was advised to train barefoot by Forest’s medical team and alleged that holes had to be cut in his boot to ease the pain.
His final game, a 2-1 defeat at Charlton in March 2015, came just two days before his 29th birthday but the realisation his career may be over did not come until November 2016, after two years of struggle.