Danny Cadamarteri on his rehab process
Striker Danny Cadamarteri underwent a rather complicated surgical procedure on his knee last April and has spent the last two months on the long road back to recovery as he targets a return to action at the earliest opportunity.
“It's been a tough summer for me with the injury and the operations but I'm looking forward to working with Dolly and Kate [Gascoigne] now to get myself fit,” he said.
“Looking back, the frustrating thing was that I knew I had an issue but I didn't know how serious it was. The good thing about it, I suppose, is that it was sorted before the season finished and that meant I had the summer period to rest it and to start to get it ready for the rehab process.”
“I haven't been able to do a lot of work because I only came off my crutches last week,” he explained. “It's been frustrating because I couldn't really enjoy my holiday. I wasn't able to chase my kids around or anything like that, but it’s important to stay as positive as you can.
“What I have done is made sure I’ve eaten right so that I’m as ready as I can be. My focus is on that so I can get back quickly and try to get a place in the team. Pre-season is an important part of the season for every player and I’m missing out on that, so I know I'll be playing catch-up.”
“I haven't set a time-frame on anything because I think that can come back to bite you,” he said. “I'm obviously relying on the physiotherapists and the surgeon in regards to how quickly my injury recovers. I'm just going to see how things go and take it from there.
“Even though I can't train it's good to get back in and around the lads. I love football and there's nothing better than being around the club every day again.”
"It's a big year for me because I need to earn myself a new contract,” he continued.
“We’ve all seen that it's difficult in the lower leagues because there are so many players who have been released who still haven't got anywhere. There are a few players in the dressing room in the same position so everybody will be very eager to do well this season.
“My target is just to get myself into the team. I think I started quite well last season then had an indifferent spell.
“That meant some fans doubted my ability so I'd like to show them what I can do. I don't really think I've got anything to prove in terms of the playing side of things because, when you get to the age I'm at now, people know what you’re about.
“The only thing I do need to prove is that I can get myself fit and get back into the team so that we can all push on from what we did last season.
“We can't get away from the fact that we didn't achieve what we wanted to as a team and you can see just from the last few days that there’s a real determination to put that right.”
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