In the final part of our interview with Nicky Adams we spoke more about his immediate future as he takes the first steps of his recovery process following Monday’s cruciate ligament operation.
“I’ve talked about the doom and gloom of it all, but I’m done with that now,” he said. “I looked at it the other day from a different perspective. I love boxing, and they have a long time between fights if they have an injury.
“Some of them only fight once a year so I’m looking at it as if I’m a boxer. I’ve had a little injury, but I’ll come back and be fine. Pre-season is my target and I really do hope that I’m doing that here with Carlisle United.
“I’ve nothing to prove anymore because I think everyone knows what I can do. At the moment I just know I’ll be missing playing football. Some people out there might think I won’t come back the same, so I want to show them I can come back even better.”
“I’ll be supporting the lads as I go through my rehab,” he continued. “I still believe we’ve got a really good chance of getting promoted. It’s good that my injury has come when we’re still in the mix, to be honest.
“If it had been when we were bottom of the league, or something like that, it would have been horrible not being able to help. At least I know I’ve helped to get the team into a decent position and hopefully they’ll kick on now.”
“It was nice to get a phone call from the gaffer to hear he had other plans for me as well,” he revealed. “He told me that he wanted me to do some scouting in the north-west, so I said, ‘well I hope you’ve got a car or some petrol money for me then’ because there aren’t too many of our opponents who play in the north these days!
“Seriously though, that’s brilliant and I think it’ll be good for me. It’ll get me out of the house because if there’s one thing I do need it’s to keep going. I like to be involved with everything and if I’m sat at home bored, I’ll just get myself in bother.
“I’m one of those people who needs to keep their mind busy, so I will enjoy that. The other thing is that I’m probably going to play until I’m about 40 and hopefully I’ll go into coaching when I’ve finished. That’s why it’ll be nice to do a little bit now to get involved in that side of things.
“It’s another example of how the gaffer has been unbelievable. I can’t speak highly enough of him. When he spoke to me after the injury he was so positive, and he pointed out that a cruciate ligament injury these days is nothing compared to how it used to be.
“The main part with it is that the rehab is longer than usual. There are worse injuries, but this one takes time with having to go through a healing process and then building yourself back up again. Effectively you can’t do much at all for the first few months, so it drags things out a bit. As I said, it is what it is, and I have no doubt that I’ll be back.”
Having turned down the attentions of other clubs during the last two transfer windows, we wondered if his current situation would have any bearing on his future here at Brunton Park.
“I’m quite open about things and, in my contract, I had an option which would have triggered another year, but I missed it by a couple of games,” he told us. “I would have automatically been here for a third year with that, but it is how it is.
“It was always my plan to stay here, that’s why we had that option put in there. Obviously, it’s up to the club what they do now, and I’ll speak to them in due course. I want to be here, I think everyone knows that. I don’t have to prove my loyalty, I showed that when teams were interested in me and I could have left on deadline day, but I didn’t.
“I wanted to stay here and play. I love playing my football here and hopefully that will all take care of itself. I can’t control it but the gaffer has been great with me. He’s reassured me everything will be fine, so I’m not worried about that side of things.”
“It’s just another bridge to cross when we come to it,” he commented. “I love being here and hopefully I’ll still be here next season. I don’t think I’ve played my last game for the club and it’s been nice to hear the gaffer say that as well.
“I’ve obviously got a family to take care of, I want to stay here, but I’ve got to be realistic. I’ve got a family to support so if there is no deal there I’ll have to look elsewhere, that’s just the nature of football.
“After speaking to the gaffer and the chairman, I don’t see any problems with that. My focus is obviously on getting fit, but I genuinely see myself being here next year. I want to be here, so it’s just up to the powers that be.”
So, if Cassius Camps is on the summer agenda, will he be leading the way?
“Ha, I might give that one a miss!” he said. “To be fair, if you can get through that you know you’re fit, because it is really hard.”
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