Dolly keeps us in the picture:

Paul Thirlwell went to see a surgeon as a follow up to his MRI scan results. They showed definite ligament damage, so the surgeon had a close look at them to assist him with his assessment. He has confirmed that there is a tear, but he also decided that no operation was necessary. We are going to treat him conservatively, with physiotherapy, and see how we go. It means that he'll be ruled out of full training for approximately 6 weeks. The knock on from that is that it could be season over for him by the time he returns to full fitness. It's very disappointing, but we will try our best to get him back before the last game.

We took Joe Garner down to see the same surgeon, in Bingley, because his scan showed a ruptured cruciate ligament. Steve Bollen, our surgeon, is one of the top men in his field, and he will be operating next Monday, once the swelling has gone down. After that it will be the long and slow process of recovery.

We obviously all want the best treatment for Joe, so we looked at a few options. Fred actually said that he would foot the bill himself to send Joe over to America, to see Richard Steadman, who is very well known in this field. The surgery over there costs upwards of £30,000 and that's money the club obviously can't afford. On top of that, going out of the country isn't covered on the club insurance policy.

Fred was happy to put the money up himself, and asked me to find out the process to get Joe over there. I looked in to it, spoke to the head physio's at Blackburn and Manchester United, and took advice on the matter. On speaking to them they both said that Steve Bollen, our surgeon, is one of the best that there is for this type of operation.  Manchester United use him every time - Roy Keane and Wes Brown are good examples - and many other Premier level players have had their cruciate repaired by him. Basically, they couldn't recommend him highly enough. The upshot of all of that is that we are very happy that he is in good hands. I'll actually be going down with him, on Monday, and I'll watch the operation in the theatre, to see how it goes.

That's all for now, 

Dolly