James Morrison has finally spoken about his injury hell after targeting a comeback towards the end of January. The skilful midfielder has spent the best part of nine months on the sidelines following a bizarre heel problem which suffered major complications.
At its worst the Scotland international spent five days in hospital and underwent three operations in a bid to cure the problem. Morrison was also attached to a catheter for 11 weeks as three different specialists battled to solve the mysterious injury which threatened his career at one stage.
"It all started with a heel problem I had for months and I was just playing through it," Morrison explained.
"It got to a point where I needed an injection to play.
"I had one before the Manchester City game and through the following night I was in agony.
"In the morning, my foot was like a balloon.
"I got rushed to hospital and I was in there for five days.
"The swelling went down and there was a wound that went right down to my bone.
"I thought it would heal and that I'd be back playing by no later than a couple of games from the end of last season.
"It was a worry because it just wasn't healing.
"I went to see a plastic surgeon and he cut me open, went in and cleaned it out.
"He stitched me up - but that didn't work.
"Then I went to see a surgeon who had operated on these type of injuries before, and he operated on me.
"I then had a pump on it for a couple of weeks - 24/7.
"It was like a catheter - the tube went into my heel and I had a little bag which the bad stuff drained into.
"That didn't really work and then the surgeon referred me to another specialist.
"He basically started all over again.
"He made a big wound in my heel and I had the catheter on again 24/7 for eight weeks.
"I had to go to London every two days to have it changed.
"It was a bit painful but finally it all closed up.
"Then the hard work started, with me running and trying to get fit."
The former Middlesbrough man is now hoping his injury nightmare behind him and has targeted fixtures against Ipswich Town and Sheffield United as possible comeback games.
"All I thought about was getting back and finding the level I got to last season," Mozza continued.
"I've had a few weeks of training and running now.
"I couldn't do much with the snow here, which was stopping me progressing.
"I went to Lanzarote and had good training for four days.
"I worked really hard.
"I'm hoping to do my first bit of training with the lads today and then I'll try and play a game and get 45 minutes.
"There are not many reserves games so I might need to go straight into first-team action.
"I could return against Sheffield United at the end of the month, or even Ipswich away just before that."