AFC Telford United defender Indy Khela today spoke of his relief at avoiding a potentially career-threatening shoulder injury and admitted: “I was ready to quit football.”The popular centre-back thought he had suffered a third shoulder dislocation of his career in the opening game of the season.
Having previously had both shoulders pinned, he had come to accept there would be no way back if his worst fears were confirmed.
The diagnosis improved after a visit to a consultant last week, with Khela being told it was only partially dislocated and he could return in as little as three weeks.
“I’m very relieved because it could easily have been career-threatening,” he declared. “If it had been a dislocation then I don’t think I would have carried on, that would have been it.
“Now I could be back in a few weeks playing again doing what I enjoy and I’m over the moon with that.
“A week is a long time in football and hopefully I will be back playing soon. I’ve worked all pre-season and played the first game so this has been mentally quite hard for me.
“Hopefully I can get back in the side and we can do well. We’ve conceded a few goals but we’ve looked good overall.
“We’ve looked like scoring a hatful of goals and it’s only a matter of time before we start keeping clean sheets.”
Khela also admitted he had learned his lesson after being told he will need to stick to a strict weights regime for the rest of his career.
“I was distraught because I thought I’d need an operation,” he said. “I didn’t want to go through that again because it was just horrible last time.
“I didn’t really carry on my strengthening work over the summer. I wanted to concentrate on my cardio fitness work to get fit for the new season, and to do both is extremely hard work.
“You think that when you’ve had your surgery and done your rehab then that’s the end of it, but obviously not and I’ve leared my lesson there.”
By Chris Hudson
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