Kirk Broadfoot admits he worried that he would never recover from a problematic foot injury that has ruled him out for the last eight months.
The Rangers and Scotland defender is scheduled to return before the end of the year but isn’t naming which of his club’s fixtures he is targeting. Having suffered numerous setbacks in his recovery, Broadfoot is unwilling to put more pressure on himself by saying when he hopes to be back in action.
Having been out for so long, the 25-year-old says that his loved ones have bore the brunt of his frustration.
"My life has always revolved around football so it's hard when the matchday is not there at the end of the week," he told Rangers News.
"I'd say my girlfriend and my mum and dad have borne the brunt of that because I'm not going to hide from the fact that I'm far grumpier when the injury is affecting me.
"I'm not a nice person at times because of it. I had a day last week when I went out and did some work and, when I went home, the foot was quite sore.
"I was sitting thinking to myself, 'Am I ever going to get better?', and my girlfriend was trying to talk to me but the injury had put me in a bit of a mood. It is hard to take at times."
Broadfoot’s frustration has been compounded by the rarity of the injury he sustained in a match against Celtic in February. Damaging ligaments underneath the middle of his foot, the defender needed specialist surgery to get to the root of the problem.
"The scans don't show up anything because the damage was to the ligament underneath the mid-foot," he said.
"But my foot was getting no support in that area and that's why I was getting shooting pains.
"So they had to shave away a bit of bone to repair the ligament. Then they had to screw it and hold it. It's a very rare injury.
"Even the physios and doctors here, in all the years they have been in football, haven't come across this type of injury.
"People maybe haven't thought of it as the serious injury it is, but that doesn't bother me too much. I know it's been serious and that's all that matters.
"I just caught my studs in the turf crossing the ball against Celtic in February and, after that, I had a few problems with the foot.”
Broadfoot played on with his injury, taking part in the Co-operative Insurance Cup final against rivals Celtic. Looking back, he regrets participating in the showpiece match, saying continuing to play made his injury even worse.
"The fact that game then went to extra-time didn't do me any favours because you could see for the last 45 minutes of it, I was hobbling around the pitch,” said Broadfoot.
"Looking back on it now, I have to admit that I regret it in a way because I didn't do my foot any good - I probably made it 10 times worse.
"We also lost the final so you think to yourself, 'What's the point?'. And I ended up getting sent off, so when you look at that, you could say there are regrets.
"But there is no point looking back and saying, 'I wish, I wish, I wish' - I did it so I need to get on with it now."
