Striker Matty Fryatt has revealed he never met previous manager Philippe Montanier during their spells at Nottingham Forest.
Fryatt retired from football in February, after failing to recover from a long-standing Achilles problem which curtailed a career which saw him net 134 times.
During his three years at the club, he spent long periods away from the City Ground has he attempted to recover from the debilitating injury before leaving in June last year.
Prior to his retirement earlier in 2018, the 32-year-old hadn’t played a competitive match for the Reds in more than two years, his last coming in a 2-1 defeat at Charlton in March 2015.
The Nuneaton-born frontman, who now works at former club Walsall as a coach, admits his time at the City Ground was laden with frustration and disappointment that he couldn’t fulfil the promise he’d showed following his arrival from Hull City under then boss Stuart Pearce.
“I can never show to Nottingham Forest the player I was capable of being because I spent so much time injured,” said Fryatt in an interview with Planet Football.
“The period I had out was so long that in some ways I was glad it was done, even though it was tinged with massive disappointment and all-round frustration.”
Having moved from Hull, Fryatt made 26 appearances for Pearce’s Forest, scoring six times but picked up his injury in a 3-1 home defeat to Birmingham over Christmas, which initially kept him out for a month – one that at the time, appeared fairly inconspicuous.
“I remember coming off the pitch against Birmingham. I was just literally jogging back to the halfway line and feeling in discomfort. Nothing more than that,” he explained.
“Next time I went to train I was unable to run. I was on painkillers for several months to try to get through games but I wasn’t at all right.
“I was struggling to get by. I wasn’t training, I was just turning up for the games and trying to manage the injury in the week. Hoping that the pain would go away, but it didn’t.
“It was just too much in the end. I was still having issues in the Achilles but persevering. On top of that you have too much pain from training day-to-day. My body wasn’t allowing me to do what I could do before.”
As he continued his attempted recovery, which saw him travel all over in a bid to cure the debilitating problem, Fryatt was rarely at the Nigel Doughty Academy, and because of that, admits he never got to meet Frenchman Philippe Montanier, following his appointment as manager in the summer of 2016.
“As an injured player you’re not in the forefront of people’s minds, which is normal,” he said. “But then it was the case that I don’t think too many people believed that I would get back anyway.
“I didn’t have too much contact with the first team, or even being in at the club. I went through a period of time where Philippe Montanier was in charge and I never once saw him because I wasn’t in the building.
“They had me away from the club doing bits and pieces so obviously you get isolated. But I suppose it would be difficult being around it every single day, too.
“Injuries are hard. They’re the worst thing for a footballer because you want to be out there doing it. Knowing that you can’t is frustrating.
"You’ve got to be strong-willed and think that you’re going to get back. You’ve got to keep pushing yourself.
“It was just too much in the end. I was still having issues in the Achilles but persevering. On top of that you have too much pain from training day-to-day.
“My body wasn’t allowing me to do what I could do before.”
