Leeds United's Derry: It's been so toughShaun Derry"I'd never turn the chance to play for Leeds United down. You'd be a fool to do that. This is a huge club – the biggest club I'll ever play for, and the biggest club that 99 per cent of peo"LEEDS United midfielder Shaun Derry today revealed the mental torment he endured at the hands of a minor injury which led to 10 months on the sidelines.
Derry made his first competitive outing since the beginning of January yesterday as Leeds' reserves beat Hartlepool United at Elland Road, and his 90-minute appearance brought an end to his painful battle to recover from a damaged heel.
The 29-year-old was hurt by an innocuous challenge during United's 3-1 defeat to Stoke City on December 30 last year, but what appeared to be a slight concern developed into a major complication, forcing Derry to have surgery to remove a cyst from his heel bone.
The operation ended his involvement in last season, and Derry became temporarily redundant just months after playing a pivotal part in Leeds' run to the 2006 Championship play-off final.
The plan was just to play 60 or 75 and see how I felt, but I was quite happy."
A comfortable performance at a near-empty Elland Road provided confirmation that the worst of Derry's fitness concerns have been addressed, but his future with United remains cloudy.
The midfielder was told by manager Dennis Wise that he would be free to leave Leeds on loan when he completed his recovery, in part to improve his fitness but also as a result of the changing hierarchy at Elland Road.
The squad that Derry was part of at Stoke last year has been pulled apart, and Wise's first full season at Elland Road has arrived with new plans, a new set of players and a new agenda in which Derry's position is less than clear.
The midfielder would seem to be a valuable asset in League One, but Wise has already indicated that a fully-fit squad would leave Derry considerably short of first team selection. A succession of injuries is his most likely avenue back into United's starting line-up.
Derry's availability on loan is likely to generate interest elsewhere, and representatives of Hull City, Scunthorpe United and Ipswich Town were all present at Elland Road yesterday, where a penalty from Filipe Da Costa and a Jonathan Howson header earned Leeds their 2-1 win.
Derry said: "I've not spoken to the manager (about his long-term future) but I understand my position here.
"The gaffer has come in and ripped apart the squad that was.
"My old team-mates have all gone on to pastures new and I'm not too sure what the situation is for me – whether I'm going to follow suit, or whether the gaffer wants to keep me.
"Time will tell, but it's just important for me to play football. If that's at Leeds United then I'll be absolutely delighted, it's an incredible football club. But if it's somewhere new then I'm still playing football, and I've got the best job in the world.
"I'm only in my 20s and I'm very driven. I look at the young lads coming through and I realise that I've got to be on my toes day-in, day-out.
"But I'm a professional kind of person and you have to be these days because if you do things wrong you soon slip out of the net.
"I'd never turn the chance to play for Leeds United down. You'd be a fool to do that. This is a huge club – the biggest club I'll ever play for, and the biggest club that 99 per cent of people who pull on the white shirt will ever play for.
"But I know the situation here and, for me, in the short-term I need to get fit.
That's what I'm intending to do."
A loan move involving Derry would need to be sanctioned before the Football League's deadline for emergency deals passes towards the end of this month.
A sudden spate of injuries ahead of last weekend's game against Millwall suggested a possible reprieve for Derry, but Andrew Hughes is expected to return at Carlisle United on Saturday, and both Radostin Kishishev and Alan Thompson are close to shaking off minor problems.
United do not have another reserve match until November 14, when they visit Scunthorpe, and Derry said: "That's a little bit of a downer because I'd like to play next week.
"But I've got to be patient, and that's something I've not been good at in the past. For once in my life I'm going to make sure I do it right."
The 2006-07 campaign began with the news that he had agreed a new three-year contract at Elland Road, indicating that the former Crystal Palace midfielder would remain at the heart of United's future plans, but his long absence became so frustrating that Derry was delighted to appear in a Leeds shirt in any capacity yesterday.
He started and finished a 2-1 victory over Hartlepool, weighing in with the occasional trademark tackle and coming within inches of a goal with a back-post header in the second half, and the fixture was another move forward for a player who has been forced to move in small steps through 2007.
Derry said: "It's been ridiculous. I've never been out for this long before. I keep harping on about it, but it was such an innocuous challenge at Stoke last December and we're now hitting November.
"The 10 months have flown by, but I've had a lot of time to sit at home with my wife and my family and sometimes you question what you're doing.
"I'm not too proud to say it but I've been bitterly upset within the four walls of my home. My wife's been excellent, and she's kept me going.
"It's been a tough time but eventually you see light at the end of the tunnel. You have to keep going because this is the best game in the world, and we're privileged to be footballers.
"I'm just delighted to be playing again. For me it was important because I needed the 90 minutes.
YEP