Post by QPR Report on Jun 3, 2010 7:55:15 GMT
Given that Derry's seemingly coming to QPR...
Crystal Palace Official Site
INTERVIEW: Shaun Derry
After being forced to miss out the finale of the 08/09 season with a shoulder injury, Palace skipper Shaun Derry has been unable to take his summer break just yet.
Still reporting in at the training ground most days through the week he is undergoing intense physiotherapy on his shoulder to get it ready for the next campaign. Here he gives us an update on the progress he has made over the past few weeks, the prognosis for the future as well as his thoughts on possible new faces at the training ground.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Firstly Shaun, how is the shoulder?
Well I have been in more or less every day since the end of the season. I had two or three weeks off for the shoulder to just settle down after the surgery and I have been working full blast really, going in to see the physios three or four days out of the five in the week and in my other spare time I have had I have gone to the gym.
It is like I haven't stopped really. But I used the break in between me stopping playing games and to the end of the season as my rest time, so for the last three or four weeks I have been in the gym and preparing for next season.
What was specifically the problem with it?
It was weird really because even now I am not sure about the ins and outs of it. All I can say is that I fell awkwardly when we played Leicester in the Cup and the shoulder just popped out and popped back in again. I never really knew the severity of the problem until it happened again in the home game against Wolves and the scans showed that there was quite a lot of damage done to the cartilage - the cartilage was torn off the bone and they had to put four pins in there.
It [the surgery] was no different to what a lot of these re-constructive surgeries are but for my injury they never knew [about its severity] until they opened my shoulder up. So as much as it is a pain coming in every day during the close season, at least I know that it will be okay for next season and I won't be playing with any uncertainty.
Shoulder injuries are infamous for their habit of returning throughout a player's career, is there such a risk with your shoulder injury?
Well this was the one and only question I had for the surgeon. He is renowned throughout the world for this type of surgery - he did a good job on Paddy - and as you raised the question there I did wonder whether I would have problems for the rest of my career.
I do think though that once you have had surgery you have always going to have a question mark over that injury, but you look at the history of the surgeon and the types of surgery he has performed and you have got to have confidence.
Whenever I have had surgery before I have tried not to think about it and carry on as normal as if nothing happened. So I am not going to look at it as a long term problem.
You have spoken about being in almost every day since the end of the season. Will there be a chance for you to get away this summer to take a break away from football?
Yeah definitely. We worked a schedule out with the physios and the club doctor to enable me to go away for a short break. Obviously we went away this time last year, but before then our children were born in the close season so the family are now looking forward to a break.
But at the same time I will be escaping for a few hours a day, perhaps just leaving the kids in a little crèche and then do my physio work because as a footballer, especially when you are injured, you can't turn off really.But the holiday will be a very welcome break for us.
Looking ahead to next season, how important will it be for Neil to bring in some new faces for next season?
Well it will be even more important this year than last because we have all gone on record to say that it ended disappointingly for us. But in hindsight, and reflecting on a season three or four weeks after it ended, you look at the number of youngsters we brought through last year and the type of senior pros we lost in the summer last year, I think it was a good season for us.
We were never caught up in a relegation fight, and you look at the teams that have gone down perhaps, on paper, they had bigger squads than us so, in hindsight we did really well.
But looking at next year we do need reinforcements and we need a number of new players to come in and try to push the clubs in the top end of the table and be knocking on the Play Off doors again.
One name that has been mentioned in the press this week is that of Darren Ambrose. In your opinion do you think this is the right sort of player Crystal Palace should be looking at?
I think so, yeah. You look at the history of the player, the caliber of the player - he has played in the Premiership when he had a cracking move from Ipswich to Newcastle and at the time Newcastle were top four or five.
So I don't think you go to places like that if you are no good. And I know he has been involved in a relegation season this year, but at the same time he has been a name on a number of Championship managers' lists for the past four or five years. He has obviously played for our rivals but at the same time when good players become available you want to try and get them.
Do you think that that is the right type of mould of player we need - a creative midfielder?
I think we have missed that when Ben Watson left and there is no coincidence that the goals dried up as well because the assists that he made, aside from his performances, were a huge boost for us.
So yeah, some would say that the creative player has been missed this year. But it is also important that whoever that player is, he still has to fit into the jigsaw and whatever type of player we are hoping to attract this summer must also fit into the plan that Neil Warnock wants, so we will have to wait and see. He [Warnock] has been shrewd enough in the past, he has been in the game long enough to know what sort of player he needs and the player he wants.
So Neil has had one full season under his belt, do you think that this season all eyes will be on him and you the players to show a definite move forward in terms of challenging for the top of the table?
I think it is key. I think speaking to the manager a number of times he has been disappointed as well because looking at his past experience in this division he has always strove for the Play Offs.
The reason he signed a new contract was that he didn't want his management time at Palace to end the way it did. So he is looking to improve, I know he is because he has made those feelings very clear to us and we have all got to follow suit and improve on what happened last year. But like I touched on earlier, I think we achieved admirably in certain aspects considering the squad we had to play with and, with a new bunch of faces coming in, we do want to be knocking on the Play Off doors next season.
And finally, who can avoid the prospect of facing Newcastle United at St James' Park next season? Are you looking forward to it?
It is unbelievable. I was there watching the tele on the last day of the Premiership season and throughout and up to the 90th minute you are thinking they are going to nick a goal and be a Premier League side.
You look at the so-called problems that a number of Championship sides have had this year, you look at the kind of restructuring they have got to do up at St James' Park and still you think they will be the team to beat.
But just as what happened with League One and Leeds this year, everyone just raises the bar that extra five percent so I tihink they will find it really difficult.
However, the apprehension of going up to Newcastle is not going to be the same as it was probably for a lot of teams in the Premier League so a number of teams will be going up this year and really enjoying there day and really enjoying their experience.
www.cpfc.co.uk/page/News/0,,10323~1679227,00.html
Crystal Palace Official Site
INTERVIEW: Shaun Derry
After being forced to miss out the finale of the 08/09 season with a shoulder injury, Palace skipper Shaun Derry has been unable to take his summer break just yet.
Still reporting in at the training ground most days through the week he is undergoing intense physiotherapy on his shoulder to get it ready for the next campaign. Here he gives us an update on the progress he has made over the past few weeks, the prognosis for the future as well as his thoughts on possible new faces at the training ground.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Firstly Shaun, how is the shoulder?
Well I have been in more or less every day since the end of the season. I had two or three weeks off for the shoulder to just settle down after the surgery and I have been working full blast really, going in to see the physios three or four days out of the five in the week and in my other spare time I have had I have gone to the gym.
It is like I haven't stopped really. But I used the break in between me stopping playing games and to the end of the season as my rest time, so for the last three or four weeks I have been in the gym and preparing for next season.
What was specifically the problem with it?
It was weird really because even now I am not sure about the ins and outs of it. All I can say is that I fell awkwardly when we played Leicester in the Cup and the shoulder just popped out and popped back in again. I never really knew the severity of the problem until it happened again in the home game against Wolves and the scans showed that there was quite a lot of damage done to the cartilage - the cartilage was torn off the bone and they had to put four pins in there.
It [the surgery] was no different to what a lot of these re-constructive surgeries are but for my injury they never knew [about its severity] until they opened my shoulder up. So as much as it is a pain coming in every day during the close season, at least I know that it will be okay for next season and I won't be playing with any uncertainty.
Shoulder injuries are infamous for their habit of returning throughout a player's career, is there such a risk with your shoulder injury?
Well this was the one and only question I had for the surgeon. He is renowned throughout the world for this type of surgery - he did a good job on Paddy - and as you raised the question there I did wonder whether I would have problems for the rest of my career.
I do think though that once you have had surgery you have always going to have a question mark over that injury, but you look at the history of the surgeon and the types of surgery he has performed and you have got to have confidence.
Whenever I have had surgery before I have tried not to think about it and carry on as normal as if nothing happened. So I am not going to look at it as a long term problem.
You have spoken about being in almost every day since the end of the season. Will there be a chance for you to get away this summer to take a break away from football?
Yeah definitely. We worked a schedule out with the physios and the club doctor to enable me to go away for a short break. Obviously we went away this time last year, but before then our children were born in the close season so the family are now looking forward to a break.
But at the same time I will be escaping for a few hours a day, perhaps just leaving the kids in a little crèche and then do my physio work because as a footballer, especially when you are injured, you can't turn off really.But the holiday will be a very welcome break for us.
Looking ahead to next season, how important will it be for Neil to bring in some new faces for next season?
Well it will be even more important this year than last because we have all gone on record to say that it ended disappointingly for us. But in hindsight, and reflecting on a season three or four weeks after it ended, you look at the number of youngsters we brought through last year and the type of senior pros we lost in the summer last year, I think it was a good season for us.
We were never caught up in a relegation fight, and you look at the teams that have gone down perhaps, on paper, they had bigger squads than us so, in hindsight we did really well.
But looking at next year we do need reinforcements and we need a number of new players to come in and try to push the clubs in the top end of the table and be knocking on the Play Off doors again.
One name that has been mentioned in the press this week is that of Darren Ambrose. In your opinion do you think this is the right sort of player Crystal Palace should be looking at?
I think so, yeah. You look at the history of the player, the caliber of the player - he has played in the Premiership when he had a cracking move from Ipswich to Newcastle and at the time Newcastle were top four or five.
So I don't think you go to places like that if you are no good. And I know he has been involved in a relegation season this year, but at the same time he has been a name on a number of Championship managers' lists for the past four or five years. He has obviously played for our rivals but at the same time when good players become available you want to try and get them.
Do you think that that is the right type of mould of player we need - a creative midfielder?
I think we have missed that when Ben Watson left and there is no coincidence that the goals dried up as well because the assists that he made, aside from his performances, were a huge boost for us.
So yeah, some would say that the creative player has been missed this year. But it is also important that whoever that player is, he still has to fit into the jigsaw and whatever type of player we are hoping to attract this summer must also fit into the plan that Neil Warnock wants, so we will have to wait and see. He [Warnock] has been shrewd enough in the past, he has been in the game long enough to know what sort of player he needs and the player he wants.
So Neil has had one full season under his belt, do you think that this season all eyes will be on him and you the players to show a definite move forward in terms of challenging for the top of the table?
I think it is key. I think speaking to the manager a number of times he has been disappointed as well because looking at his past experience in this division he has always strove for the Play Offs.
The reason he signed a new contract was that he didn't want his management time at Palace to end the way it did. So he is looking to improve, I know he is because he has made those feelings very clear to us and we have all got to follow suit and improve on what happened last year. But like I touched on earlier, I think we achieved admirably in certain aspects considering the squad we had to play with and, with a new bunch of faces coming in, we do want to be knocking on the Play Off doors next season.
And finally, who can avoid the prospect of facing Newcastle United at St James' Park next season? Are you looking forward to it?
It is unbelievable. I was there watching the tele on the last day of the Premiership season and throughout and up to the 90th minute you are thinking they are going to nick a goal and be a Premier League side.
You look at the so-called problems that a number of Championship sides have had this year, you look at the kind of restructuring they have got to do up at St James' Park and still you think they will be the team to beat.
But just as what happened with League One and Leeds this year, everyone just raises the bar that extra five percent so I tihink they will find it really difficult.
However, the apprehension of going up to Newcastle is not going to be the same as it was probably for a lot of teams in the Premier League so a number of teams will be going up this year and really enjoying there day and really enjoying their experience.
www.cpfc.co.uk/page/News/0,,10323~1679227,00.html