Kyle vows to fight for Hearts career after injury

KEVIN KYLE today pledged not to give up in his fight to play for Hearts again, however the striker admitted his career is under threat from the hip injury which has sidelined him for nine months.

Medical staff are unable to pinpoint a timescale for Kyle’s recovery after he suffered a setback following surgery on his hip. The player is determined to remain patient and let the injury heal but he is also wondering whether he will ever play again.

“I had a setback about four or five weeks ago and right at this moment I have no idea when I will be back. I simply cannot put a timescale on it,” explained Kyle. “After the surgery, I’d made a bit of recovery and was back on the training pitch doing a bit of work. In a simple stretching exercise, something has happened which shouldn’t have done and I inflamed the hip problem again.

“It is a case now of waiting for it to settle down before I start to try it all again. I have had an injection with a lubricant put into the joint and it has helped. But it is a slow process and all I can do is wait for the word from the medical people that I can resume light training. Nobody can tell me when that might be. I would love to be on the bike, lifting weights or doing cross-training, but none of that is possible just yet. It puts too much pressure on the hip. Better still, I’d be out there with the lads again running around or kicking a ball. It is a career-threatening injury I’ve had and, yes, my career is threatened. The surgeons have told me I should get back and that I need to be patient. But, if it all ends next month or next week, then I will feel I’ve played for some good clubs, won caps and had exciting moments.”

Since joining Hearts, his most memorable moment was scoring the winning goal in the Edinburgh derby with Hibs on January 1 this year. Ten days later he limped out of a Scottish Cup tie against St Johnstone and hasn’t played since.

“I think Hearts fans would remember that derby winner against Hibs and I suppose some people might think that’s not a bad way to finish, but I can’t afford to think like that. I’ve been to Bradford to see the surgeon again and he is still confident. I also spoke to the guy in America who did my initial hip operation.

“That was when I was with Sunderland, but I was 23 at thet time and felt as if I had my whole career ahead of me. This has happened when I was getting close to 30 and my contract with Hearts is only until the end of the season.

“Back when I scored that winner against Hibs, I felt I was really hitting great form. All I thought about was improving even more and agetting a longer deal so that I could probably play out the rest of my career at Tynecastle.

“I’ve had a lot of ups and downs in my career but this is the worst time of all. It took two or three months at the start to diagnose where the problem was inside the hip and now even the rehab has stalled. Hopefully I can get back.”