Sky Bet Championship: Nottingham Forest's Kelvin Wilson feared for future

Nottingham Forest defender Kelvin Wilson admits to fearing that a serious back problem would bring an end to his career.

The 29-year-old completed a move from Celtic to the City Ground in the summer of 2013, returning him to Trentside for a second spell.

Things soon took a turn for the worse, though, as just seven starts into his homecoming, Wilson was forced onto the treatment table.

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It has been ‘a long road’ back for the commanding centre-half, with Wilson conceding that there were dark days when he wondered whether he might be forced to hang up his boots.

As he closes on a return to competitive action following his latest setback, Wilson said in the Nottingham Post: “It has been a long road, it has been a strange time for me.

“I came back to Forest and played the first seven games or so, then I had a really horrible back injury and it really did scare me.

“I thought it would finish me. I had conversations with the physios, asking if it was it for me. More than once I asked them, ‘Am I done?’

“They always tried to keep me confident, they were always confident. But there were days where I could not walk. There were times when I could not even stand up straight, never mind play football.

“It was scary for me because I had not really had any bad injury problems in my career.

“I came back in pre-season and was feeling really good – right up until I felt my calf just go ‘pop’ on the training ground. You could hear it clearly.

There were days where I could not walk. There were times when I could not even stand up straight, never mind play football. It was scary for me because I had not really had any bad injury problems in my career.

“It turned out to be a grade two tear, which meant another six weeks on the sidelines. I have never really had injuries in my career, so it is perhaps catching up with me now.”

Wilson added on his hopes for the immediate future, as he pushes for a place in Stuart Pearce’s Sky Bet Championship-leading plans: “The team are flying and I don’t expect to walk back into the team.

“But I am ready to be involved with the first team now, if called upon. I am confident and, if the gaffer asks me to play, I would be ready.

“The back is totally fine. I will always have little niggles with it but it is fine, it is not slowing me down. I just need to get sharper, to get fitter.

“That is night and day compared to how I felt last season. It was a scary time.”