Fisher earns his luck as ICT’s happy workaholic
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ALEX Fisher is being repaid for his persistence and hard work, on and off the park. finds out what kept the Caley Thistle striker going during his rehabilitation and how grateful he is to manager Richie Foran for his understanding.Jamie Durent
ALEX Fisher did not want to be known as "the injured player".
Weeks into his Caley Thistle career, while acquaintances were still being made, he found himself cruelly sidelined with an ankle injury that kept him out for the best part of six months.
Hobbling around on crutches, following an opponent landing on his ankle against Stirling Albion, pushed him to the periphery, when all he wanted to get was an opportunity.
"I didn’t know the lads or the staff so to straight away be on crutches around the place was frustrating," said Fisher.
"It can happen any time and unfortunately, happened just when I’d turned up. You have to focus on it in a way that you learn from it – it tests your mental strength."
Luck is not something that has been on the affable striker’s side.
He broke his shoulder last year and required surgery to fix it, so to go under the knife again for the second time in a year compounded his frustration.
The extent of the injury saw tendons disconnect from his ankle, meaning each time he tried to walk the joint was virtually dislocating. Such injuries are usually sustained by rolling your ankle; for Fisher to get it through an impact injury was, again, unlucky.
"The guy managed to fall on a part of my foot where a bit of connective tendon had come off the bone, so every time I walked the tendons would flick over the side of the ankle," added Fisher, who is enviably laid-back about the situation now. "It had to be pinned back down. Considering I broke my shoulder the season before, it was frustrating to have a second operation inside a year.
"I thought if I managed the quickest recovery possible, I might get the last two or three games of the season.
"I was out of contract, so I thought I needed to be back training to get myself back in the mix. I didn’t want to jeopardise my future if I came back too quick and had a setback.
"The end goal was just to kick a ball and be round the team again; rather than being the injured player, being in the mix was a big motivation."
The first six weeks post-op were largely spent trying to keep weight off the ankle, while pounding his upper-body into submission in the gym. The sage words of ex-Caley Jag Dean Brill, himself a recent victim of long-term injury, saw him make use of St George’s Park – available to anyone who has played in English football.
"On my second day there I was on an underwater treadmill watching how I was placing my foot. I didn’t have to run at 100 per cent body weight – 60 or 70 per cent was taken away by the water. I can see why the top players can halve their recovery time when they’ve got these facilities at their disposal."
While his initial focus was on getting himself in the best possible shape to mount a comeback, at the back of his mind was thoughts of his future.
The former Torquay United man was out of contract in the summer and hoped to get back to make an impact before the end of last season.
However, the reassuring demeanour of new manager Richie Foran put his mind at ease, softening his transition back into the team.
"It was out of my control and I thought for that reason, I might as well not think about it. If I was to show the right attitude in my recovery – "if he does that off the pitch, imagine what he’ll do in training". All I could do was make sure my weight and my body-fat was right. If they see me doing that, they’ll see I’ve got the right attitude. By the time we came back for pre-season, Richie had not long been appointed. He called me a few days before we were due back, saying he wanted me to do a few sessions with the under-20s to see how I felt. It was a good idea so I didn’t come straight into a heavy session.
"When he spoke to me in person, he told me to let him know how I felt or if I needed a step out. After a couple of weeks it’d be easy for him to think that I was 100 per cent fit, but he kept asking about the ankle and if I need a session out, just let him know.
"It takes a lot of pressure off me because I don’t have to initiate that conversation – you’re worried he might think you’re weak. You don’t want to second-guess it.
"I’ve not missed a session since. I knew in the back of my mind that if I said I needed a day in the gym, I could have approached him. So far, touch wood, it’s all been pretty smooth."
After a smattering of substitute appearances in his interrupted Caley Thistle career, Fisher’s persistence was rewarded with his first start against St Johnstone.
Another came against Aberdeen last weekend and like all natural strikers, he is hungry to find the back of the net.
But he is happy to contribute in any way – Gary Warren lauded his work-rate at Pittodrie and Fisher insists he is happy to run himself into the ground, if it means his team come out victorious.
"I pride myself on work rate. That’s a big part of my game – I’ll wear them down and produce mistakes later on in the game, for me or others. I find myself, after shaking hands at the end of the game, going straight into the ice bath for an hour!
"If you asked me how I felt in March. three weeks after an operation and on crutches, I’d have just wanted to play football.
"Maybe a bit of that’s coming out in my game just now – I just love to play.
"I need to repay that faith with goals. That’s what the team needs and what I’m here to do. My style of play brings something different off the ball but I still see myself as a goal-scoring centre-forward. I can’t wait to get that first goal.
"I don’t know what I’ll do. Maybe I’ll just be like ‘whew, thank God for that’ or maybe I’ll go mental and run towards the corner flag. If you focus too much on it becomes a problem. I’m just going to go out there like I’ve scored a hat-trick last week, put a good shift in and hopefully the chance will come on.
"There’s no better game to do it in than Celtic, is there? 1-0 and a home win. That’ll do."
