The players may be on their summer break and the club looking for a new manager, but the rehab department is still hard at work and physio Greg Reid tells cambridgeunited.com the latest news about the injured players.

Greg has been overseeing the rehabilitation of three players who are recovering from operations, and there is mixed news.

Darren Quinton, who ruptured his Anterior Cruciate Ligament last October and underwent surgery before commencing a gruelling rehab programme, is on target to join up with the rest of the squad for pre-season training when they return early next month.

However Danny Brown, who battled through to the end of last season after suffering a serious shoulder injury, is likely to miss the first 5-6 weeks of the new season after summer surgery on the joint.

The third player at the club under Greg's care for the last few weeks is Stephen Reed, who had surgery to repair a 'sportman's hernia' or Gilmore's Groin. 'Reedy' is currently on holiday and he will be fit to start pre-season training as usual.

"Darren's now on a well-deserved break but before he went away he had his final stint at Lilleshall and the Isokinetic testing showed that the injured knee is now stronger than his other knee!" Greg revealed.

"It's strong and stable and he's been running, jumping, twisting and turning and doing ball work without any problems, and he'll be back in with me next week to do some final tests just to make sure everything is absolutely 100% ready to go for pre-season.

"It's looks like a positive conclusion to what was a really serious knee injury," he added. "The term 'career-threatening' is bandied around too easily, but Darren's injury was very severe and significant and we had to take things very, very steadily to make sure we gave him the best chance of a successful outcome.

"It looks as though he's on the last little lap now, and that's all credit to Darren. He's worked so hard and it's been a long road to recovery for him, but he's applied himself every single day that he's come in and I really can't speak highly enough of him. He's certainly worked hard and he deserves any success he gets."

Of Stephen Reed (above) he added, "Stephen and Rob Wolleaston (now with Rushden & Diamonds) both had surgery for the same condition just over a week after we were at Wembley and Stephen has made good progress. He's been running on the treadmill and he's having a little break abroad right now but he's on target to join in with the rest of the guys in pre-season training."

However the news of Danny Brown was not so positive, although not surprising to the staff at the club who were already aware of the extent of his shoulder injury. The U's skipper was injured in the win at Rushden & Diamonds in April, when his shoulder "popped out and back in again" after a heavy challenge.

Although the ligaments were not damaged, the joint capsule itself was damaged but Browny soldiered on to the end of the season with the aid of painkillers and strengthening exercises when he was able, putting in some solid performances at left-back along the way.

Last week he had an 'anterior stabilisation procedure' arthroscopically (keyhole surgery), and Greg confirmed that the injury was a severe one: "We already knew the joint was very unstable, but the surgeon and myself could see during the clincial assessment when Danny was under anaesthetic that the joint was almost dislocating in front of our eyes.

"The surgeon was amazed that he'd had no further instability after the initial injury, and a lot of that has to go down to Danny working so hard in the rehab department. The manager was keen to have him out there playing so we managed to nurse him along to try to stave off surgery to the end of the season, and he worked diligently every day on a strengthening and stabilisation programme.

"But we always knew he'd need surgery and I'm pleased to report that the surgery was a complete success. The surgeon is a world-class shoulder surgeon and he's done an excellent job.

"Danny has to stay in a sling for three weeks, just doing gentle mobilisation work because the most important thing in that time is to allow the area of the repair to fully knit together, and then we'll start on more aggressive exercise."

The operation means that Danny will not be able to resume full contact training and playing for three months following the operation, meaning he can expect to return some time after the middle of September, approximately 5-6 weeks into the new season, which kicks off on 9th August.

Our SMS subscribers get the news FIRST through the club's official SMS alert service. No rumours or speculation, just the NEWS direct from the club - send CLUB CAMB NEWS to 88442. Alerts 25p. Subscribe and unsubscribe at any time - click here for full details.

Make Your Click Count For The U's - talk about it on the Message Board!

You are respectfully reminded that any article, as with all content on this website, unless otherwise stated, is subject to copyright © and the Official Cambridge United Website must be acknowledged as the original source including all quotes.

AT080618