Inverness accused of ‘interfering’ with club legend’s life

Speaking to the Press and Journal, the Caley Thistle stalwart revealed that the club had twice canceled his appointments for anterior cruciate ligament (ACL) surgery. He suffered the injury in a match against Raith Rovers in April.

The 33-year-old Irishman also said his questions about whether they would actually pay for the surgery remained unanswered. The club is currently in a difficult position following its recent Championship play-off defeat to Hamilton Accies, with CEOs struggling hard to find new investment to avoid the possibility of administration.

Doran has been with the Highland club for 14 years, but his contract has expired. He was part of the team that won the Scottish Cup in 2015 and two years later played as Caley Thistle won the Challenge Cup.

“Physiotherapist Dan (Cluett) booked me in for two surgeries on May 22 and 29, but the club canceled both of them – the last one was canceled the day before, which wasn’t great,” Doran told P&J “Dan was out of contract on May 30, but he booked me in for surgery next Wednesday .

“I don’t know why the club canceled the operations. On April 19 I was injured and the scan revealed that I had a torn ACL and the consultant said I needed surgery.

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“Then I had a meeting with the club. One of the directors is a retired knee surgeon (Panos Thomas) and one of the options proposed was for me to try to rehabilitate him, but you can’t rehabilitate a torn anterior cruciate ligament and try to play professional football. I said it doesn’t work for me.

“I have to fix this because I can’t even run after the kids. I hobble.

“The physiotherapist agreed with me that we needed surgery. The club said everything was fine, but both dates were canceled. After the physiotherapist leaves, I am trying to contact the club and resolve the situation.

“No one helped. I wrote to several people and they did not respond. They confirmed via messages on my phone that they would pay for the surgery in June on any date, but after two canceled dates I have not been able to confirm if this is the case. It doesn’t look very good.

“I need to fix my knee. Next week I’ll be out for nine weeks with an injury, whereas by then I might have had seven or eight weeks of recovery. This pushes me back.

“No matter how much time I have left in my career, losing another two months is not good.”

Former teammate Shane Sutherland took to social media to criticize the recently relegated League One club over the matter.

In response to this story, Sutherland wrote on X: “14 years, 393 games, long-term injuries have only shown the loyalty to the club over these 14 years.

“This is an absolute disgrace, the worst treatment of a player I have ever heard of. Playing with his life, not just his football career.”