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RYAN WILLIAMSON has revealed he sought the advice of a psychologist after back-to-back injury blows knocked his confidence and left him wondering if he had a future in football.
The Dunfermline defender suffered a dislocated kneecap in 2014 and almost a year later sustained a horrific double leg break playing for the Pars.
With his contract running out last summer, the full-back has confessed he questioned whether serious injuries would continue to plague him.
But, after consulting Dunfermline-based therapist Alan Freeburn, the 21-year-old insists he was better placed to deal with another knee injury that kept him on the sidelines again earlier this season until his first start in five months against Morton recently.
And, having penned a two-year deal with the Fifers at the end of last term, the former Celtic youth is now feeling much more positive about his fledgling career.
He said: “It’s been a frustrating time, so it’s just great to be back fit and available.
“I’ve said that so many times but hopefully that’s it for good this time. It can play on your mind but I’m trying to blank it out now.
“I’ve spoken to psychologists and so on, basically just to keep on top of things, and I’m feeling a lot more positive now.
“At the end of last season, I’m not scared to admit I found it difficult, at first, due to the fact I’d had two serious injuries in a short space of time.
“I was thinking ‘is this just going to keep on happening?’. I couldn’t see my luck changing, really.
“After I got my summer out of the way, I spoke to a psychologist, Alan Freeburn, somebody the manager put me in touch with, and he made me feel so much better about things.
“I was going to be out of contract at the end of the season and it was an uncertain time for me.
“It was difficult and I was asking myself ‘is it really going to work out if I keep getting injured?’.
“But I would like to think the bad luck’s out the way.”
Dunfermline manager Allan Johnston also put Williamson in touch with former Rangers and Hibs midfielder Kevin Thomson, who is no stranger to injury problems.
He added: “Some boys go through their careers without having anything and I’d had two serious injuries before I was 20. I was asking myself if it was worth it because I had spent so long on the sidelines.
“For what I was going through physically and mentally, it was difficult, I’m not going to try to hide that.
“But the manager and the coaching staff were a massive help, as was seeing a psychologist.
“At the end of last season, I met Kevin Thomson, who had had a couple of nasty knee injuries, after the manager suggested I speak to him to get his point of view.
“He was really supportive as well.
“It’s behind me now and I’m planning on keeping it there.”
