Blues boss Kieran McKenna says he’s spoken to former Town midfielder Tristan Nydam, who announced his retirement due to injury this week, and can empathise with the 22-year-old having been forced to hang up his boots at the same age.
Nydam confirmed that his promising career has come to a premature end last Sunday, the former England U18 and U19 international having never recovered from the serious ankle injury he suffered in pre-season at Notts County in July 2019.
McKenna’s career also ended when he was 22 due to a hip injury in 2009 when on the cusp of breaking into the first team at Tottenham.
"I’ve had a couple of conversations with Tristan and I met him shortly after coming into the club, so I was aware of the position that he was in with his injuries,” McKenna said.
"Obviously, I’m someone who can relate very easily to that situation. I was around a similar age when I had a similar setback.
"He’s obviously a popular person around the club, very well thought of and he’s got his whole future ahead of him.
"I think when one door closes, another door opens and at his age he’s got plenty of options ahead of him, and at the moment, as he’s said, he wants to pursue coaching and I’m sure he’ll have every chance to develop well in that field, but there are also lots of other avenues he could look to move into and be successful.
"I think the club are planning to support him as much as they can and that is how it should be with our young players.
"We have to support them when they are here but also support them whenever they move on and have that aftercare and responsibility to help them throughout the course of their lives really.
"Whenever they come through the academy, they’ve given a large part of their childhood and early years to the club, so I’m sure we will look to do that and we all wish Tristan the best, and I’m sure he’ll be successful in whatever he chooses to go into next.”