Jordan Rossiter opens up on his 16-month 'one in 10,000' setback following Bristol Rovers return

All season, Jordan Rossiter's status has been a bit of an unknown as the Bristol Rovers midfielder continued to work towards returning from what seemed to be a serious knee injury. When asked, those who have sat in the hot seat this term have given updates that, with hindsight, have all seemed to be wide of the mark. Frankly, no one knew exactly whether or not we would see the 27-year-old back in the blue-and-white quarters.

As recently as the end of January, Matt Taylor admitted that he wasn't expecting to have Rossiter available before the end of the season as the midfielder's time out surpassed a year. Thankfully, that judgement was proven premature as the 27-year-old made his long-awaited return to the pitch last Saturday in the 3-1 win at Cheltenham Town having been an unused substitute against Bolton Wanderers and Reading.

Besides from the trademark tucked in shirt, you could spot Rossiter on the pitch from a mile off with his constant endeavour to win back the ball for his team, a level of effort that has also meant that Taylor has had to manage the midfielder's minutes against Cheltenham and Cambridge United on Tuesday given the extensive period of time that the Liverpool youth product has faced out.

We've all been desperate to hear the story from Rossiter's own point of view once he had returned to playing but the truth is that no one outside of the building fully understood the seriousness of what the Rovers favourite has gone through over the past 16 months since picking up a knee injury against MK Dons that was thought to side line him for six weeks.

"It’s a long story and a bit of a mad one but it was only meant to be a six week injury originally," the midfielder said with an infectious smile that also seems to be a trademark feature of the Scouser. "It was the MK Dons game where I got the injury. Just going for a header, I felt something in my knee. I went and saw the specialist who said, ‘listen, I can get you back playing within four to six weeks’ which would have been just after Christmas.

"I went in for surgery the week later but then unfortunately during the surgery I picked up an infection. I don’t quite know the name for it but it was an infection that travelled through my bloodstream and got into my joints. From then I was really ill, sick for a few weeks and a lot of nights in hospital. Obviously on drips and antibiotics and things like that. From then on in it was an uphill battle to get back.

"Everything was good in the knee but it was where that infection got into the joint. That’s what really set me back and, you know, I lost weight and obviously lost all of my leg muscles. Learning to walk and things like that so it was an uphill task but I just knew that obviously I wanted to get back playing and obviously I’m back on my feet now and back in.

"I just didn’t feel great after the surgery to be honest," Rossiter added. "A few days after the surgery I rang the doctor here and said, ‘something’s not right here, I don’t feel great’ because I couldn’t really get out of bed, I couldn’t move, I couldn’t eat. I just didn’t feel great in myself. A few days later I came down here and they took some fluid out of the knee to do some tests and he said, ‘listen you’ve got an infection in your knee’. I think it’s something like a one in 10,000 chance. The surgeon said he’s been doing what he’s been doing for 30 years and that I’m his first ever infection.

"Obviously it was tough to hear. From then on in it was just about getting myself back healthy and then whenever I played again I just took care of that again when I could."

Every time a question about the midfielder's latest condition has been asked this season, every response has related to how likeable and good-hearted a person he is first and foremost, making it particularly difficult to hear how much he struggled.

Without trying to be too speculative, the assumption was that the initial surgery hadn't worked as planned and that Rossiter was facing repeated setbacks trying to get his knee back to full function before then getting back up to match fitness but the fact that the severity of an infection with a 0.001 per cent chance of appearing following surgery has been the main reason for keeping the player out for this long certainly puts things into perspective.

Bad luck with injuries, to no fault of his own, has seemed to overshadow the 27-year-old's career to some extent. A Liverpool youth product who scored a dream debut goal for the first team against Middlesbrough in 2014 as a 17-year-old led to understandable excitement as the teenager went on to make another four appearances the following season, three in the Europa League and one in the Premier League before departing for Rangers on a free transfer in summer 2016.

Injury woes meant that Rossiter went on to make only 16 appearances for the Scottish giants over a four year period that also included loan spells at Bury and Fleetwood Town before joining the Cod Army permanently in 2020.

There, the midfielder made 65 appearances before linking up again with his former manager at Highbury and teammate at Ibrox Joey Barton in 2022 at Rovers on the back of the Gas' promotion back to League One. The then-25-year-old played 21 times in the 2022/23 campaign before sustaining the issue that has caused him over a year of struggle.

"I’ve just got boss people around me," Rossiter insisted. "I’ve got a good girlfriend, a good family and I was living down here at the time with two great captains Paul Coutts and Sam Finley. They were the ones taxiing me around, helping me, getting ice for me, getting my food for me so I’ve got a lot to thank them for in the early stages.

"Good people in the building, good people in the club. Obviously the previous coaching staff who were brilliant with me, the new coaching staff, I can’t thank everyone enough to be honest with you. It would probably take too long to say everyone’s name but a special mention to Jim Buckley as well because he was the one who was actually taxiing me up and back to hospitals and picking me up here and there.

"People like that deserve a lot of credit and don’t get the credit that they deserve. The people behind the scenes who are brilliant so yeah, I’ve got loads of brilliant people to thank for helping me get back to this stage. Hopefully now I’m playing I can repay them.

"Obviously you have a lot of dark moments and things like that but I’m still lucky to do what I do. I was still getting paid. I wasn’t stressing about where the next paycheck was coming from or anything like that so I was lucky in that sense. Then it was just about getting myself back healthy first of all and then getting myself back in the gym, getting myself stronger but I obviously knew that it was going to take a while because of how bad the infection was at the time. I’m just delighted to be back now."

During his period as caretaker manager in November, Andy Mangan, who of his own admittance is particularly close with Rossiter, said that Rovers would maybe use him "on the coaching side" to help his mental health by getting him out on the grass in order to get a change of scenery from the loneliness of solo gym sessions.

Not that the 27-year-old did help out with the coaching per say but he did start his coaching badges on the back of Mangan's recommendation given the extra free time he had and used that period to learn more about the game, stating: "I know what Mangs was saying. It was more to just get out on the field, it wasn’t necessarily to coach or anything like that. You obviously spend a lot of time in the gym and it’s a few dark days in there so I think Mangs was just brilliant with how positive he is as a person.

"He just wanted me to get out on the pitch and be out with the lads because obviously you spend a lot of time away from the lads with injuries and you don’t go to the hotels and away days and things like that in games. So he just wanted me to get back on the pitch and with the way Mangs is he would want me to take passing drills and all that but I was never going to do that.

"You’re watching that much football when you’re injured you just want to be back but like I say, Mangs was probably the perfect example. He was the one saying to me I need to get coaching badges just to do it in my spare time. That was a great piece of advice, I’m absolutely made up. I started them probably because of him because he pushed me to do it.

"So little things like that really help and you see the game differently and you appreciate it more when obviously you do get back playing so I think it’s stood me in good stead."

As great as it is to see Rossiter back on the pitch and not only that but impressing, but there is the elephant in the room of whether or not he's playing his football at Rovers next season. The midfielder is one of the 12 permanently contracted players whose deals are currently set to expire this summer and there was concern that he wouldn't get the opportunity to play for the Gas again before potentially not being handed a contract and going into the off-period looking for a new club having not played for over 16 months.

Thankfully, he's back on the pitch and has started showing Taylor what he can do in an game environment with the 27-year-old demonstrating outstanding leadership qualities over the course of the 100 minutes he's played so far. There are two more matches left against Peterborough United and Wigan Athletic for Rossiter to keep demonstrating his qualities before a decision will seemingly be made but, according to him, the midfielder's future beyond this term isn't on his mind at the moment.

"Who knows?," Rossiter exclaimed when asked about his contractual situation. "I’m not really thinking about that at the minute I’m just delighted to be back playing football and then whatever happens, wherever I’ll be next season, we’ll just have to see. Talks will happen in the summer whether that’s here or somewhere else but for the minute I’m not thinking about that, I’m just delighted to be back with a Rovers shirt back on."

On returning to winning ways, the midfielder added: "Nothing to do with me. I think the lads have been unlucky with some of the games during the run we’ve been on. We’ve got a group of lads who care, a staff who care and we’ve all been gutted with how it’s going.

"I think sometimes you just can’t put your finger on it but I think some of those games that we did lose or draw we probably deserved to win. That’s just how football goes sometimes and I think Saturday we had the luck on our side. We went up, scored early and I think that just changed the momentum.

"But as I say, the lads in there care. It’s a great group of lads, a great building and we’re probably the ones hurting the most with how results have gone. I’m just looking forward to the last two games now."

You certainly get the impression that Taylor is a fan of the combative midfielder who has added an extra bite to Rovers' core that hasn't been on show enough this season. Admittedly, it's only been two games but you would expect another two to come Rossiter's way before the end of the season but the most important thing for him is of course getting back on that football pitch which, frankly, makes whatever happens next irrelevant and puts everything into perspective.