Dark times and disappointment early on for Jack Davies

Saturday, September 7, 2019: a date forever engrained into the mind of MK Dons defender Jack Davies. But after making his league debut for the club against Peterborough, he might want to remember Saturday, January 16, 2021 instead.

One of the latest crop of talent emerging from the academy, the 18-year-old said he was living his dream when he signed scholarship papers at Stadium MK. His abilities shone through in training, impressing then-manager Paul Tisdale, who brought Davies across to train regularly with the first team. Developing as a centre back, he also caught the eye of Russell Martin, still playing at the time, but after pre-season with the first team, he returned to the U18s eager to carry on his ascent through the ranks.

Davies would get halted in his tracks though.

"We had Gillingham on Saturday, September 7 – a date that will always be in my head," he said. "The game was going well, it was 0-0 in about the 60th minute, I went up for a header and I felt a pop in my knee. It was the worst pain I've felt on a football pitch. I went off on crutches.

"It was a long trip back from Gillingham and I had to wait until we got back to the stadium to see how bad my knee was. By the time we got back, my knee was like a balloon. I knew something was wrong. I had a scan the following day, and they called to tell me I had a partial tear in my ACL. It hit me for six. I felt like the world was going to end."

But with the injury came the arduous task of rehabilitation. No longer able to train with his team-mates, Davies admitted he wondered whether it was worth the long hours and the pain to get back to a career where nothing was guaranteed beyond the end of his scholarship deal.

He continued: "We saw the surgeon in London and decided against surgery, which is a positive – no-one wants to have surgery at such a young age. I started my rehab, and I tried not to dwell too much on it. Don't get me wrong, there were some really dark times, and I never thought I'd feel like that, especially not in a football building!

"You love football, you always want to be happy, but because it was taken away from me, I wasn't happy so there were some times where you think you're not getting anywhere, or you see your mates going out to train every day while you're sitting there with some ice on your knee or on a watt bike. It was tough.

"After I got over that hurt and disappointment that I wasn't going to play for a long time, I got my head down and stuck at it. I noticed I was coming in earlier, staying later. With rehab, the more you do, the quicker you get out of it and the quicker you can potentially return."

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