Scott Wagstaff is enjoying the responsibility of skippering Wimbledon, but he has sent Will Nightingale an upbeat message to come back soon and reclaim the captain’s armband.
Our stand-in captain believes the right decision was made for Will’s future in the game after the defender had an operation to sort out a hip injury that had troubled him since October.
Wagstaff said: “A lot of the boys have sent Will a message because he’s away at the moment, there’s not a lot he can do. He’s recovering, but I think he got his head around it quite early because it was an ongoing problem. He needed to get it sorted. If he was still playing, but it was still niggling and he wasn’t performing well, it doesn’t help. I’ve played through injuries and it doesn’t help you.
“I think the right decision has been made to get it sorted. Hopefully, Will can come back quicker than expected, but recovery is key. We miss him around the place because he’s a big leader for us as well. The fans love him too, so hopefully we can get him back as soon as possible.”
Scott Wagstaff was speaking during an extensive interview at the training ground. Look out later this week for more from Scott and Luke O’Neill after we sat down with the pair for an in-depth chat after midweek training.