Kenneth Out For 9 Months

Further awful injury news hit Rovers this afternoon when it was confirmed that defender Garry Kenneth, who went off just before half-time on Saturday due to his knee, has damaged his anterior cruciate ligament and will be sidelined for up to 9 months. He will undergo surgery on Friday. He's not the first Rovers player to be hit by long-term injury this season with Matt Harrold, Adam Virgo and Matt Gill among the players who have succumbed to such bad luck recently.

Kenneth signed a 3 year deal in the summer as former manager Mark McGhee managed to persuade the former Dundee United centre half to move to Bristol. It was something of a coup because the Scotland international attracted admiring glances from the Championship whilst with the Tangerines and was the subject of a bid from Blackpool. Dundee United wanted £1 million for him but Blackpool's offer was just half that and ultimately rejected. He expressed his desire to leave the club in 2011 and when his contract expired in 2012 he hoped to have a few offers on the table. That didn't prevail because, by his own admission, he had a very poor final season. McGhee stated at the time of his signing that he never believed he'd be able to get a man of Kenneth's quality to join the club until he made contact with him in July. After penning the long-term deal Kenneth was said to be overweight and in need of a pre-season of his own, 3 weeks behind every other player. He was fit to take a place in the squad against Barnet in our second league game but was injured in the warm-up, leaving him out of action until mid-September. He was a revelation at first but has been inconsistent since then and it is thought that his lack of a pre-season is catching up to haunt him now.

He was set to be a big player under John Ward in 2013 but our new manager will be without his services for the rest of this season and beyond.

I'd like to wish Garry well and hope that when he does return, he's fitter than ever before and ready to show Gasheads what he's really made of.