You can’t beat a feelgood story and in what has been an utterly miserable time for Caley Thistle supporters the rousing support for Aaron Doran is enough to warm the coldest of hearts.
Doran told the Press and Journal on Tuesday how his planned surgery to repair his ACL had been cancelled twice by the club and he was uncertain whether it would be funded at all.
Step forward Doran’s former Caley Jags team-mate Shane Sutherland.
The striker, who suffered the same injury prior to being released by Inverness last summer, organised a GoFundMe to help raise £5,000 for the operation for Doran.
Doran, who has been with the club for 14 years, is out of contract at Caley Thistle.
With the likes of former Scotland international Charlie Adam and Dundee United’s Tony Watt sharing Sutherland’s funding page on Doran’s behalf, the target was met in less than 24 hours by generous well-wishers.
It’s a heart warming development in a tale which will hopefully have a happy ending as far as Doran is concerned, but it has laid bare a bigger issue in the game.
It is an unwritten rule that clubs should have a moral responsibility to support a player injured on their watch.
But it is time to put it in writing.
SPFL could do more to protect players
SPFL clubs have been all too willing to vote to phase out non-grass pitches from the top-flight of our game or approve recommendations to allow concussion substitutes during matches.
But where’s the protection for players who are seriously injured while under contract?
The moral obligation is all well and good, but the silence from Caley Thistle has shown precisely why morals are not enough – it needs to be legally binding.
Football is a contact sport after all and players are expected to make challenges and run at full speed for 90 minutes.
As a result, accidents are inevitable.
Doran suffered the cruciate ligament injury in April in a Championship match against Raith Rovers.
He didn’t fall down the stairs at home or suffer an accident in the street. He was performing the duties for which he is paid.
His club should be duty bound to cover the cost of getting him fit and healthy again.
Every club should.
If a player is under contract, whether it has two months remaining or two years, and they suffer an injury then they should be supported back to full health by their employer.
What they should not expect is to be met with a wall of silence as their contract runs out, like Doran’s has.
Given the financial problems at Inverness, it may be the case that the club simply cannot cover the costs – but at the very least the player should be informed.
Those responsible at Caley Thistle for ignoring Doran should be ashamed of themselves.
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