Given said of his troubles:

"I have to move on, try and forget what happened at West Ham, and look at the big picture. It seems like a lifetime away, but it was only last season.

I was told in Germany there was still a lot of scar tissue following my first operation on my bowel, and this has been hampering me.

It could be a contributing factor to the fact that I've kept breaking down in the last 18 months.

But Dr (Ulrike) Muschawaek has assured me she's confident that the operations have been successful, and this is a huge weight off my shoulders.

At the moment, I'm still on rehab work in the gym, and I'm feeling fine and a lot stronger, and when the manager said last week that I'd not play again this season, there were no complaints from me.

Why risk anything and rush back for the sake of one or two games before the end of the season?

Obviously, it's frustrating watching, because I'm one of those guys who wants to play every game, but now I've had these operations I feel that I can play for years and years to come.

This was always going to be a quiet close season for me, with the Republic of Ireland not being involved in the European finals, but because of the time I've had off, I feel that I have already had my summer and close season."

Talking of Harpers excellent performance over the last few weeks he said:

"I have to say Steve Harper, and indeed the rest of the lads, have been brilliant in the past few weeks, and this augurs well for next season.

Kevin Keegan is obviously the right man to manage this club, and I'm happy I'll be there with him next season."

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