The striker has called time on his career after three years out of action.
Matty Fryatt of Nottingham Forest
The former England under-19 international came to the fore at Walsall before a successful five-year stint at Leicester City, three years at Hull City before ending his career at Nottingham Forest. He also spent time on loan at Carlisle United and Sheffield Wednesday.
Fryatt will be remembered fondly at Walsall, Leicester and Hull – but his time at Forest was always enigmatic.
He played just 26 games in his three-season spell at the City Ground scoring six times. His last appearance for the club was against Charlton Athletic on the 3rd March 2015, a month shy of three years ago.
Matty Fryatt of Forest is congratulated
His career was eventually ended by achilles injuries, which saw him have three operations and in constant pain.
Speaking to the Guardian as he confirmed his retirement he spoke of his time at Forest, which certainly did not sound like an enjoyable experience.
He stated:
“They paid my wages and for most of the operations apart from a procedure at the end which I sorted myself separately, so I can’t grumble at that.
“But nobody was accountable for things. If I was at another club, people would have been wondering what was going on with me. At Forest it was like I was a car on the driveway, rusting away and they thought: ‘Just leave it, we’ll get a new car.’
“I’d get further down the line and nobody would ask: ‘What’s happening with this rusting car? Are we going to get him in to service and back on the road?’ I just got lost and forgotten a bit.”
In an amazing line from the article, it is revealed that he never even met one of the many Forest managers that came and went during his time at the club. Frenchman Philippe Montanier and Fryatt never got acquainted.
Philippe Montanier
It is perhaps indicative of the inconsistent running of the club under previous owner Fawaz Al Hasawi that a striker with a proven track record of scoring in the Championship was seemingly left to rot.
He is of course grateful for the work they did medically on his injury issues, but from a footballing perspective, it must have been extremely disheartening for Fryatt.
The big striker never got the chance to thrive at Forest like he had at his previous clubs, injury robbing him of a chance to be a Forest favourite.
Fans have been reacting to the news, and the article, on Twitter with some very interesting comments:
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