YORK City's forgotten man, veteran defender Chris Fairclough, is edging ever closer to fitness.

But the former City skipper is refusing to rush back too soon after revealing for the first time he endured two operations on his troubled knee this summer.

It was believed the former Leeds and Tottenham ace had gone under the surgeon's knife just once, in a minor operation to have his knee cleaned out.

However, the 36-year-old has told the Evening Press that operation revealed an added problem that required more surgery.

"It is taking longer to get back to full fitness than I hoped because I had some complications with the knee," he confessed.

"The first operation involved a clean-up of the knee and cartilage.

"But it revealed a tendinitis problem, patella tendinitis, which meant I had to go back in about ten days later and they tidied that up as well.

"Obviously, that did put me back and it affected the healing of the knee. It was a setback and put back the recovery a bit."

However, Fairclough, who won a top-flight championship medal with Leeds, is now fully on the mend.

Back in training, the knee now just requires time rather than treatment he said.