In early February 2025 when Luke McNally suffered the knee injury that would eventually keep him out of football for 20 months, Liam Manning was still the club's manager.

McNally was on the sidelines for so long that he was out when Bristol City reached the play-offs for the first time in 17 years that May, when Manning departed, when Gerhard Struber replaced him and was sacked nine months later and when Roy Hodgson made a brief return to the Robins dugout this spring.

Seven of the players in City's starting XI the day McNally went down are no longer at the club, with the squad he unintentionally stepped out of completely overhauled to become the one he has come back into now under Michael Skubala.

"There was definitely times I wasn't sure if I'd come back or play a Championship game," McNally told BBC Sport.

"It's hard to describe the journey it's been because for a while the priority was to just be able to play golf and be able to walk and do daily stuff.

"There was a long time I wasn't able to do that. It was a tough journey but I'd have took a little bit longer for how I've come into the team and played so quickly."

Centre-back McNally initially suffered a ruptured anterior cruciate ligament (ACL) and said he was initially in denial at how serious it was, driving himself home from the game against Swansea and watching Ireland's Six Nations game against Scotland.

"I probably knew but I was refusing in my head - you never think it will be you," he said.

ACL injuries are ubiquitously described as among the worst any sportsperson can suffer, with a typical return taking nine to 12 months.

McNally's return however was further prolonged. He eventually underwent four surgeries as recurring problems crept up that were never sorted.

The 27-year-old said he spent a year "really struggling".

"I remember being at Ashton Gate watching games being very careful walking around for a lot of even Gerhard's time," he said.

"It made it feel like it [my knee] was made of glass really in day to day life."

The physical toll is one thing but as is often the case with serious injuries for athletes, the mental impact is just as hard.

Rather than training and playing with your team-mates, those out injured are either at home away from the squad or in sessions rehabilitating alone. McNally felt it more than most.

"You feel outcast not because of anyone but because of your situation," McNally said.

"My team-mates were so good to me, even the previous managers we had were very good to me - some I didn't play under - I was well looked after here but it was a very tough test.

"Ultimately you have no option but to keep going and it doesn't matter what you feel like you have a list of things to do every day and you tick them off and you get on with it."

McNally credits his team-mate Joe Williams with helping him keep motivation through his recovery.

Williams has endured his own injury issues and in July 2025 they stayed in Portugal following a team pre-season camp to continue their rehabilitation together.

"He's very good to lean on mentally because he'll remind you how good you are and remind you how good he is," he said.

"That rubbed off on me a little bit and he's a good person to be around."

'I'm just very grateful to be playing'

After so long out McNally's return to the starting line-up in recent weeks has felt rapid by contrast or in his words "a whirlwind".

He made his unofficial return in a friendly against Crystal Palace at the start of the month, scoring a goal, and has gone on to start three of the past four league games - playing the full 90 minutes in each.

"I couldn't be happier where I'm sitting at the minute from where I was," he added.

"I know we haven't had the best results recently but being selfish [I'm] just so happy to be playing, and not only playing but feeling I'm bringing something to the team, not being in the team for the sake of it."

As for how the period has changed his perspective, understandably it's given him a new appreciation for being able to play the game he loves.

"When you're out there [playing] you're not a pilot you're in flow state, you don't really stop and look around at the stand," he said.

"You start as a kid and to be in a stadium with 20-odd thousand people, it's a special achievement to be able to do that, which I forgot about until I got injured.

"It's a really good achievement that not a lot of players will realise until something tragic happens to you. I'm in a good position where I'm just very grateful to be playing."