Former Norwich wide player David Bell yesterday launched a thinly-veiled attack on Glenn Roeder's Carrow Road regime after being forced to cut short his injury-hit Championship campaign.

Former Norwich wide player David Bell yesterday launched a thinly-veiled attack on Glenn Roeder's Carrow Road regime after being forced to cut short his injury-hit Championship campaign.

Bell is to finally undergo long standing ankle surgery that has restricted him to just eight Coventry appearances since his January transfer window move.

The 25-year-old's Norwich bow was delayed nearly three months earlier this season with the same problem after Roeder had headed off late summer interest from the Sky Blues to sign the cultured Luton midfielder.

Bell has now revealed he was forced to shelve plans for ankle surgery on his initial arrival at Carrow Road before making 20 appearances in his brief spell.

Roeder publicly denied rumours linking Bell with a surprise Ricoh switch in December but the former Irish youth international eventually completed his Midlands move just a fortnight after Roeder's exit.

“I am disappointed that the [Coventry] fans haven't really seen the best of me yet, and it was the same when I signed for Norwich injured,” he said. “I was all set to get my operation done then, but for whatever reason - which I don't really want to get into - I didn't get it done and I started playing games. But if you play games and you are injured you are not going to perform to your maximum but I have done fine and managed to play.

“It is a shame that my season has been cut short. My aim was always to see the season out. I have needed my operation since the start of the season and thought that with seven or eight games to go I could see it through. But it makes sense to get it done now because it is an eight to ten-week recovery period and I want to make sure I am fit and ready come August.”

Bell confirmed his persistent ankle problem stemmed from pre-season training with the Hatters.

“I have got a ligament that runs across the bottom of my ankle which tore off in the pre-season,” he said. “When it did that it took a bit of bone with it, so every time I strike a ball or twist and turn to push off from my right side I get this impingement and really sharp pain, so I can't strike the ball the way I can with my left.

“As a result I am putting a lot more strain on the left side of my body than I should be. I picked up a calf strain last week and I am getting a tight hamstring and back as well, so hopefully if all goes well with the surgery then it will sort itself out because I want to be fit and ready to get a good pre-season.

"To be honest I have probably played 25 or 26 games with needing surgery so I have done pretty well to get this far, and if someone had said at the start of the season when I needed the operation that I was going to start that many games I would have been over the moon.”