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Everton FC has fought off a teenage football star's claim that a club physiotherapist's negligence destroyed his hopes of a top-flight career.

Attacking midfielder James Hall - who was just 15 when he was recruited by Everton's academy - sued the club, claiming massive damages for his pain and suffering and the loss of the untold riches he could have earned in the Premiership.

He accused the academy's top phsyio, Stephen Hardwick, of working him too hard after he twisted his knee in training, with the result that the injury turned septic and he would never again be fit enough for the professional game.

But top judge, Mr Justice King - whilst expressing 'sympathy' for the Glaswegian footballer's shattered hopes - today ruled that Mr Hardwick had acted competently and could not be blamed.

Mr Hall was just 15 when he joined Everton's academy on a two-year scholarship.

However, he had only been there a month when he suffered a devastating twisting injury to his left knee in training. Over the next two years, his life was taken over by a succession of operations and gruelling rehabilitation.

However, by September 2007, septic arthritis had set into the joint and doctors could do nothing to save his career.

The judge said: "On any view, he now has a knee which is unfit to withstand the rigours of a professional football career and has abandoned any lingering hope he had to pursue such a career following the catastrophic happenings to his knee".

Mr Hall's legal team claimed Mr Hardwick had started him running too early after an initial knee operation and put him through 'inappropriate activities' that ultimately led to the onset of infection and the failure of the surgical repair.

But the judge said: "Sympathetic though any court must be to what has befallen Mr Hall's knee at such a young age, I find it impossible to hold he has established any breach of duty against Mr Hardwick and thus Everton FC".

Mr Hardwick had gone by the book in designing Mr Hall's rehabilitation programme and there had been no 'red flags' to alert him that the teenager's return to fitness might not be going as planned.

The evidence was 'all one way' that Mr Hardwick had 'taken on board' any concerns that were raised about Mr Hall's progress and the judge rejected claims that he had fallen below the standards to be expected of a competent professional physio.

The club's doctor, Dr Jonathan Thomas, had admitted prior to the High Court hearing he was negligent in causing a two-day delay before the infection of Mr Hall's knee was properly treated in September 2007.

However, the judge ruled that the medic's mistake had little impact on the tragic outcome.

The knee repair would have failed in any event and Mr Hall's professional footballing dreams would have been over.

The ruling means that Mr Hall is entitled to modest compensation - which has yet to be assessed - from Dr Thomas for any additional pain and suffering he suffered due to the delay in treatment.

However, his much larger claim against Mr Hardwick and the club was dismissed.

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