Darren Anderton signs off with a goal

therecklessone

Anderton retires

Bournemouth's humble Dean Court and some 4,000 spectators for a mundane League Two fixture would hardly appear to be a fitting end to an 18-year career which also took in Portsmouth, Birmingham and Wolves.

But after a final 2½ years with Bournemouth, Anderton, now 36, is retiring to pursue interests in property development and pioneering a solar-powered mobile phone charger.

Anderton did not find he was lacking enthusiasm for matches, even at the wrong end of the league, but for the daily grind of training. There was nothing more for him to prove.

For legions of fans in his heyday he will be known simply as 'Sicknote', an epithet he feels undeserved because facts tend to disprove the theory that large chunks of his career were spent on the treatment table.

The match with Chester will be the 568th of his domestic span. Add to that 30 caps, admittedly spread over eight years from 1994, and a few more for England B and the Under-21s and the retirement total will top 600, not bad for someone supposedly perpetually injured.

As a final ironic flourish, until the midweek draw at Luton, where Anderton was an unused substitute, the Southampton-born winger was the only Bournemouth player to have been involved in every match this season. "It will be a sad occasion," he said. "But I've done everything I set out to do as a kid, including playing for my country.

"Retirement is something I've been considering for a month or more and it's better to stop while I'm still enjoying it. Sometimes I think people wondered what I was doing at this level but I've absolutely loved it. I planned to stay for a year and I'm going after two and a half."

His farewell will be a far cry from his England days in Euro 96 and the 1998 World Cup, where he scored against Colombia, and from cup-winning days under George Graham.

"I've had a tremendous time. Growing up in Southampton I wanted to play for them, but when they didn't want me I joined Portsmouth."

The son of a Scottish-born furniture remover, Anderton excelled as a cross-country runner as a schoolboy, the long strides later to become so familiar on the football pitches.

Tottenham took him for £1.75 million after he caught the eye in Portsmouth's run to the 1992 FA Cup semi-finals. "Jim Smith, our manager, said Terry Venables wanted me and I asked him what I should do. 'I would go if I was you,' he said, and off I went."

Now Anderton is sliding off into footballing retirement, ready for some travelling with his girlfriend and some morning lie-ins, certain that he has given his best.

"It's going to be a funny feeling," he said.

Signs off with the only goal in a 1-0 win at home to Chester in the dying minutes. Well done shaggy/sicknote, could have had a wonderful career at Spurs but was seriously hampered by injuries, yet he still managed nearly 600 games all told in his career.

Best of luck :cool:

KingdomYid

here here,was a great servant for club despite all his injuries,will always remember that goal against leeds in the cup what a cracker.

Kold

pioneering a solar-powered mobile phone charger

Wat? lol. Anderton was one of my favourite players when I first started following Spurs properly (was always going to be Teddy and Jurgen wasn't it?). If it wasn't for the injuries, probably would've been a legend.

tippspur

Yes,a great player for spurs, happy retirement to Darren, for me he's a spurs legend some might disagree on here ???

John W

tippspur wrote: »

Yes,a great player for spurs, happy retirement to Darren, for me he's a spurs legend some might disagree on here ???

He's not retired, just changed jobs, Wonda if he will call in sick on his first day:D