Wow. 40 last month. Me. I guess I am getting old! So, what does this alleged enforced maturity mean to me? Well, not much. I've been going grey since I was 17, so I've always been quite mature....... Ha-Ha-Ha-Ha-Ha-Ha !!!! I almost got through that without laughing :-) Anyone who knows me will know that I am a stange mix of maturity an immaturity. In fact, the word 'strange' sums me up quite well! I don't think of myself as an immature 40 year old, but more as a mature 20 year old in an overweight 40 year old's body..... For example, I am still playing soccer-6 for fun and also competitively on a Monday night. OK, I am only playing as a goalkeeper at the moment, but other than being more overweight than normal at the moment, I don't feel any different to how I did when I was 20. Yes, I know that this 'getting older' thing creeps up on you, but I honestly feel and act the same as I did at 20. I reckon that as a 'keeper, I have another 10 years of playing at this level in me, and maybe even more. When I first came to Carlisle, there was a guy called Cyril Fell who used to play in the same session as me, and he was late 40s at the time. I'll keep playing at whatever level I can get a game.
So, how long should someone keep on playing soccer in the top leagues? Well, 35-38 seems to be the usual age for outfield players to 'drop' from the top Tier to lower tiers, and this seems to increase the further back you move on the pitch until you get to the goalkeepers who seem to be able to keep playing into their 40s, when you think of some of the greats such as Jennings, Schmeichel, Bonetti, Seaman etc.
At the other end of this spectrum, we of course come to the young players just starting out on their careers, and Mr Westward-Ho! is a good example of a 'keeper showing excellent early promise in his career, with both shot-stopping and cross-taking abilities. Hopefully Carlisle can hang onto him as we (fingers crossed) continue our rise through the league structure, and that Carlisle will now be able to bring through more and more young players via a burgeoning youth system. Although it was during the Knighton era, we should remember what a good youth system we had in the mid-1990s, producing so many good players like Delap, Jansen, Murray, Boertien, Caig, etc.
We may now be seeing a return to those glorious days of Cumbrian fans watching The Cumbrians fielding a team full of Cumbrians. Don't get me wrong, I am happy with many of the non-Cumbrian players currently playing for us, but doesn't it make you feel happier and prouder when you know that there is a Cumbrian out there trying his best for his fellow Cumbrians?
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