STEPHEN CARR HAS admitted defeat in his bid to beat injury and return to football.
The former Republic of Ireland international announced his retirement this morning and will now take a break to pursue his business interests in Spain.
A knee injury ruled Carr out of the 2012/2013 season and despite three surgeries and his best efforts to get back to full fitness, the Birmingham City defender conceded that now is the time to call it a day.
“I am 37 in August and I’ve had a good innings in the end,” the Dubliner said in a statement. “My knee has lasted out quite well but it comes to the stage where enough is enough with it.”
His last competitive appearance was in February 2012 when he played just 12 minutes of the Blues’ FA Cup clash against Chelsea.
I felt OK in pre-season but unfortunately my knee just crumbled away,” he said. “It was unfortunate for me and the club.
We knew there was a chance something could happen, but we didn’t think it would be that early. It just wasn’t meant to be in the end.
(Barrington Coombs/EMPICS Sport)
After a long and successful career in the Premier League with Tottenham Hotspur and then with Newcastle, Carr originally announced his decision to retire in December 2008, but after a brief spell out of the game he returned to Birmingham where he carried on playing for three more seasons.
“The last time I stopped playing I was 31 and it was because I couldn’t get a club. This time it’s different.
If I was 31 again, I’d be very disappointed but it was lucky I got back into the game and had a couple of great years here, which I thoroughly enjoyed and never saw happening when I originally finished.
Carr made his Ireland debut against Sweden in 1999 and went on to win 44 caps. Injury ruled him out of what should have been his crowning moment in green, the 2002 World Cup in Korea and Japan, and after Ireland’s failed bid to qualify for the 2006 tournament under Brian Kerr, he retired from international football.
He later returned at the start of the Euro 2008 campaign before definitively walking away in late 2007.
He now plans to relocate to Spain where he is involved with Sala Group Holdings who operate restaurants and clubs in tourist hotspot Marbella.
