East Kilbride News

All work and no play means Robbie signs off

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Robbie Winters has quit East Kilbride this week - but hasn’t ruled out returning to his home town team for a third spell in the future.

The 42-year-old , from Jackton, signed for Kilby in the summer as a player/coach, however the former Aberdeen hitman has left K-Park due to work commitment­s and a lack of first team action.

This is the second time in as many seasons Winters has cut short his spell with the Lowland League side. Last season Billy Ogilvie signed Winters for Kilby but he quit after just one month.

Current EK gaffer Martin Lauchlan, who Winters played under two seasons ago at Junior side Rossvale, brought him back to K-Park at the end of July.

However, the form of strikers such as Joao Victoria and Ross McNeil – plus the signing of Jack Smith last week – means Winters’ first team opportunit­ies have become limited.

He told the News: “I’m disappoint­ed to leave, but it’s come down to a mixture of my work and not playing as often as I would like.

“I have the option to work a Saturday or a Sunday and a lot of the time I’m maybe just getting five minutes of football on a Saturday. It’s coming up for Christmas now and I’m getting very busy at work, so I think it’s time to move on.

“The door is still open for me to come back to the club in a coaching role in the future. I’ve left on very good terms and there’s no bad feelings at all.

“But I’m still at an age where I want to be playing regularly.

“I know Martin wants to strengthen his squad in January and he’s just brought in Jack as well. That’s great for the manager to have lots of competitio­n.

“I have different qualities to the rest of the boys, but they’ve got more in their legs than me.”

Winters has scored four goals this season, including a brace in the 9-1 Scottish Cup first round win over Vale of Leithen in

September.

He played a part in helping Kilby break Ajax’s world record for consecutiv­e wins last week, coming on as a substitute in the historic 3-1 win over BSC Glasgow.

And he added:“It’s been great and I have enjoyed it.

“The boys have been tremendous and nobody would have thought they’d go so long unbeaten.

“I really hope they continue this run and do well against Stranraer in the Scottish Cup in a couple of weeks. “I’ll be cheering them on.” Lauchlan said“Robbie will be a big loss in the dressing room as he is a great character.

“His fitness at 42 is incredible and everyone at EK wishes him well.”

 ??  ?? Moving on Robbie Winters has called time on his second stint at East Kilbride
Moving on Robbie Winters has called time on his second stint at East Kilbride

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