BARKER DECIDES TO HANG UP HIS BOOTS
BURTON defender Shaun Barker will call time on his career at the end of the season.
The 35-year-old joined the Brewers from Derby two summers ago but played just two minutes of football in 2017 and has not featured at all for the first team this year.
And Barker has reluctantly admitted it is time to hang up his boots.
He said: “It was only about six or seven weeks ago. I did a training session and was top of the pile in terms of distance covered and sprints and stuff like that.
“So, I felt physically good enough. I played in a game where I played 45 minutes and felt pretty good in that and then, two days later, I was struggling to walk.
“From that moment, I knew the comeback that I was probably hoping for was never going to happen.
“I spoke to the manager (Nigel Clough) on Monday after a few weeks of deliberation and decided that, at the end of the season, that’ll be it for me in terms of playing.”
The fact that Barker had been working so hard to make himself available to play after a four-year absence from the game with a knee injury while at Derby says wonders for his character.
And manager Nigel Clough said: “It’s always brilliant to have someone like Shaun around. He’s had a magnificent career and it could have been even more.
“Getting the injury at his prime was tragic for him. He’s given it everything and no player could have tried harder than him to come back.
“His influence goes way beyond the pitch and that’s a sign of what he is like as a person.
“Supporters remember him performance-wise, but those who know him as well as his team-mates know him for more than that.”