I CAN’T FINISH MY CAREER LIKE THIS
Adders’ Obi wants to end on a high
MUCH-VAUNTED Joe Obi is facing crunch talks with FA Vase heroes Atherstone Town this summer – but he won’t be heading to the manager’s office anytime soon.
The 33-year-old striker had planned to retire at the end of the current campaign but now faces a crisis meeting of a difficult kind as he tries to convince his wife to support his decision to play on for another year.
Obi helped the Step 6 Adders to a memorable season, reaching the last eight of the FA Vase and a promotion tilt in Midland League Division One before the season ground to a premature halt. So, how could he not come back?
“I said at the start of this season that this one would be my last, but I can’t finish on a season that didn’t even end,” he told The NLP.
“I’ll almost certainly carry on next year because you’re a long time retired. It would be difficult for me to call it a day with the season ending like this.
“At the moment I’m being the model husband. I’ve never washed and tidied up so many times in my life. I think she’s milking it a bit, to be honest. She knew she’d let me do another season.
“We definitely think we have a case of unfinished business. We didn’t start the season well, but we’d picked up over the last few months, so we were looking forward to the run-in and climbing up the table to where we think we belong.
“It’s a bit of a strange one. I didn’t agree with the points-pergame idea because some teams like us had loads of games in hand and were planning on a big end to the season.”
Devastating
Obi had a brief spell in the dugout this season after manager Ivor Green left the club, but, for now, his only focus is to get back out on the pitch and finish things normally.
“I was already training for a marathon at the end of April, but it’s been cancelled,” Obi said. “I’ve kept up the training so I would have always been ready to go again just in case the season did restart.
“To just void the season is crazy. I think they should’ve found a way to finish the season even if it meant delaying the start to next season.
“I feel sorry for the teams that were looking like getting promoted. But, it is what it is, they’ll just have to go again.
“As far as Atherstone are concerned, I’m actually glad we got knocked out of the FA Vase when we did because it would’ve been absolutely devastating if it had ended like this.”