60s 70s Spireite, on 01 July 2025 - 05:09 PM, said:
Exactly. Older players don’t retire because they are fed up with their job, but usually because injuries and general lack of fitness overtake them.
You just slow down. It’s not a lack of fitness.
You can be as fit as a fiddle, for a 40 yr and run marathons etc. but your just slower in everything you do.
If your a defender, and adjust position etc you can go on a bit longer generally as you might not need pace, or your team adapts to accommodate your being slower you can go on for a bit
Wark at Ipswich, Peter Shilton, Oggy, Stuart Pearce, Maldini and loads of others over the years. Our own CB Fadz.
Pirlo at the end sat in the centre circle doing his thing as did ZZ.
Ronaldo now plays more as a ten patrolling between the box and centre circle. And at a much slower lower standard so can save himself for Portugal where he’s now playing a role that the team has been adjusted to
The exception in terms of mobility and longevity would Zlatan IMO.
Back in the day on a Sunday Jim Brown couldn’t out pace me but my god he was an absolute nightmare to play against and try to mark