Gillingham player-coach Nicky Southall is putting off retirement for one more season and will be registered for the forthcoming campaign. But the 39-year-old acknowledges this will probably be his last season before he hangs up his boots. He took on his new coaching responsibilities last season and a mixture of those commitments and injuries meant he only played one game last season. Southall, made his Gills debut in 1997 and is now 10th in the club's all-time appearance charts with 374 games. He said: "I am still going to be registered as a player/coach again but it will probably be my final season. "I always said I would like to retire in my 40th year so who knows? "I might force my way back into the team but this is my new occupation as a coach now. "The coaching part is now my main focal point and we will see if we can go one better than last season." Southall expects to be mainly used as emergency cover and does not anticipate exerting the knee that kept him out of action last season too regularly.
I love Southall and glad hes keeping himself an option in case we need that cover i.e injuries to both our right backs
Can only be a positive thing really if it's an emergency. Bit of a Gills legend so bit of a swan song possibly?
I would like to see an appearence from him from the bench a couple times( when were 3 nil up), is a true gills legend
hoping we dont need him, just a last 15 mins or so @ the end of the season so we can give a good send off as a player,
