David Artell / David Artell / 30 January 2008 / Leave a comment " class="free-bet-btn" rel="external" onclick="javascript: pageTracker._trackPageview('/G4/inline-freebet');" target="_blank">Free Bet

Morecambe's star defender David Artell talks about the right time to retire as a footballer, ballons on pitches, Morecambe's newest player and "Headbuttgate"

This week has seen former Betfair columnist Gary Speed saying he would like to play for another 1½ years taking him to nearly forty years of age before he retires. I'm not sure what a good age is to call it a day but Gary Speed has had a fantastic career and when he does eventually retire I'm sure he will continue to be in football on the coaching side of the game. Every manager I've played under always tell us that we don't know how lucky we are as players and should carry on playing for as long as possible. When former players are telling us as players to play for as long as possible then there's no reason why Gary Speed shouldn't carry on for another 1½ years.

Adam Gilchrist this week retired from playing cricket for Australia after talking it through with his family. Gilchrist couldn't understand why other players had retired when he thought they had plenty of cricket left in them. When Gilchrist asked the likes of Justin Langer and Damien Martyn, who have retired recently, they told Gilchrist that you just wake up one day knowing it's the right time to call it a day. I'm sure Gary Speed will wake up one day not too far away and announce that he's to stop playing football but until he's ready he'll be a real asset to Sheffield United.

Talking of Sheffield United, they had a good result in the FA Cup last weekend defeating Manchester City thanks mainly to some balloons! You have to feel sorry for Michael Ball because the ball did deviate from its intended course. He should come and play on some of the pitches in League 2. You have to try and read the 'bobble' of the ball as its coming to you as not all the pitches are as flat as those in the Premiership or Championship. I've played in games where the reason we have lost is solely down to the state of the pitch.

The team that passes the ball and tries to play football in the correct manner gets penalised more than a team that just whacks it long and are accustomed to the dreadful state of the pitch.

With the transfer deadline upon us I'm sure there will be one or two more big signings in the Premiership. At Morecambe the gaffer has only brought in one player so far and loaned out two others to get some first team action. We've got to wait for international clearance before Henry McStay can officially sign for us but he will compete for the right back spot with Adam Yates. He's signed from Royal Antwerp which goes to show how far the gaffer and assistant manager Mark Lillis will go to sign a player.

Having been in the game for so long the gaffer and 'Lills' have extensive connections which helps unearth talent that other clubs at our level might not have spotted. Another player that we are interested in is currently playing in the Caribbean but I'm not sure what stage that deal is at currently so I better not say too much. However, it once again proves how far the gaffer and 'Lills' are prepared to go to better the 'family'.

Arsene Wenger has this week defended the team spirit at Arsenal after the spat between Emmanuel Adebayor and Nicolas Bendtner. I suppose you have to credit both players for their passion as they were obviously hurting from getting a drubbing from their bitter rivals but when things start to get personal, (which it did if reports are accurate as to what Adebayor said to Bendtner), then there is going to be a little unrest.

I've been involved in games where players from the same side have squared up to each other but have never aimed a head butt or come to blows like Bowyer and Dyer did at Newcastle a few years back. Although Arsenal have enjoyed success against a poor Newcastle side since the incident, Manchester City at Eastlands might be the first test of their re-galvanised team spirit as Manchester City might push them all the way. Winning 3-0 at home doesn't have a propensity to highlight any problems, its tends to be when you're losing that highlights them. This week I'm going to lay an Arsenal clean sheet at [2.86] as I think Manchester City will score against an Arsenal defence weakened by Toure and Eboue's absences at the African Cup of Nations.

David Artell plays for Morecambe FC:

https://www.morecambefc.com/

Tags: Adebayor, David Artell, football betting, Morecambe FC