There comes a time in every professional footballer’s career where they have to think about hanging up the boots.
At the age of 36, former Dundee and St Johnstone defender Gary Irvine is contemplating that very decision.
During his 15-year senior career, the ex-Celtic youth player has won three league titles and two Challenge Cups.
To date, he has 461 career appearances to his name, with the last seven of those coming as a player-manager.
That’s after he took on caretaker charge at Forfar Athletic following Stuart Malcolm’s departure in April.
Now he has the job full-time and is excited about the challenge of trying to get the Loons back into League One.
To play or not to play?
But will he keep on adding to those 461 matches as a player next season?
Both Irvine and first-team coach Gary Harkins featured in Forfar’s pre-season friendly against Dundee last weekend.
With the likes of Gordon Strachan, Derek McInnes and Tony Docherty all willing to be called on when needed, Irvine certainly won’t be short of advice.
And he has been seeking opinions from those who have combined the roles of player and manager in the past.
However, he remains conflicted.
“We are registered, we are options,” he said of himself and Harkins.
“If there are players there who can do a better job than myself or Gary then ideal.
“That means our voices are then on the side to help the boys.
“We’ll see how it goes.
“It’s a tricky one. I’ve had mixed reports and spoken to a lot of experienced people in the game who have given it a bash in their career.
“Some like it, others say it’s very difficult to do both jobs and it is very time consuming.
Judging on the end of last season, I still like getting a feel of things by being in about it on the pitch.
“Equally I know it’s also important for me to be on the side and to be making decisions on the side.
“I’ll keep weighing it up and each game will be different as the season goes.”
University course and time at Dundee
The opportunity to step into management may have come a little unexpectedly for Irvine.
However, he admits he has planned to become a club boss for some time now.
So much so that he undertook a university course during the coronavirus lockdown.
He had also been coaching the youth teams at former club Dundee alongside current Dens boss James McPake and Scott Robertson, now Irvine’s assistant manager at Station Park.
So the opportunity may have come as a surprise for the 36-year-old but it certainly wasn’t a situation he was unprepared for.
“I’ve known for a while in my career I wanted to be a manager,” he said.
“When you creep towards the 30s you start thinking about it. I started coaching at Dundee and I have my own ideas for the game.
“It’s maybe just the character I am, I’ve always been in leading positions, captaining teams and taking an interest in the game.
“I always liked the thought of progressing into management.
“Yes, it did come quick last season.
“The way it happened I still had the player’s head on.
“But I quickly tuned the head in, got stuck into management and really started to enjoy it.
“Tony Doc came in and helped me and we got a wee reaction at the end of last season as well, though we just came up short.
“I did prepare for management, I actually did a university course on applied management in football.
“I always had that feeling of being a manager one day.
“So when the world was a crazy place and I had a lot of time on my hands, I sat through a university course and got myself educated that way.
“It was about preparing to be a manager so it’s something I’ve always been building towards.”
‘I’ve grown with the club’
In Forfar, Irvine feels he has the perfect club to put what he has learned over the past few years to good use.
The Loons dropped out of League One last season after a disappointing campaign that saw them more-or-less rooted to the foot of the table.
Now in charge, Irvine wants to give the returning Forfar fans something to shout about in the games to come.
“I’m looking forward to it,” he added.
“I obviously had a taste for it at the end of last season.
“Yes, the club fell short but we are coming in to a tough season ahead. Everything I’ve been dealing with, building the squad, putting together pre-season and now games starting only adds to the excitement.
“I think it’ll be a good challenge this season and our squad is nearly there.
“The way I’ve progressed from player to captain then assistant manager and now manager, I’ve kind of grown with the club.
“And I grew close to the club as well. I’m just desperate to do well for the club and give the fans a good season ahead.”
Forfar kick off the new season at home to Ross County in the Premier Sports Cup on July 10.
Their League Two campaign then gets under way at Annan on July 31.
