Everton legend Tim Cahill has finally hung up his boots at the grand young age of 39.
With a playing career that began at Australian side Sydney United, he made the switch to Millwall in 1997 and seriously impressed in over 200 games for the side. So much so, we paid a reported £1.5million to secure his services in 2004 and the Aussie quickly wrote himself into our history books, taking the adulation of the Goodison Park faithful.
An eight-year spell ensured where he made well over 200 appearances for us, and scored a whopping 68 goals – Soccerbase – and for those fans a little more conscious of the game back then, well, his status as a hero was seen first hand.
Having moved on from Everton in 2012 he had stints with NY Red Bulls, Shanghai Shenhua, Hangzhou Greentown, Melbourne City, a return to Millwall and then an Indian adventure with Jamshedpur.
His legendary status in the game is only added to by his 100-plus camps for his country where he almost had a one goal in two appearance ratio – registering himself as their highest ever goalscorer in history.
A top man and a top player and others saw the best of him compared to me. If only we could find another one, or five, we’d be absolutely laughing.
Quoted by Sky Sports he explained that when this deal ran out, his playing days were over.
“No, I’m an old man now in football years. I’d love to keep playing, you know, 39, had a great stint for six months in India. But I’m interested in TV, going to start my A Licence, and spending quality time with my family and chilling out for a bit. It was amazing to play in four big continents. I had a great career and I’m really thankful. I’m someone that massively respects the game and I’ll take my time to learn more. Coaching is something that’s definitely going to be on the horizon.”
Would be fantastic to hear some real first hand memories of the man for the benefit of younger fans.