IRELAND INTERNATIONAL DARREN O’Dea has today announced that he will retire from ‘full-time football’ at the end of the current season, but feels he has ‘plenty left in the tank’ as he turns his attention to coaching.
The 32-year-old won 19 international caps during a career which spanned nine clubs on three continents.
He is currently playing for Dundee, but this afternoon’s tweet stated that his long-term passion lay in coaching.
“It’s been a difficult decision as I feel I have plenty left in the tank, but my passion in life is now in another part of football – coaching.”
He added: “it’s a career I can’t wait to begin.”
The centre back came to prominence through the Celtic ranks and loan spells with Reading, Ipswich and Leeds United. In his mid 20s he sought out pastures new with Toronto FC and latterly Metalurg Donetsk and Mumbai City.
O’Dea flagged his international caps as the greatest honour of his career, before thanking the people he worked alongside inside the confines of each club.
“One special person I want to mention,” O’Dea adds, “is Tommy Burns. The man signed me at Celtic and started the whole dream off. He might have left us in body, but he’s never left in spirit.
“I thought about him every day as a player and you can guarantee he’ll be on my mind every day as a coach.”
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