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Jamie Devitt opens up on life in non league after feeling ‘lost’ with 15-year career ended by injury

Jamie Devitt opens up on life in non league after feeling ‘lost’ with his 15-year full-time career ended by injury problems.

The 33 year old currently plays for Workington, who currently sit 8th (just outside the playoffs) in the Northern Premier League Premier Division.

He kicked off his professional career with Hull he made 16 league appearances over a five-year spell and also went out on loan with the likes of Darlington, Shrewsbury, Grimsby (twice), Bradford, Accrington and Rotherham before he found a permanent club, Chesterfield, in 2013.

He spent a further loan spell with Morecambe before joining them on a permanent contract, but it was in 2016 he signed for Carlisle where he went on to make 110 league appearances in a three-year spell before joining Blackpool.

Having failed to feature in a single game, he moved on to Newport, back to Bradford and then to Barrow before returning to Carlisle in the 2022–23 season.

He has also made one appearances for the Republic of Ireland U21 back in 2011.

Fast forward to the 30th of May 2023, after Carlisle won promotion to the EFL League One, and manager Paul Simpson said Devitt would be released when his contract expired.

The key reason was the player’s recurrent fitness problems, and now, Jamie has spoken about the “limbo” of life after full-time football.

He needed surgery on a hamstring tear which he picked up in Carlisle’s defeat against Salford City in April.

Since then, he’s been scouting for Carlisle and also made two substitute appearances for Workington, while also helping Danny Grainger with coaching.

In an interview with BBC Radio Cumbria, Devitt spoke of the difficulties he faced coming to terms with the realisation that his career ended much shorter than he would have hoped.

Devitt said the decision on his retiring from full-time football was made for him when he received no offers from other clubs after the expiry of his contract.

“It’s hard, it’s sad. It happens to everyone but you don’t realise it happens to everyone until you step out of it yourself,” he said.

“You are checking your phone every day but nothing’s happening. It’s a harsh reality, but that’s life and I’ve learned to deal with it a little bit better now.

“I can’t say I explored the EFL but when my phone didn’t ring it was an easy decision.

“You don’t realise what’s around the corner, you really don’t, and a lot of footballers don’t plan for it.

“I didn’t plan for it so I’m in a stage now where I don’t know what to do or where I’m at, to be honest.

“Danny has helped me because it’s given me a little bit of stability in knowing what I’m doing on certain days of the week. It’s just learning to deal with a lot of things.”

“I’m not thinking of that at all,” he said in regards to his playing career being over, even if his professional days are done. “I’ve got my head around going part-time, which was really tough at the start. I’ve got my head round that and a few other things I’m trying to get on with as well.

“I’ve come to terms with it a little bit better than at the start.

“I’m not thinking in my head, ‘I want to get back in full time.’ I’m fully enjoying helping Danny with the coaching side of it as well so I’m trying to look forward.

“I’ve spoken to a lot of people about what I’m going to do but I’m in a limbo stage at the moment where I don’t know what to do day to day, and I’m struggling doing nothing day-to-day.”

While Devitt sadly couldn’t feature in the League Two playoff final win against Stockport, something which was tough to take, he has been helping other players at the club.

“I had the younger lads at Carlisle coming and asking for advice, and I really enjoyed it,” he said.

“It was more when I’d done my hamstring in the Salford game, I had a lot of calls – because I wasn’t in for two weeks after that – from lads asking advice.

“It made me feel better because I felt I didn’t want to come back into the group at all during the play-offs because of the way I was feeling, but I felt like I needed to help them – and it helped me, massively, knowing I was probably helping them a little bit.

“It makes you feel good. It makes you feel wanted or needed, because when you come out your phone stops ringing and you’re lost.”

On life in non league: “It’s been good. I’ve only played 15 minutes and 15 minutes but we’ll slowly build it up that way. It was a weird feeling going back on to a pitch.

“That Salford game, in my head that was me done, but over the summer the hunger came back. I think it was seeing us, Carlisle, winning the play-off final that did it, that put a big fire back in my belly.

“I felt like I was missing something because I missed out on that game. It was my dream to play at Wembley and I’ve not been able to do it.”

You can read more from Devitt, with this interview on the same situation, on difficulties of the last few months including feeling “low” and getting help from the Professional Footballers’ Association (PFA).

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