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Ross McCormack, 40, speaks on signing for 9th tier club and falling back in love with football

EFL legend Ross McCormack, 40, speaks on signing for 9th tier club Knaresborough Town and falling back in love with football.

Earlier this week, the Northern Counties East League Premier Division outfit announced the addition of the ‘experienced striker’ who ‘joins with an incredible career behind him, having represented Rangers, Leeds United and Aston Villa’.

He wrote via Instagram that he “will now play as long as I can”, after speaking of turning his life around having admitted he had become depressed.

Ross told BBC Sport North Yorkshire: “So you just fall out of love with the game and you start eating, you start drinking, you fall into a little bit depression, you’re struggling, you put weight on and it becomes a hard cycle to break.

“I think I’ve done that now. Like I say, I’m training. I’m a lot trimmer, a lot fitter, probably a lot happier as well. In fact, definitely a lot happier.

“And that’s just why I want to keep it going. Now I hate thinking about it because when I retired at 32 you’d think, why didn’t you just keep playing? Why did I not just keep playing?

“But I’ve got a chance now and I want to play for as long as I possibly can. Who knows what age that will be.”

Interviewer: “And I guess as well, like you alluded to it there, like helping the players here, the club, whether that’s on the pitch or off the pitch, it gives you a reason to get up and come here, doesn’t it?

“And hopefully, you know, with someone like you, all those games, all those goals and be about sharing that experience.”

Ross: That’s exactly what it is is sharing the experience as a couple of younger people within the squad and probably a couple of older heads as well, probably around the building who haven’t really experienced too much in terms of football as well.

“So just anything I can do to help, I’m always willing to do it. I’ve said that to Neil, that I’m happy to do anything. they’re at different signings, if they need me to speak to any player to sell the club to them and stuff like that, then I’m happy to do it.”

Knaresborough co-managing director Neil Reaney outlines his vision for the club:

“No, it feels great. It feels great to give something back and you know our aspirations for the club is to make it a community hub for Knaresborough.

“We’re looking at some grand plans on developing the pitch, the stadium around here that you can see, the floodlights, the clubhouse, getting a lounge upstairs and building on two floors.

“I think it’s really important to make this the hub of the community that people can come to, that we can have younger teams come in and training on a 3G pitch and it be used all the year round really so that’s what we’re after.”

Interviewer: “How important is it for a place like Knaresborough? Towns like this you say that your aspirations of making it that community hub, how important is that to the local area?”

Neil: “I think it is, I think it just brings people together. I I see on a Saturday now I see some similar faces, new faces sometimes.

“But we want to make sure that people feel it’s inclusive and they can come here, have a good afternoon watching the team and let’s see where we can take it.

“I mean we put no marker on where we can actually take the club but I think we, with the backing of Rob, myself and all the leadership team that are absolutely fantastic, all the volunteers here, it’s incredible what goes into running a grassroots football club but for me this is the start and I think we can progress.”

MCCORMACK’S CAREER:

Youth career
Rangers SABC
2002–2004 – Rangers

Senior
2004–2006 – Rangers – 14 games (4 goals)
2006 → Doncaster Rovers (loan) – 19 games (5 goals)
2006–2008 – Motherwell – 57 games (14 goals)
2008–2010 – Cardiff City – 88 games (30 goals)
2010–2014 – Leeds United – 158 games (58 goals)
2014–2016 – Fulham – 100 games (42 goals)
2016–2019 – Aston Villa – 24 games (3 goals)
2017 → Nottingham Forest (loan) – 7 games (1 goal)
2017–2018 → Melbourne City (loan) – 17 games (14 goals)
2018–2019 → Central Coast Mariners (loan) – 5 games (1 goal)
2019 → Motherwell (loan) – 4 games (0 goals)
2020–2021 – Aldershot Town
2023–2024 – Liversedge
2024 – Doncaster City
2026 – Giffnock North AAC
2026- Knaresborough Town

International career
2006–2008 – Scotland U21 – 10 games (3 goals)
2007 – Scotland B – 1 games (0 goals)
2008–2016 – Scotland – 13 games (2 goals)

here’s how social media users reacted after Ross McCormack, 40, speaks on signing for a 9th tier club and falling back in love with football…

@jockyb74: Great for Fulham, should never have left!

@bethgabriel_: Bloody hell 😂 what a player he was for leeds 🥹

@ScottCrabby: What a signing!

@allansmith1981: All the best Rossco 👍 👏👏👏

@nevh1958: Amazing! Saw him many, many times at Elland Road – be good to see him again with his boots on.

@NCELITK: Great to see our local team bringing in a player with such pedigree!

@gdlufc: Ross McCormack playing for my hometown. Things you never thought you’d see.

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