Ex-Hartlepool United captain and Chelsea Football Icon star announces retirement

Magnay has called time on his career after sustaining a significant knee injury which, as a result, has seen him step into a coaching role at the Gateshead International Stadium. Magnay joined Rob Elliot and Louis Storey in forming the new interim management team with the Heed following Mike Williamson’s recent departure to MK Dons.

The 34-year-old has made two appearances for Gateshead this season but will now focus on maintaining the Heed’s promotion push and begin outright on a coaching career he believes he will be ‘better suited’ to.

“I always dreamed bigger but I never quite hit them heights,” said Magnay.

"But I always felt like I would achieve more as a coach and I was better suited. So this is a phase I’m really excited about.”

Magnay spent four years with Hartlepool from 2015 after spells with Grimsby Town, Gateshead and Northampton prior. He went on to make well over 100 appearances for Pools and remained following their relegation to the National League in 2017.

But despite carving out a respectable career in non-league, Magnay admits he felt his time in football should have been better after how he arrived on the scene at Chelsea when winning reality TV show Football Icon as a teenager. The defender was the star of the shows second series which earned him a short-term contract at Stamford Bridge where he formed part of Brendan Rodgers’ reserve team.

Magnay spent almost five years with Chelsea before returning to his native North East having suffered a first ACL injury in that time.

“It wasn’t a career that I envisaged. I was definitely more ambitious in my head, particularly with how it started,” Magnay explained to Gateshead’s club website upon confirming his retirement.

“The danger is when you’re part of an elite club like Chelsea your expectations automatically become very high so when I found myself at National League level at the end of my contract, albeit I’d suffered my first ACL, it takes a while to adapt. You start questioning yourself and where your career is going.

“I managed to get back into the Football League but, ultimately, when I look back it was quite an unflattering career.”

Hartlepool commented on their former captain’s retirement when posting a message via their official social media page.

It read: “All the best to former Pools captain Carl Magnay on his retirement from professional football.”

But while Magnay is relishing a career in coaching, the 34-year-old admits it was difficult to acknowledge the decision to step away from playing.

“It wasn’t the way I wanted to finish my career, via an injury, so it was difficult to process and took a while to sink in, purely because it was taken out of my hands,” he said.

“But it’s something I was preparing for anyway, given my age and the level that this squad is now at. I had to be realistic in terms of what I was offering as a player.

“Thankfully it’s come at a time when I’ve transitioned into the coaching side, something I’d planned on pursuing anyway, so the timing has worked out quite well.”