At an age when most goalkeepers have long since become coaches, Preston Pilgrims' number one is still first choice, still commanding his box, and still — by the club's own internal fitness data, leaked good-naturedly by a teammate on social media — outperforming players half his age in every recovery metric the club tracks.
He's said for three consecutive seasons that this one will be his last. Three consecutive seasons, he's been talked out of actually retiring, most recently by a manager who reportedly told him bluntly: "You're not allowed to bring that up again until June." This season, with the club fighting to stay clear of trouble in the table, his experience has arguably mattered more than ever — organising a youthful back line that's shipped noticeably fewer goals since a run of enforced changes settled down.
Younger players at the club speak about him with something close to reverence. "He remembers things from matches ten years ago like they happened last week," one 20-year-old defender said. "Every team talk, every save, he's talking us through what he's seeing before it even happens."
Whether this really is his last season, as he insists every year, remains to be seen. Preston's supporters, by now, have learned not to take his retirement announcements too literally.