Preston North End goalkeeper, Declan Rudd has announced his retirement from football aged 31 after failing to recover from a serious knee injury.
Rudd’s retirement comes after 14 months sidelined with a serious knee injury suffered in training in early January 2021, with the 31 year-old having since ‘undergone several operations’ and rehabilitation in an attempt to return to first-team football.
Despite his best efforts to recommence his career, Rudd has now been forced to retire after exhausting all possible avenues via surgeries and rehabilitation to unfortunately no success.
Speaking about his decision to hang up his football boots, Rudd said: “I’ve known for a while now so I’ve had a bit of time to let it sink in, but I wouldn’t say I’ve quite come to terms with it.
“It’s a big thing that was always a possibility but one I hoped wouldn’t happen. Everybody wants to finish on their terms and I thought that I still had my best playing days to come, but unfortunately it’s stopped too early.”
Preston have confirmed that club supporters will get the chance to say their farewells to Rudd at their home match against Blackpool at Deepdale on Tuesday 5 April, with Rudd and his family in attendance for the Lancashire derby.
Rudd added that he can’t wait to see the fans one last time after making 196 appearances across three stints at Deepdale as he commented: “The worst thing is I haven’t had the chance to say bye to the players, the staff or the fans yet, so it’ll be nice to get back to Deepdale.”
This season saw Rudd make just four first-team appearances in total with his last appearance coming in Preston’s Fourth Round exit to eventual champions, Liverpool in October 2021.
Rudd consequently has revealed that he is glad to have Liverpool as his final opposition in front of a sell-out home crowd, as he joked that playing Liverpool at home is “not a bad game to have as your last appearance,” as a professional player.
The ex England youth international begun his career at Norwich City during which he spent 18 months on loan at Preston, as well as a season-long loan stint at Charlton before permanently moving to Preston in summer 2017.
Preston manager, Ryan Lowe expressed a “gutted” feeling of losing Rudd to retirement given the longevity of goalkeepers as he said: “First and foremost, goalkeepers can often go for forever and a day, so for Dec to have to retire at the age of 31 is obviously disappointing for him and disappointing for us.”
Lowe also spoke of feeling “disappointed” that he didn’t have the chance to coach “a fantastic goalkeeper” in Rudd, although he offered some advice to the 31 year-old on retirement.
Explaining what biggest piece of advice he had given Rudd about retirement, Lowe teased: “I said to him the most important thing is that you can still run around with your kids at home, that’s the main thing.”
Lowe concluded by paying tribute to Rudd’s impact on football and Preston as he concluded: “He’ll be sadly missed in the football world and at Preston North End because he’s a good bloke as well as a quality goalkeeper.”
Preston meanwhile issued their own tribute to Rudd in which they said: “Everybody at Preston North End would like to thank Dec for his contribution to the club over the years and we wish him all the very best for the future.”
Leave a Reply