Former Scotland captain Gary Caldwell has retired from football after being forced to admit defeat to his injury nightmare.
A hip problem meant it was too painful to train never mind play for Wigan Athletic. The former Celtic skipper is now hoping to build a new career in coaching.
Caldwell, 32, has been given a role in the Wigan academy but is unsure what will happen at the end of the season, particularly if the Latics plunge into League One. He won 55 caps for Scotland and scored the winner against France at Hampden on October 11, 2006.
Caldwell, above, last played for the Scots in a 2-0 defeat away to Serbia in March 2013 in a World Cup qualifier.
He said: "That's the end for me. I have been struggling for years and even training was becoming really painful. I had the second operation on my left hip just under two years ago, and while it helped a little bit I was never the same again.
"I played four games and that was it. The first time I got the operation it was a success and it had a good effect. But the surgeon was honest with me when I went in the second time in the summer of 2013 and said that he wasn't sure if it was going to help me.
"Of course you want to play, but I also wanted to get into coaching and I have the chance now rather than wondering, 'What am I going to do now?'"
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