Cambuslang Rangers captain John Gemmell has revealed he could be set to retire at the end of the season – after promising his wife he’ll hang up his boots if he hits 100 goals.
The veteran striker, nicknamed ‘The Beast’, bagged a brace in Saturday’s 4-0 win over Newmains United to take his tally to 92 goals at Junior/West of Scotland League level.
But having become a father for the first time last year to his daughter Georgia, daddy duties with the 18-month-old are putting football on the back burner.
Work commitments in his day job in construction are also making it difficult for the 37-year-old to get the balance right.
In fact, he has promised wife Nicola that if he hits a century of goals he will be calling time on a 20-year career that started at Queen’s Park and has taken him to 12 different clubs including Hamilton, Clyde, Albion Rovers and Hurlford.
He is now in his second spell at Somervell Park and after his double on Saturday, Gemmell said: “It’s two more goals and I’m closing in on my retirement number.
“When I went Junior six years ago, I set a target for 100 goals and that’s 92 goals in 138 games now so it’s a good return.
“I know my wife is desperate for me to hit 100 because I kind of promised her that I’d retire once I hit 100. But I’ll see what happens at the end of the season. I might need to keep sitting on 99 to get another season.
“I’ve got a young girl now. She’s a wee handful but she’s brilliant.
“She takes up most of my time so football takes a back seat. Our time is taken up from her and, with my work as well, so football is a bit more of a hindrance these days than it used to be.
“But I’m doing my best to keep it going.”
Gemmell’s goals have helped Camby stay four points clear of rivals St Cadoc’s at the top of Conference A going into the final 11 games of the season.
And he admits the dream now would be to bow out a champion with a century of goals to boot.
He added: “Scoring the 100th goal on the day we win the league would be ideal – I probably wouldn’t need to play again after that – but we’ll see what happens.
“I said last season I wasn’t going to play on, but I got myself in better shape and I feel like I can still keep going.
“It’ll be down to personal circumstances at the end of the season.
“I’ll speak to the wife and see if I’m good to go again or not.
“I’m really proud to be the captain of Cambuslang.
“I was captain the last time I was here and we got promoted twice, so it would be nice to get promoted to the top league this time and bow out on a high.”
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