Oh, is he still playing?!

[Tony C]

I must have really taken my eye off what is going on at Goodson Park because I had no idea that Ashley Young is still playing. He’s 38. I’m sure he’s in good shape and everything but…

[3 Colours Red]

Yeah, for some reason I'd thought he was older than Eni and considering she retired a while ago now, I'd assumed he'd done the same. But no, he's 34 and Eni 36.

[Jobi1]

Driving up to the supermarket this afternoon, the husband uttered the actual words of the thread title when the commentator on the Ipswich game described a contribution by Sone Aluko.

[Patrick Thistle]

Watching FA Cup MOTD and discovered Tim Krul is now at Luton.

[torres]

See when he won that MOTM pizza at Thistle, did he eat it all himself or did he share it round the dressing room?

[elguapo4]

Conor Sammon (37 years young) has scored for Alloa in the Scottish Cup 3rd round today.

Ironic that he's played professionally for so long, when you consider when he was with UCD he was working in a bank and doing a degree course in finance, and it took a couple of offers to get him to move.

[Tony C]

I heard on a podcast the other day that new Bradford City manager Graham Alexander was, at 37, the oldest player to make his Premier League debut when playing for Burnley in 2009. He played until he was 40 and scored from a free kick with his last kick of a ball in League football playing for Preston in April 2012.

[jameswba]

Referenced in the matchgoing thread, 38 year-old Tomas Hubocan made his second debut for hometown club MSK Zilina today, more than 16 years after leaving them to sign for Zenit Petrohrad. He would go on to play for Dinamo Moscow and Olympique Marseille amongst others, besides making 73 international appearances for Slovakia.

[blameless]

Conor Sammon (37 years young) has scored for Alloa in the Scottish Cup 3rd round today.

[Snake Plissken]

Matt Lowton went from the Premier League in May 2022 to the Championship in Jan 2023 to the Northern Premier League in September.

[JM Footzee]

Pondering how many professionals who've got a decent number of games under their belt are left without a club by this stage of the season (and are looking for one).

Of former UK-based Watford players, I can summon Liam Bridcutt and Jordon Mutch, who were released by Blackpool and Crawley respectively. There was quite a few retirements among our ex-players in the summer with Tom Cleverley and Craig Cathcart both finishing after leaving us, while Toumani Diagouraga, Danny Drinkwater, Ben Foster, Joel Grant and Henri Lansbury all announced the end of their playing careers.

Transfermarkt has a list of free agents. The big ones from an English perspective are internationals Jesse Lingard, Phil Jones and Ryan Bertrand. It also has Danny Rose on there, but I'm dubious about him ever coming back - he seems to have moved into punditry.

[Antepli Ejderha]

https://twitter.com/Turkish_Futbol1/status/1723728929909780860?t=nBUAvi8ZrKOqTiC91-IA1w&s=19


Jonjo Shelvey is in Turkey, I had no idea. He's also in Rize which must be a huge culture shock.

[ursus arctos]

https://twitter.com/iftvofficial/status/1721308844767248394?s=12&t=xvOireV8JOIS_CpbTtDBow

[Ray de Galles]

I was shocked to see James Chester, one of Wales' heroes of 2016, was turning out for Barrow against Wimbledon yesterday.

As a mate commented, he was someone who times their international career peak well.

[jameswba]

One from the Czech league ; Marek Matejovsky, who played for Reading from 2008 till 2010, scored for Mlada Boleslav at Jablonec on Saturday. He's now 40.

The Mlada Boleslav coach, interviewed after yesterday's 9-5 win at Zlin, talked of how he sent Matejovsky (now 41) on at half-time to 'calm things down'. Boleslav were 2-1 down at that point, having taken an early lead. They would concede again early in the second-half, but Matejovsky's calming influence led to them scoring eight of the ten goals that were to follow. He made it 6-4 himself, with a long-range lob into the empty net after the Zlin 'keeper had mishit a clearance.

[Baptiste]

I would not be surprised if Joe Murphy is a manager this time next week.

[jwdd27]

Nice piece in The Guardian on Joe Murphy, who at 42 will play for Tranmere v Leicester in the League Cup this week, having played in the final against the same opposition as an 18 year old.

And in a Scunthorpe United 2007 League One Champions OIHSP? double, Sir Billy Sharp scored on his debut (last minute pen) on Saturday night for LA Galaxy. Hadn't spotted that he'd ended up there. I wonder what it was about Los Angeles that appealed more than Rotherham or Bradford, which were two suggested destinations after Sheffield Utd tossed him aside.

[Cousin Boneless]

Nuneaton Borough have signed 37 year old Ex Northern Ireland striker Jamie Ward.

He will partner 38 year old Leroy Lita up front.

[That Night In Barcelona]

Their manage is now Patrick Kluivert.

And his assistant is Winston Bogarde.

[andrew7610]

Turns out the Le Fondre who played for Hibs in Europe last night is indeed Glenville Adam, having recently signed a one-year deal at 36.

[Antepli Ejderha]

Nani, who's 37, has turned up at Adana Demirspor in Turkey. Their manage is now Patrick Kluivert.

[cantagalo]

Last night, Fluminense goalkeeper Fábio helped his team to the quarter finals of the Copa Libertadores with a 2-0 win over Argentinos Juniors.

He will turn 43 next month and the club have offered him a new 2 year contract which will keep him at the club until December 2025.

[3 Colours Red]

Dries Mertens scored for Galatasaray against Olimpija Ljubljana tonight.

Even by the standards of that club, Galatasaray's current squad is something else.

Zaha, Zaniolo, Icardi, Demirbay, Bakambu, Angelino, Torreira - a wonderful mix of OIHSP and Where Are They Now?

[Ray de Galles]

That reminds me :

https://twitter.com/coventry_city/status/1686454363458256901?s=46&t=YPTuyXx_pzpV4Wjm6pdF-Q

[Discordant Resonance]

Dries Mertens scored for Galatasaray against Olimpija Ljubljana tonight.