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Striker still chasing glory as career enters home straight
Premier League veteran Dwight Gayle insists he’s got one more item on his bucket list before calling time on his career this summer – joining gaffer David Gray on the Wall of Heroes at Hibernian Training Centre by lifting the Scottish Cup. The 35-year-old former Newcastle, Crystal Palace and West Brom striker revealed today that he’s ready to retire when his short-term contract expires this summer.
Insisting that he won’t even think about slacking off as his playing days wind down, Gayle said he’d already talked to his club captain about signing off with the biggest bang still within reach of a side who have stumbled their way through the first half of a difficult season. Being surrounded by photos of former skipper Gray and his team-mates lifting the Scottish Cup in that magical summer of 2016 makes for some pretty easy inspiration.
“I've obviously spoken to Joe Newell about it,” said Gayle. “For me, ever since I've got here, one of the big things for me was obviously the Cup. It's something that excites me because it's an opportunity to win silverware.
“For me, winning something like that would be an amazing send-off. I'd love to be part of something like that because I know it would mean so much to the club.
“Obviously, we come in every day, walk through the corridor and see the pictures on the wall every day. Sometimes, looking at the gaffer, I'm just looking at him and thinking: ‘You're so lucky, how it must have felt to score that goal …’ It's obviously a legendary status to do something like that and to be part of something like that.”
There are other items on the to-do list for Gayle. Winning an Edinburgh derby – there’s one coming up next week, in case you’d forgotten – or simply scoring the sort of one-off big win that inspires a proper full-throated rendition of Sunshine on Leith from long-suffering supporters.
Asked about the ambition to beat Hearts, the experienced forward said: “Yes, definitely. We’ve got a big game this weekend first, but the Boxing Day game has been spoken about, obviously, playing a derby game is massive.
“All of these things hopefully happen as moving towards the process of being successful at the end of the season. We just have to take them step by step and just try to keep progressing.”
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Gayle, who confessed that his body had been “beginning to break down”, made his first start since October when he lined up in the first XI against Ross County at Easter Road last weekend. He scored a vital equaliser before being replaced just after the hour mark.
Although Mykola Kuharevich is battling hard to be fit to face Hearts next Thursday, there’s every chance that the old boy might need to start back-to-back games in the space of just a few days. Is he fit for that?
“We'll soon find out,” said a grinning Gayle, the seasoned pro adding: “I'm sure our squad's very big, so it's going to be mixing, matching and switching it around. But I'm always ready to put on the shirt and to go perform and give it my all for the team. So, whenever I'm needed, I'll be out there.
“I'm very grateful for where I've been able to get to. Not everyone gets to 35 in football. I'm very fortunate with injuries in terms of not stopping me prior to this.
“It’s important to look back on things sometimes and appreciate more than be upset. I’ve been able to help the team with a bit of experienced play at crucial times.
“And that might be what I have to do for the next six months. It might be little parts, 15 minutes to help the team when they're maybe a bit under pressure or whatever. Even if it's giving information to other people in the positions that I'll be playing in, maybe it can help them to improve them and help the team.”
Having dropped his retirement bombshell on the media in the press room at East Mains, Gayle revealed that he was already well on his way to becoming a coach – he’s got the UEFA B Licence and is just waiting the necessary year before enrolling on the A – while making the most of his remaining days as a player, saying: “I've been thinking like this in terms of the enjoyment for the last two years now, where before each game you're just thinking that this is potentially one of your last ones, so to try and enjoy it for what you can.
“Even before coming in here, I'm thinking this could be the last opportunity to do something like this. It’s not something normal where 10 people are in here interviewing you. It's a very unusual thing and you can't take things for granted; enjoy things for what they are.
“I love the game too much to go away from it, but I haven't decided exactly yet. I don't think you get the same feelings in anything else other than sport for me, and football is one of the ones that is really rewarding for what you get out of it.
“I don't think you can re-enact the celebrating and the euphoria when goals are scored and when you're under pressure and you join together as a team. It brings people together and I think that's a special thing.”
Admitting that the only thing he’ll really miss about football is warm-ups, an increasing necessity as the years advance, Gayle said he was thinking about the long term by making his decision early, revealing: “I want to stay in football because I love it. I'd love to play it continuously forever, but with injuries and stuff like that and your body starts to pick up stuff that you probably need to think about.
“It's not just muscle injuries, there other things as well that could prevent you in later life. Maybe playing in the garden with your kids and stuff like that. These things I need to take into consideration.”
There will be plenty of time for kickabouts with the kids. Time, too, to tell the youngsters all about those glory, glory days as a player. Including, if all goes to Gayle’s own very personal plan, one very special day at Hampden.
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