After 17 years and nearly 600 career appearances, it is the moment for Lee Tomlin to call time on a career that saw him travel from League Two, through non-League and into the Premier League.
At 33, injuries have taken their toll on the talismanic midfielder, and his body simply cannot handle the strain any longer.
“I went into pre-season at Doncaster and I was loving it,” Tomlin tells Sky Sports after announcing his retirement. “But the last couple of months of playing and training every day have taken their toll on my body, and it’s just been a bit too much for me, especially with the amount of painkillers I have to take to get through it.
“Playing football is all I’ve ever known, but to try and carry on is too much for me on my body. I wake up every morning in pain, and I’m trying to sleep at night in pain.
“I don’t think anyone’s really ready to retire. I wish it was a job that I could do for a lot more years. But you just have to come to terms with it and accept it.
“I spoke to people close to me and I spoke to the gaffer. It’s a decision I had to make, but I’ve made it for the right reasons.”
Tomlin’s final career appearances came for Doncaster in League Two
Tomlin began his career in League Two as a 16-year-old with Rushden & Diamonds, and he went on to play for them for four more seasons after their relegation to the Conference (now National League), before his impressive performances saw him picked up by Peterborough in League One in 2010.
That was followed by a spell at Middlesbrough, and then a move to Bournemouth and the Premier League in 2015.
He reflects on those years as probably the best of his career.
“One highlight was undoubtedly winning promotion with Peterborough from League One to the Championship,” he says. “That was an incredible moment.
“Then at Middlesbrough, I know we lost in the play-off final in the end to Norwich, but that whole season was unbelievable. I loved it there. The fans, the club, the whole atmosphere. Every day was brilliant.
“But the top one has to be making my debut in the Premier League. Even I don’t think I dreamt big enough as a kid to think that could happen. I was just a young lad on a council estate, and I didn’t think it could happen to people like us. But the more stories you hear now and see that it can happen to anyone as long as you work hard.
Tomlin made it to the Premier League when he signed for Bournemouth in 2015
“I was playing in League Two at 16, but even then I felt like you had to be built differently or come from somewhere different. I don’t know. I just didn’t think it would be possible.
“Maybe If I had believed in myself from a younger age I would have had the chance to stay in the Premier League for a bit longer. Everyone always talks about my ability. I think if I really believed I was meant to be there and was worthy of being there I would have.”
Now is the time to look forward rather than back for Tomlin, who will enjoy a few months relaxing at home before cracking on to the next phase of his life – with a future in management the next dream he aspires to.
“For the first few months I just want to spend time with the family, and be there as much as I can for them,” he says. “I want to make sure they’re all alright and happy.
“But then it’ll be going on to do my coaching badges and kicking on from there. I’m on my final assessment on my B Licence. Then it’s onto my A Licence and my Pro Licence. It’s not something I’m going to rush into, but I will be doing more of it now I’ve got the time to do it.
“I’ve had a lot of old-school managers, and some new managers, and you can pick up little things from each of them. That’s what I’d love to be.”
Tomlin has worked under plenty of top bosses in his career, but believes Aitor Karanka was the most influential of his career.
“I worked with him at Middlesbrough and Nottingham Forest,” he says. “I’ve always just done well for him. He’s very strict and whatever he says goes, but he knows how to manage his players and with his attacking players he wants to let them do what they do. He let me off a leash.
“When I first went into Middlesbrough I lost a stone-and-a-half with him in a couple of months. That was the first time a manager had ever said ‘you need to do this or that’ to me. Training was such hard work and his man management helped me a lot. He knew how to treat me and talk to me, and it helped a lot.”
Tomlin rates his display for Middlesbrough against Manchester City in the 2015 FA Cup as the best of his career
And it was also Karanka who drew the best performance of his career, when Middlesbrough went to Manchester City as a Championship side in 2015 and beat them 2-0 in the FA Cup.
Tomlin takes one last moment to reminisce.
“I remember speaking to Dean Whitehead and Jonathan Woodgate after, and they were saying you’ve got your move to the Premier League after that,” he says. “But I didn’t even think about it like that.
“It was just the one performance I felt that, against the players it was against as well, that it was just unbelievable. I just felt in that game that I was flying and gliding past people.”
There have been few better than Tomlin to watch when in full flight in the Football League in the past couple of decades. It is a sight that will be much missed now it is gone.
