Former Bolton Wanderers midfielder Stuart Holden has announced his retirement from the game. He told USSoccer.com that it is now ‘time to stop fighting my body’, after suffering from a series of injury problems throughout his career.
The 30-year-old, who also had a brief loan spell with Sheffield Wednesday, has picked up three serious injuries throughout his career and he has now finally called it a day. A few days ago he welcomed daughter, Kennady Rose Holden, into the world.
He last played professionally in 2013, but it was his comeback in a 2014 reserve game with Bolton where he picked up his latest injury problem and hasn’t appeared since.
The Scotland-born, 25-cap United States international began his professional career with Sunderland, before moving back to the States with Houston Dynamo. Following an impressive trial, he made the move to Bolton in January 2010. He won the 2011 Bolton Player of the Year Award, despite missing the end of that season after picking up the first of his three nasty injuries.
He played for times with Sheffield Wednesday in 2013 as he looked to build up his match fitness. He would then return to Bolton, injuring himself with USA later that summer and suffering a problem on his comeback the following year, which meant surgery was required.
Holden admitted that he has ‘known for a while’ that he would eventually come to this decision. He revealed that ‘the countless sleepless nights, the aches and the pains and the constant mental battles were all signs pointing to a new path’.
Everyone at The72 wishes Stuart all the best in whatever venture he embarks upon next.
