Danny Webber

Now 34 and the top scorer at Salford City, the former Man Utd, Watford and Sheffield United striker contemplates his future ahead of a possible final ever game tonight.

After 17 years earning a living as a footballer with Manchester United, Port Vale, Watford, Sheffield United, Portsmouth, Leeds, Accrington Stanley and Salford City, plus representing England up to under 20 level, tonight could be my final game.

I’m playing for Salford against Ashton United in the play-off to get promotion to the Conference North. It’s a single game between the teams who finished third and fourth in the Evostick Premier League.

I hope it’s not my last. Hope that we win and then beat Blyth Spartans or Workington, two legendary non-league teams, on Saturday to get a second successive promotion. Darlington 1883, who won our league, managed that. They deserved to be champions and so do their fans. They brought 900 to our place last year and have the fan base to support a Football League club, which they were for many years.

Darlington beat us home and away this season, two epic battles which ended 3-4 and 3-2 at their place. Blyth also beat us home and away. Losing those six pointers is why we didn’t win the league, but we still picked up 90 points and scored more goals than anyone else apart from the champions. It’s the highest level which Salford have ever played at and crowds are up from an average of 350 to 642. The BBC documentary and FA Cup run really helped. A second series has been commissioned and we’ve been filming that.

One of the owners, Paul Scholes, has been a near ever-present at matches, standing on a mound of grass with his mates and enjoying watching football. Gary Neville is back at games too after his time in Valencia. They’ll be there later against Ashton United, the team with the lowest crowds in the league – an average of just 184. They’ve done really well to finish fourth. Their neighbours Curzon Ashton have also done reasonably well, 10^th in the Conference North, one place below Stockport County and three above FC United of Manchester. Both of those have average home crowds over 3,000. Curzon’s is 400.

I’ve really enjoyed my time in non-league. I’ve played 50 games in each of the past two seasons for Salford and managed 20 goals this term, the highlight being the FA Cup win against Notts County. It’s beautiful to be playing football every week, especially in a winning side. I’ve enjoyed my time at Salford immensely. I hope an even bigger highlight will be promotion, but after that, I need to decide my future.

I’m 34 and have been thinking about whether to continue playing for a while. Spoken to friends and family and listened to my body. I won’t be rushed into making a decision. I’m still good to train twice a week and play twice a week. Any more and it’s tough, though as a selfish player who always wants to play you don’t always see it that way. I’ve been rested a couple of times and disagreed with the decision. In hindsight, my managers were probably right, I was a bit jaded.

I’ve been playing football since I’ve been four and making a living from it since 16. I’ve also had 15 operations which can be really tough on the mind and the body. There have been times when I’ve thought about calling it a day, but I’ve carried on and I’m glad that I have.

Maybe I’d still be flying if I’d not had the operations, maybe my career would have gone differently if it wasn’t for them, but you play the hand you are dealt. I consider myself fortunate to have earned a decent living playing football for so long.

Whatever I do, the decision is nothing to do with money, but football. I’ve been keeping my options open and working hard to make the transition from being a footballer to something else. I enjoy media work and have been covering a lot of Manchester United games.

I’ve also recently completed my UEFA A coaching licence in Northern Ireland. Teddy Sheringham, Tom Huddlestone, Ronnie Johnson and Deon Burton were on my course. John Terry is going on it too.

And I’ve been working with a national football agency helping younger players, mostly in the north west. I don’t want to rule anything out, I just want to be as well prepared as possible and not sit in no-man’s land twiddling my thumbs at home waiting for the phone to ring.

That’s not my style and I don’t know where I’ll end up, but I do know that I’m busier now than I’ve ever been, with football, work and family.

I’m going to head to Moor Lane, Salford now, for the match later. I still love football; I’ve still got that pre-match buzz and the anticipation which comes with it. But I know I can’t carry on forever. If I’m to finish, I’d love it to be on a high. Let’s see what this week throws up.

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