Former Ipswich Town midfielder Alan Judge has insisted he has no plans to retire despite suffering another nasty injury.
The Irishman suffered major ligament damage in his knee while playing for Colchester at Sutton in December, later having surgery to repair his ACL which will keep him out until November at least.
It’s the latest blow in what has been an injury-hit career for the 34-year-old, who suffered a nasty broken leg playing for Brentford at Portman Road in 2016 before joining the Blues under Paul Lambert three years later.
Despite the setback, though, he is determined to battle back once again.
“I just know to not rush anything, not to really get downhearted,” the former Republic of Ireland international said, as part of an extended interview with The 42 in his homeland.
“I’m not going to set myself a target. I’m just going to go with it and just go with progress as well as I see fit really.
“Most importantly, I want to give it a go. Obviously, I know it’s going to be hard times ahead. But I’ve gone through this before. I had two years out with a broken leg.
“So one year is not so bad if I’m trying to look at the positive side of it, because I’ve had people saying: would I not just retire? No, I want to give it a go. There’s no point in giving up on something that I think I can get back from.
“I think my career deserves better than to finish with Sutton away. I think I deserve a bit better than that.”
Judge’s time with Ipswich came to an end in 2021 when, despite him being a regular in the team and performing well, Paul Cook brought his Blues career to a halt before the end of the season, in order not to trigger a clause which would have extended his contract for a further year.
Cook’s full ‘Demolition Man’ clearout was to follow soon after.
“I don’t hold any gripe over it,” Judge continued. “Ipswich is under new management (ownership). At the time, the manager was Paul Cook, maybe Paul just didn’t want me. That’s fair enough, it had nothing to do with the owners probably.
“But then I always say, that’s football. I don’t hold any grudges against Ipswich for that. Sure, my son plays for them now as well. It’s crazy.
“He’s seven. But he’s playing in their pre-academy. He’s doing really well. And that’s one of the other reasons why I’m not giving up because I don’t want him to see me give up on something. I want to show him that you can’t give up on setbacks.
“By looking at him, I think he might even be better than me, which would be nice.”
On whether his future lies with Colchester, Judge said: “I have something in my contract where I could be there next year, or I could not be there next year.
"But we’ll just wait and see. I’m going to talk to the club over the next few weeks, see what they’re thinking, what I’m thinking, and just kind of go from there.”
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