An ex-Premier League player extends his stay with a National League club after choosing to drop down from English Football League level.
It’s something that we are seeing happen a fair bit recently with these ex-professionals, as they continue to play for the love of the game no matter what tier in the English football pyramid they’re at.
This man, has accumulated over 200 Premier League appearances with Wolves, West Ham and Norwich, and was capped by Fabio Capello for England in 2011.
? | @MrMattJarvis has put pen to paper on a new deal at the Laithwaite Community Stadium! ?
Happy with that, Cards? ?#Jarvis2021 #COYCards pic.twitter.com/qzuNG1HO5p
— Woking Football Club (@wokingfc) July 7, 2020
Of course, it’s the fan favourite Matt Jarvis, who has put pen to paper on a new deal at Woking’s Laithwaite Community Stadium, ready for the 2020/21 season aged 34.
He initially joined the Cards as a free agent after being released by the Canaries at the end of the 2018/19 season, in which he was on loan with Walsall in League One (at the time).
Here’s just some of that impact he made when playing for Woking in the 2019/20 season, in which the club finished 10th based on points-per-game (PPG) with eight games remaining to have played out.
? | Instant impact. ?
We’re looking forward to seeing more goals from you in a Woking shirt, @MrMattJarvis! ?#Jarvis2021 #COYCards pic.twitter.com/aCr6iaRC08
— Woking Football Club (@wokingfc) July 7, 2020
When he joined Woking, the club gave fans an insight on his career so far: “Born in Middlesbrough, Matt’s family relocated to Surrey whilst he was very young. He played for local youth team Meadow Sports before being picked up by Millwall, and later on Gillingham, where he broke into the first team in 2003 aged 17.
“Matt made more than 100 appearances for The Gills before earning a move to Wolves in 2007. He quickly became a fan-favourite at Molineux and helped the club to Premier League promotion in 2009, winning the Championship.
“England came calling in 2011 as Matt received a call up from Fabio Capello. He featured in England’s 1-1 draw with Ghana at Wembley.
“After 5 years and 175 appearances at Wolves, Matt moved to West Ham United in the summer of 2012 for a then club-record fee. 90 appearances later, the winger moved to Norwich City in 2015.
“After a short spell at Walsall last season, Matt will join the Cards to boost the push for a play-off place.”
They ended up just missing out on PPG, though had that not been the case, they would have been three points behind Stockport County, who had the last playoff place, however PPG replaced them with Barnet who moved up from 11th to 7th, causing plenty of controversial across various social media platforms.
The winger managed to get on the scoresheet and grabbed himself an assist during his debut against Maidenhead United, who look to have just avoided relegation due to Bury’s expulsion from the English Football League. He also assisted the last goal of the club’s 2019/20 season against Barnet.
The club have stated on their website that the deal is subject to Football Association approval. Hear from the footballer himself in what is his first Woking interview below…
As can be seen in the video above, he opened up on his childhood and how good he is at table tennis before he also went on to be a county champion in both swimming and athletics, whilst playing football of course.
Talk eventually moves on to his career from youth to professional football, reflected on his old teammates and his greatest memories whilst playing the game he loves, before mentioning about working as a pundit on Sky Sports, doing his coaching badges and enjoying time with his family.
When asked where do you see yourself in ten years, he added: “I want to play, I want to continue, I’ve missed it so much and you know a lot of people you’re just like why why pack it in?
“I just love the game, love the training, I love the dressing room, I love the feeling when you walk on the pitch and everything about it so I’m gonna play as long as possible.
“And then after that I’m getting my badges, also I’m really enjoying doing the media side of things, so yeah hopefully I will be with Dowse [Alan Dowson] and yeah do the media.”
Fans gave their reaction as the ex-Premier League player extends stay with National League club Woking, take a look and see what they tweeted below…
Great work Dowse
— Jerome (@JBunions) July 7, 2020
— Daniel Roddy (@rodders6696) July 7, 2020
— Ewan Duhig (@ewanduhig) July 7, 2020
Yess Matt… so happy to have you back for the new season
— Harry Wheeler (@harry_w_1995) July 7, 2020
Great news, Matt! Congrats on the new deal mate and hope this next year is a successful one for you and the team!
— Bradley Hayden (@BradleyHayden11) July 7, 2020
Fantastic news, @MrMattJarvis. That’ll put a few on the season ticket numbers. @suziperry, Matt Jarvis, he say Yes! @wokingfc
— Niall Brannigan (@niallb1) July 7, 2020
Excellent news! Can’t wait for the new season to start COYC!
— Ian Raisbeck (@imraisbeck) July 7, 2020
Best news for a long time!!
— Matt Shepherd-Banks (@w17msb) July 7, 2020
Incredible to watch him talk about his love for the game and still playing on instead of just retiring like we see so many footballers do from time to time, when they could carry on further down the pyramid even if it’s non league. Fair play to Matt Jarvis. Good luck to the guy!
— Jason Lee ?? (@ForeverAYellow) July 7, 2020
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