Coles reflects on Biggleswade FC career

Tom Coles enjoyed a great career with Biggleswade FC. Photo: Guy Wills Sports Photography.

Retiring Biggleswade FC captain Tom Coles says he’ll miss everything about playing for the club now that he has hung up his boots.

Coles played his last game at Aylesbury United to close the season out in a 1-0 defeat, having cited family reasons as the key behind his decision to step back.

And speaking to the Southern Premier League’s official website, he says it could take time to adjust.

He said: “A bit of realisation hit me as I sat in the dressing room afterwards, but I think it will hit me more when pre-season starts and the preparations for the new season get underway.

“The decision to hang up my boots has been a tough one. I knew it was coming for a while, so that made it a little easier.

“The reason is largely down to having a young family, so it’s easier to accept because family comes first.

“That doesn’t mean I won’t miss it massively, which I know I will and it’ll be a case of attempting to fill the competitive gap in another way.

“The toughest bit is definitely the people, though; the club is full of brilliant people, a lot of who I have known for a long time and are friends. From the Chairman, Jeremy, through to the committee, Dave, Skip and James, the lads in the team and, of course, the supporters.

"I am sure that I will be down supporting the club whenever I can next season.”

Coles says he has many highlights to look back on from his time with FC.

He said: “There have been some successes along the way, such as winning promotion into The Southern League in 2018/19 – we won the treble that year so it was an amazing season for all involved – and then winning the Bedfordshire Senior Cup at Kenilworth Road recently, that was a nice way for my career to finish on a brilliant night for the club as a whole.

“The way in which we have established ourselves as a step four club has been a joy to be part of.

"For such a young club to be taking on some of the established clubs in this League has been a great achievement.

“We’ve had a lot of injuries, and I know that this happens to everyone over the course of a long, hard season, but it has meant that we haven’t been able to field a consistent team for a large part of the season and so it’s been difficult to build momentum and consistency, which is so important.

“Hopefully next season the lads can build on what they’ve done and get into that top five.”