David Seaman at 60 on his soccer profession; ‘Don’t miss it one bit’

He is perhaps one in all our best ever goalkeepers however David Seaman admits he struggles to maintain up on the pitch as he approaches 60.

The retired stopper – who celebrates his milestone birthday subsequent month – was on the peak of his health for Arsenal and England within the Nineties and early 2000s.

With 75 appearances for his nation, he’s the second most capped goalie after Peter Shilton. But on the age of 38, David developed an irregular heartbeat.

An operation to reset his coronary heart failed which means he now has to take remedy twice every day. Retiring on the age of 40, he has since been teaching the Gunners’ youth staff keepers as soon as every week. But being round younger twentysomethings has made him realise how unfit he’s.

“Do I feel 60? When I look in the mirror not necessarily, but sometimes I feel 60,” he stated.

“I’ll be kicking a ball and sometimes it rebounds off them and hurtles back in my direction. I think, ‘I’ve got this’ – and in your head, you’ve got it – but then the body is about five seconds behind and then I think, ‘No, I haven’t!’

“I would only be really fit if I was playing every day and I am not.” Despite his success as a prime goalkeeper, the Rotherham-born star admitted he doesn’t miss it.

“It’s 20 years since I retired. Why did I retire? I was 40 and my body said ‘No’,” he defined. “I had been hit on my shoulder so many times and X-rays showed that I had a lot of wear and tear and I was warned that if I carried on, my shoulder could start dislocating.

“I thought, ‘I have had enough. That will do me’. I’ve not missed it one bit. Not even a millimetre.

“I still don’t get enough time to go fishing, which is my big passion.” David is an envoy for deal with store Fishing Republic and lately taught former Arsenal teammate Paul Merson the artwork of angling.

Last 12 months he and shut pal Paul Gascoigne, each of whom helped England to the Euro 96 semi-final, took to the waters.

“We made a short film for The Fishing Republic and we would still love to have our own fishing series on a mainstream channel,” he confessed.

“It was nice for people to see the real Gazza or the Gazza I know. “Everybody knows the jokey one and the one that gets into trouble but it was nice to do something with him that he loves and he was really emotional about going fishing.”

It was because of Gazza that David made his first foray into actuality TV. In 2004 when the previous Spurs star injured his knee, his pal David changed him for Strictly Ice Dancing at Christmas, a BBC spin-off of Strictly Come Dancing.

He gained the competition and went on to seem on the primary sequence of ITV’s rival Dancing on Ice. More lately he appeared on The Masked Dancer with spouse Frankie Poultney.

But they needed to pull out when 50-year-old Frankie, who was knowledgeable skater on Dancing on Ice, injured her ankle.

So would David ever take into account Strictly? “Absolutely not!” he replied. “They have asked me before and they approached me again after The Masked Dancer.

“I’ve watched my mate Tony Adams on there and it’s so nerve-wracking and I really can’t dance.

“I only went on the Masked Dancer because I could do it with Frankie. I feel much happier and safer sitting by the side of a lake with my fishing rod.”

● David is an envoy for Fishing Republic. More data at www.fishingrepublic.co.uk