Joe Lewis retires as former Aberdeen captain officially calls time on career and reveals next chapter

Joe Lewis has hung up his professional gloves to train the goalkeepers of the future.

The former Aberdeen star has called time on his 21 year career. The 37-year-old spent last season as a training goalkeeper with Manchester United and decided that he didn’t want to finish by dropping down the leagues. Lewis has now teamed up with Conor O’Keefe and they have launched their own GKHQ Academy, offering every aspect of goalkeeping training for youngsters straight up to the semi-professional and professional ranks.

Lewis said: “I probably made the decision to hang up my gloves about three months ago. I had been signed as a training goalkeeper with Manchester United. Being in at United was fantastic but then that contract ended in the summer. I hadn’t played competitive games for nearly two years and so when I was out of contract I wasn’t high up on anybody’s list to go and play. I thought to myself: ‘Do I want to drop down the leagues and play? The answer was ‘No’"

Lewis’s career had seen him come through the ranks at Norwich City before he moved to Peterborough United and where he got in the England squad. He moved on to Cardiff and in the summer of 2016 he moved to Aberdeen. It was meant to be a short-term move but Lewis ended up spending seven years at Pittodrie before he left last season.

He thought about retiring after he left Aberdeen to return to England but then United came calling. Lewis admitted: “When I left Aberdeen, I thought to myself: ‘Have I got the real desire to carry on doing it?’ I stayed fit last season and was coaching at Macclesfield Town. They asked me to play for them but I didn’t want to drop down to that level.

“I kept myself fit and thought there might be some other opportunities that came up,