Glenn Morris thought career was over when he joined Crawley as coach but is still going strong aged 40 at Gillingham

GLENN MORRIS thought his career was over when Gillingham released him EIGHT years ago.

But he the club’s oldest-ever player at the age of 40 years, seven months and 24 days when he appeared in their Carabao Cup first-round tie at Swansea on Tuesday night.

That breaks the previous best of Priestfield legend Andy Hessenthaler.

And Morris said: “Andy is a true club legend so it’ll feel weird to break his record.”

The veteran stopper took up a goalkeeper coaching role at Crawley in 2006 but broke into their team and made 269 appearances before moving back to Kent in the summer of 2022.

He told SunSport: “I thought my career was over when I got a call from Matt Gray, who was Crawley assistant before he went on to manage Sutton, asking if I’d go and coach the goalkeepers there and be back-up.

“I wasn’t keen but Matt persuaded me because he said it would be a good progression for me to go into coaching so I went for it.

“But I managed to get into the team and it kicked on from there! It was the best decision I ever made.”

Morris ended up earning legendary status at the Sussex club and won the club’s player of the season FOUR times — 2017, 2018, 2019 and 2022.

When Glenn Morris made his debut ....

HERE'S what was going on in the world around the time of the Gillingham veteran making his professional football debut in 2001.

• Tony Blair was UK Prime Minister for a second term after winning a 165-seat majority in the June elections
• It was just one month after the terrorist attack on the World Trade Center in New York killed nearly 3,000 people
• Kylie Minogue was No1 in the UK singles chart with “Can’t Get You Out Of My Head”
• David Beckham’s stunning late free-kick to earn England a face-saving 2-2 draw against Greece earned qualification for the upcoming 2022 World Cup in South Korea and Japan
• The US Army invaded Afghanistan

And incredibly he won the gong again at Gillingham in 2023 as well as being widely regarded as the best keeper in League Two.

So what is the secret to his incredible longevity?

He said: “I don’t think about age. I keep myself moving, live right and move with the times. You must do your stretching, your food, get the right sleep and most of all you must feel like you’re young.”

Morris — who made his professional debut for Leyton Orient almost TWENTY-THREE years ago — admits he has plenty of battle scars that chart the story of his 580 appearances so far.

And Sunday mornings can be difficult.

He said: “I don’t think you can play for that long and not have any injuries. My fingers are in a bad way but that’s life as a goalkeeper.

“Touch wood, I’ve not had too many serious ones and that has put me in good stead.

“As a keeper, you’re putting your body on the line every week. You’re going to get whacked and it’s how you recover from a Saturday to Tuesday to Saturday.

“Once you find the formula that works for you, you get into a good rhythm.

“I’m not going to lie, I can be a bit stiff on a Sunday morning. But I take the dog for a walk, do stuff with my kids and it gets my body back moving. I do some stretching and am good to go on a Monday.

“I also like to work hard in gym sessions and that has also done me well.”

Morris admits he has had to adjust his regime slightly as he aged — but insists he cannot slack off too much because that will hasten the end of his career.

He said: “Sometimes there are some ridiculous shooting sessions that aren’t always best for me.

“There are times I don’t do as much as I did in sessions but I still do most because the moment you don’t that’s when you start to age.”

Morris says there are too many saves to remember to pick out his best although he did enjoy one in the last-minute at Accrington Stanley while playing for Crawley.

He said: “The last-minute matchwinning saves away from home are always best — especially when you’re hanging on.

The veteran, as a Tottenham fan, grew up idolising 1991 FA Cup-winning keeper Erik Thorsvedt — as well as Liverpool legend Bruce Bruce Grobbelaar and West Ham hero Ludek Miklosko.

And he lists his promotion out of the fourth tier with Leyton Orient in 2006 — the only one of his career so far — as his most eye-catching triumph.

Buthe added: “When I was at Aldershot, though, we had 10 points deducted in the National League in 2013-14 but managed to stay up. It was a huge achievement with a small budget.

“And staying up a couple of years ago at Crawley was massive too. Those two are just as good an achievement as the promotion with Orient.”

The fact Morris’ career is still going eight years after he thought it was over makes him well-placed to give any rookie keeper sound advice.

He said: “You think your career is going one way and it can suddenly go another. My advice to any young keeper is you never know what’s around the corner.

“That’s why you must always be ready to take your chance when it comes along.”