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Theo Walcott announces retirement from football aged 34
heo Walcott has announced his retirement from professional football at the age of 34.
The ex-Arsenal, Everton and Southampton winger told Gary Neville on The Overlap podcast the decision is “scary” but he “wants to try new things”.
Walcott hangs up his boots following a 23-year career in which he made 397 Premier League appearances.“I’m officially going to be hanging up my boots. It’s very scary, I can’t lie,” said Walcott.
“It’s scary because football’s all I’ve known from the age of 16 or even younger. I want to try new things I never experienced as a kid – I missed out on a lot.
“I just feel like I want to experience life – things [usually] revolve around football for me.”In his 13-year spell with the Gunners, Walcott won three FA Cups as well as two Community Shields.
He shot to fame in 2006 as a 17-year-old when he was surprisingly selected in Sven Goran Eriksson’s England World Cup squad.Walcott appeared 47 times for England, scoring eight times in a decade-long international career.
Walcott, who was a free agent but made 20 Premier League appearances and scored three goals for Southampton last season as the club suffered relegation, says he received offers from various clubs to keep playing but his “heart isn’t committed” to it.“I’ve had offers abroad and from some very good Championship teams.
There’s been some Saudi offers but it’s not where I see myself playing, to be honest,” said Walcott.“Nothing against the money or the league but if my heart isn’t into playing football it’s not fair on the clubs, not fair on me.”Walcott played for Newbury and Swindon Town as a youngster before being signed by Southampton in 2000.
He made his debut for the Saints in 2005 as a 16-year-old and soon became the club’s youngest ever goal scorer when he found the net against Leeds United.
Walcott made 21 appearances and scored four goals for Saints before joining Arsene Wenger’s Arsenal in 2006.He played 397 games for the Gunners, scoring 108 goals, before departing for Everton in a £20 million deal in 2019.
Walcott played 85 games for the Toffees, scoring 11 times, before re-joining Southampton two years later.
Source: BBC.com
The Member of Parliament for Nsawam Adoagyiri, Frank Annoh Dompreh, has expressed concern over delays in the release of the District Assemblies Common Fund, warning that the situation is stalling development across the country.
On his facebook page, he described as a matter of urgent national importance, the Minority Chief Whip pointed to what he sees as a growing crisis of unpaid contractors, abandoned projects, and halted infrastructure works in many districts.
He noted that several communities are grappling with half completed schools, unfinished health facilities, abandoned markets, deteriorating roads, and stalled sanitation projects.
According to him, many contractors who have executed projects for district assemblies have not been paid, forcing some construction firms to demobilise from sites while workers lose their jobs.
He stressed that the District Assemblies Common Fund is not a discretionary allocation but a constitutional requirement under Article 252 of the 1992 Constitution, intended to support development at the local level.
In his view, years of delayed releases and accumulated arrears have weakened district development financing and disrupted projects meant to improve living conditions in communities.
He further argued that some payments made in recent years were largely the settlement of old debts rather than funding for new or ongoing projects, a situation he believes has affected contractor confidence and local economic activity.
He described the issue as more than a budgetary challenge, characterising it as a development emergency and a governance concern.
He therefore urged the appropriate authorities to pay outstanding DACF arrears, settle contractors who have completed their work, and ensure that transfers to districts are automatic and predictable.
He maintained that decentralisation can only succeed when district assemblies receive adequate and timely funding to carry out development projects.
He emphasised that stalled projects directly affect ordinary citizens, since they rely on such infrastructure for education, healthcare, transportation, sanitation, and economic activities.
He called for renewed attention to grassroots development, insisting that national progress should not be concentrated only in major cities but extended to all communities.
By: Jacob Aggrey
Richard Appiah, the footballer who killed two children and stored part of their bodies in a fridge at Abesim in the Bono Region in 2021 has been handed a lifetime sentence.
This was after a five member panel of judges at the Accra High Court returned a verdict of guilty against the convict.
Appiah, 32, also a draughtsman would spend the rest of his life in prison after he was convicted of murder.
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BY MALIK SULLEMANA
