More from striker Danny Cadamarteri
Striker Danny Cadamarteri spoke more about what will come next following the announcement this week that he has retired from the professional game.
“I think one of the positives I take from the situation I’ve been through is the amount of help I’ve received with coming to terms with it,” he said. “The club staff have been superb, particularly the physio and the manager.
“My family have been important in terms of keeping my head right as well. My philosophy as a person has always been to try and be positive and to make the best out of bad situations on and off the pitch.”
“Looking to the future I've been trying to do as much as I can to make sure I can stay in football so that I can pass on my experiences and expand my knowledge,” he continued. “The game has given so much to me that I really don't want to have to leave it all together.
“The club have been really helpful in letting me start my coaching badges. I actually started my UEFA B coaching badge ten years ago, while I was at Bradford, but I ended up with a knee injury and I couldn’t complete it. I thought that would happen again this time round but the PFA helped me through it and the club have allowed me to spend the time studying.
“Once I was back on my feet I was able to do my assessments without exerting myself too much, which was interesting to say the least. It went really well and I passed my UEFA B and I've also done my youth awards. I recently started working on my UEFA A badge. Hopefully, like I say, I’ll be able to stay in the game and use the qualifications I’ve gained positively.”
Looking back at his career, he said: “I have so many good memories. I have the shirt from when I made my professional debut and some others, with pictures, from big games I’ve played in. I have the shirts from my Europa League appearances against AEK Athens which I'm really proud of.
“I spent a long period at Huddersfield, and I had a really good time there, but there was a period where I was out of the frame for about five months. I fought my way back into the team and my first game back was actually against Carlisle. I think that was probably the game when Greg [Abbott] decided he wanted to bring me here.
“We played at the Galpharm Stadium and it was a really memorable occasion for me. I have some pictures up of that and I looked at them recently, funnily enough. Liam Noble is actually in the background pulling a ridiculous face ... I'm not sure what he's doing really.
“That was a turning point for me because I felt like my career was starting to take off again. That game was probably the one that made my decision to come to Carlisle easy because they played some really good football against us that day. We got promoted that season but we were second best in the game all the way through. I spoke to Greg after the game and he was complimentary about the desire I’d shown to get back after being out for so long.
“Winning the Scottish Cup with Dundee is another highlight. Going up to Scotland was a big part of my life because one of my sons was born up there. Having said all that, I’m not one for looking back too much because you start to wonder if you could have done things better.
“It’s when you realise you could have done a million and one things better. I could have been more educated in my football earlier in my career and I could have chosen to do different things which might have prolonged things for me. I could have made better decisions as a young kid and not ended up in the daft situations I ended up in, but that's part of the reason I want to go into coaching. I want to help people who are in my situation and make sure they don't make those daft decisions, but also make sure they do make the good decisions I made.”
"I've made some really good friends up here at Carlisle,” he concluded. “I'll always look out for the results and I'll keep coming to the games. I've been at a few clubs over the years who have really accepted me and my family, and Carlisle is definitely one of them.
“I've been back to games at Huddersfield, Everton and Dundee because I've had fond memories with all of them. I will come back to Carlisle games because, although I've finished on a disappointing note, it has been an important part of my career.
“Not only has it been the end of my playing career but it's been a huge part of the start of my coaching career. If Carlisle hadn't given me the time to go and do my coaching badges I'd probably have to spend another two or three years working away before I was even in a position to start. I’ll always be very grateful for that.
“I'm going to continue my education and I'm determined to see out this season with the lads by giving them as much support as I can. Hopefully we can pick up the results we need because the manager, the lads and the fans deserve it.
“For me, I’ll look at where things are over the summer months and I know once I start to read about pre-season training and that type of thing, which will be when I fully realise it's actually over. I imagine that will be quite a tough day.”
Click HERE to read part one of this interview.
