October 12 2004

Simon Rodger

Palace legend Simon Rodger has been forced to retire from football through injury.

Rodger, 33, ruptured his cruciate ligament last year while playing for Brighton, and after several operations, he has been unable to regain full fitness.

He has a rare condition called cyclops which is where blood blisters appear on the inside of the knee and prevent the healing process.

"I wasn't that happy with it a while back," Rodger said. "It has never really got better.

"I've been taking anti-inflammatory pills just to get through training and then, once I got back home and got out of the car, I felt like a cripple.

"I couldn't fully lock out my leg and because of that I was getting injuries in other areas, like my calf and back.

"I came to terms with the situation a couple of weeks ago. I've given it my best shot, but in the end I wasn't going to beat it."

The midfielder was was a huge hit with Eagles fans for his commited displays, sweet left foot strike and his huge loyalty to the club, where he spent 12 years.

He also had loan spells at Man City and Stoke City and was rewarded with a testimonial against Spurs two years ago.

The Shoreham-born player started his career with non-league Bognor Regis Town and joined the Eagles for just £1,000 in 1990.

His 329 appearances for the Eagles makes him sixth in the list of all-time appearances and one of his proudest moments would have been winning the Division One Championship in 1993-4 and play-off final in 1995-6.

The Holmesdale Online sponsored Jolly for two seasons and we'd like to wish him all the best for the future!

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