Five football players that didn't retire early enough

2) Stuart Pearce

Born: 24th April 1962

Age he played till: 40

Career: 1978-2002

In a career spanning 24 years, Pearce played for six league clubs including Nottingham Forest, Newcastle United and West Ham. He made his debut as a fullback for Wealdstone in 1978.

Pearce played his last professional game under Kevin Keegan at Manchester City when he was 41-years-old.

Pearce ended up making 401 appearances for Forest and also captained the side for regular periods. During his time at Forest, the club won two League Cups and the Full Members Cup.

He helped the club retain League Cup in 1991. Despite Forest’s relegation from the top-flight in 1993, the full-back decided to stay on and help the club to gain promotion. By this time, Brian Clough had retired after 18 years at the helm of the club.

Pearce helped Forest finish third in the Premier League in the following season and reach the UEFA Cup quarter-finals a year later. Pearce was even appointed as caretaker-manager of Forest after Clark resigned with the club languishing at the bottom of FA Premier League.

Pearce finally decided to leave Forest in 1996-97, bringing down the curtain on his 12-years-long time at Forest. He was 35-years-old then.

Some could argue that this would have been a good time for Pearce to hang up his boots, but he continued to play. In the subsequent seasons, he played for Newcastle United, West Ham and Manchester City, but never quite hit the highs he saw at Forest.

His last game was for City in the First Division, when he was 40 years old. He missed a penalty in that game which would have earned him his 100th career goal.