Caley Thistle’s Scottish Cup-winning midfielder Greg Tansey has retired from professional football.
Tansey, who also had an 18-month stint at Aberdeen and a loan spell with Ross County, had been plagued by complications from a botched hernia operation in 2017 and opted to call it a day.
The three operations he underwent during his time at the Dons also saw him contract osteomyelitis and the pain is such that Tansey is not able to train at a full-time level.
Every footballer knows when they sign their first professional contract that it will eventually come to an end. Today is that day for me, an injury that I have been fighting for 2 years now has ended my career. I am… https://t.co/Hzx42aD5k6
— Greg Tansey (@GregTansey) October 3, 2019
He had been training with part-time outfit Warrington Town, alongside ex-Caley Jags teammate David Raven, but even two training sessions a week was leaving him in pain.
Across two spells with Inverness, Tansey scored 32 goals in 191 games and was part of the 2015 Scottish Cup winners. He scored in the semi-final win over Celtic, a year after scoring in the League Cup semi-final against Hearts to book the club’s place in its first major final.
The 30-year-old started his career at Stockport County and joined Inverness in 2011. He played a season for Terry Butcher before leaving for Stevenage at the end of the season.
He returned in January 2014 and was a key part of John Hughes’ side that finished third and qualified for Europe for the first time.
A pre-contract agreement with the Dons was agreed and he joined after Caley Thistle were relegated from the Premiership two years ago.
He managed 14 appearances for the Dons before injury hit, with his last appearance coming in the 3-0 defeat to Rangers in November 2017.
A loan move to Ross County was ill-fated last year, as the injury restricted him to just three appearances.
Tansey left Pittodrie for St Mirren earlier this year and played eight times before the osteomyelitis resurfaced. He negotiated his release from the Buddies in August after they refused to pay for the operation he required.
He finishes his career with 55 goals in 382 games and a Scottish Cup winners medal to his name.
