'But I'm Not Sure About Making It At Chester' Says Uncrowned King Of Carlisle

365 Interview by Ian Cruise

JIMMY GLASS has become the forgotten man of English football - just ten months after he was the most talked about player in the game.

For those with short memories, Glass is the goalkeeper whose amazing last-minute winner for Carlisle in the last match of the season against Plymouth last May kept the Cumbrians in the Football League and sent Scarborough into the Conference instead. But while that single moment definitely saved Michael Knighton's club from relegation, and possibly from extinction, it has hardly led to fortune and continued fame for the hero of the hour.

Instead, Glass is currently without a club. He left first division Swindon of his own volition earlier in the season - despite media reports to the contrary - and was this week released by second division Cambridge at the end of a one-month deal. Ironically, the one club to show any interest has been Chester, who are one place and one point above former employers Carlisle at the foot of Division Three.

"I've had a sniff from Chester but I'm not sure I want to go there," he told Football365. "Can you imagine how awkward that would be? At the moment I can still go on holiday to Carlisle, after all! But having said that, I've got to look after number one.

"I've had no contact from Carlisle at all this season. After I scored that goal they wanted to sign me, and they offered me the same money I was on at Swindon. I asked for a bit extra - not a lot - but they never phoned me back. Mr Knighton talked about me being unwilling to lower my wage demands but that was never the case. I wanted a little more money which I felt was fair enough, considering I would have to move hundreds of miles and I had just saved his club millions of pounds.

"But while I don't owe Carlisle anything, I'm not sure about a move to Chester. Imagine if I helped them stay up and relegated Carlisle! It would be like undoing everything that happened last season and would mean none of it was really worth it."

But the reality for the 26-year-old Londoner is that he is currently unemployed with the transfer deadline just three weeks away.

"This season's been an absolute disaster," he confessed. "Mind you, even last year wasn't great - it was only the last ten seconds that made it worth it. But this season has been a disappointment. I went back to Swindon with the hope of getting back in the team but the manager, Jimmy Quinn, made it clear I wasn't his number one choice. It was a personal problem.

"I asked to leave but it got in the papers that I was fired and kicked out. I contacted the Press Complaints Commission about that and we tried to get the papers to print a retraction because a footballer can't be sacked. If that happens he has done something seriously wrong or breached the club's disciplinary rules, and obviously what was said in the press was extremely detrimental to my future prospects.

"Roy McFarland gave me a month's contract at Cambridge but told me on Wednesday he wasn't taking it any further. I even said I would sign a pre-contract and come back in the summer, because all I want to do is play football. It's ironic because I'm probably playing as well as I ever have done this season but I can't get a game.

"I was thinking the other night maybe I should pack up and go and pick up £500 a week playing non-league and sell cars during the day," Glass added, "but then I thought: 'Why should I?' I'm a bloody good goalkeeper, but everywhere I turn at the moment I run into a brick wall."