Former Doncaster Rovers ace turned first team coach comes out of retirement

Green represented Doncaster more than 200 times between 2002 and 2008 after graduating from the clubs academy and later won 21 international caps for the Republic of Ireland.

The 40-year-old retired in November after being promoted to the role of first team transition coach under Danny Schofield.

But he was told he would not be part of Grant McCann’s backroom team following his arrival last month and accepted a role working with Doncaster’s academy, where he was previously based.

His return to Worksop, who won promotion to the Northern Premier League Premier Division – the seventh tier of English football – last season, was announced last week, with Green making his second debut for the club in a pre-season friendly against Barnsley on Saturday.

Green said: “I feel like there is a bit of unfinished business that I have with this club and my season got cut short with the job role at Doncaster, but things change in football, and I wasn’t really ready to retire, it was just the job role that I couldn’t turn down.

“It was tough to leave it behind – it was something I had done for 22 years of my life – it was just an opportunity that I couldn’t miss out on as that’s probably the next stage of my career after my playing career."

Green has previously represented the likes of Derby County, Leeds United and Ipswich Town in the Championship.

He added: “Even when I was doing the coaching role, I wanted to get involved and play, so if the hunger wasn’t there then it would have just been an easy decision to retire.

“You’re a long time retired, so having a chance to play again, it was such an easy decision to get back into it.”

Worksop boss Craig Parry said: “Once the opportunity came to re-sign Greeny, it became a no-brainer for us.

“He became a fans’ favourite in the short time that he was with us last season and what he gave to me inside the changing room and on the pitch was unbelievable and as soon as we knew he was available, we acted quickly to get it done."