When I spoke to Chris on the lifeguarding course we were on together, he said his experience towards the end of his time at stanley had contributed quite heavily towards his disillusionment with the game. In short he fell out of love with it all.
He loved the fans and very much appreciated (in his words) 'the amazing support' they gave him, but when it came down to it the one person he really needed to back him didn't and he felt that with Coley his face just didn't fit. Coley barely spoke to him in his last 6 months apparently.
I asked him a really awkward question one morning and bless him he was really honest when he answered it. I asked him if he felt that the support he got from the terraces from the fans, the 'get Chris Turner on!' chants etc., actually made it harder for him in regards to Coley's attitude?
Very candidly he said yes, but also stressed that he wouldn't have swapped the fans for anything, in essence it was Coley who had a problem with the chants, not him or the fans.
But then we've always know that Coley had problems regarding certain aspects of fan support, in particular the man of the match award (think Nat Taylors 20 minute MOM, after which he turned into the new Chris T!) and any tactic or substitution based player chants. Ego is a funny thing!
Chris is now doing Teaching Assistancy at secondary school level and he is loving it. He wants to take his time and find the joy of playing again. He had several decent offers over the summer, from conference north clubs and unibond prem clubs but its just not the be all and end all for him anymore and I guess he just never got round to sorting the football part of his life unitl this last couple of weeks.