Former Blues midfielder Cole Skuse admits he wasn’t really sure what a medical entailed before agreeing to join Colchester United earlier today, so rare have moves been during his career.
The 35-year-old will formally become a U’s player on a two-year deal on July 1st once his Town contract comes to an end.
"First and foremost, I’ve signed for the club to play games.” Skuse told the Colchester Gazette. "I don’t want to just waste my career; I want to get as many experiences as I can.
"It’s well within my nature to help others as well and the club have put an emphasis on that.
"They want to bring a few more senior players in to help the younger ones that they have coming through.
"I’ve come here to play games and I want to play as many games as I can. But if I can help not just the younger ones but all of the lads, then I’ll definitely do that.
"I had an injury last year, I’m 35 and I’m fully aware that people will ask questions like ‘is he done?’ or ‘he’s had an injury at 35, are his legs gone?’
"But it was very much an isolated injury; I had a freak fall in training in pre-season, after lockdown.
"A few days before that, we had fitness tests and I was right at the top of the group so it’s not as though I’ve had the injury and I’m shot to pieces and I’m finished.
"Physically, I feel really, really good and mentally I’m in a great place to want to go on and play for at least the two years that I’ve signed for, at Colchester — maybe even longer.
"Players that I’ve worked alongside, managers that I’ve worked under medical teams that I’ve worked under will only vouch for that as well.
"To have it done so quickly after the season’s finished, I can only thank everyone involved at Colchester and the powers that be.
"To get it done so quickly is a really good thing for everyone really so a massive thank you to everyone at Colchester and also the team at Ipswich as well.”
Despite his veteran status, the switch to the JobServe Community Stadium is only the second of Skuse’s career.
"I started at Bristol City at the age of ten and I stayed there until I was 27,” he reflected. "I then made the move to Ipswich and I was there for eight years.
"It’s even down to the smallest things — I was in for my medical today and my wife asked me what I had to do and I said ‘I really don’t know!’ I’ve not had too many medicals so it was a bit surreal.
"I’d been at Ipswich for eight years and I kind of knew that it was coming to an end.
"The manager [Paul Cook] wanted to come in and put a fresh spin on everything. You leave with a tinge of sadness after being at a place for so long — you meet so many great people and make so many great memories.
"But I’m very excited by the new challenge and very excited by the project that Colchester are trying to put in place.”
There are a number of familiar faces at Colchester, among them ex-Blues keeper Dean Gerken, who he also played alongside at Bristol City, Tommy Smith and goalkeeper-coach Darren Smith, while he says he had interest from other sides.
He added: "I spoke to a few other clubs and there were other offers but when I knew that there was an interest from Colchester and I already knew some of the people here.
"I’m also very, very good friends with Wayne Brown, who’s a godparent to my child. He spoke very, very highly of the place and it ticked far more boxes than it didn’t for us as a family, at this time.
"We’re very settled in the area so it’s a great move for all of us but that’s not underestimating how excited I am by the project which the club have in place.
"Having spoken to [director of performance] Jon De Souza and [head coach] Hayden Mullins the manager, we had a great chat and I came away from that feeling very excited about it.”