Stephen McManus quits playing to take up full-time coaching role at Motherwell

Lanark-born McManus, who has made 135 appearances for Motherwell since 2013, hadn’t played a competitive first team match since February after sustaining a groin injury in a 2-0 defeat to Celtic at Parkhead.The robust centre half, who played in Scotland’s famous 1-0 win against France in Paris almost exactly 10 years ago, will now coach full-time with the Motherwell academy.He said: “I’ve decided to call it a day in my career, I’m retiring today.“It’s something that’s been in the back of my mind since the summer.“I’ve had a tough time with injury in the last three or four months of the season.“I spoke to a couple of people in the game that I’ve got a lot of respect for in the game that have been in a similar position at that point of their career.“I just felt it was the right time. I’ll move onto the coaching staff at Motherwell which is a fantastic opportunity.“I’ve been one of the lucky ones that’s worked hard at the game as a young kid and my career has turned out to be pretty decent.“I’ve had some wonderful times, a lot of lows in my career as well but I really appreciate the highs.”McManus won 26 Scotland caps in a largely distinguished career which also took in playing spells at Celtic, Middlesbrough and a loan spell at Bristol City before joining ’Well.