Simon Lappin insists he and Grant Holt have not joined King’s Lynn Town as an easy option in the twilight years of their football careers.
The Norwich City favourites have turned heads throughout non-league after joining the Linnets for the rest of the season and could make their Bostik Southern Premier Division debuts against Hitchin Town at The Walks tonight (7.45pm kick-off).
“I’ve travelled the length and breadth of the country and I’ve stayed in Cardiff, Sheffield and back in Scotland, and I’ve just never felt as settled as I do in Norfolk – and my wife feels the same,” the 34-year-old Scot said.
“We’ve got young children and we want to bring them up here, and while I’m here there’s an opportunity to play football so it ties in hand in hand with that.
“But I don’t want people just thinking it’s the easy option because it’s just along the road. As a player you never lose that hunger and desire to go and compete. But the Norfolk thing, I’m not the only player to stop down here!”
The Scot joined City from St Mirren for around £100,000 in January 2007 and went on to make 126 appearances, scoring four goals before joining Cardiff on a free transfer in January 2013.
He made seven appearances for York in the National League last season before rupturing his Achilles tendon in February but has trained with former Norwich assistant Ian Culverhouse’s squad in recent weeks as he recovers full fitness.
MORE: King’s Lynn Town swoop for former Norwich City pair Grant Holt and Simon Lappin
“It’s part and parcel of the game that you pick up injuries and I’m very fortunate to get to the age of 34 before something happened like that but that’s in the past as far as I’m concerned,” the Scot said.
“I’m just delighted to be here, I was speaking to Ian over a couple of weeks, someone I’ve known for quite a while as Grant said so we know what to expect and what we’re getting with him. If you asked the group from years gone by (at Norwich) the coaching we had was unbelievable so that was the biggest sway for coming here.
“It was a family decision as well, similar to Grant, I spoke to my wife about coming here and I just want to get back to playing football.”
Lappin added: “I’ve been over to train with the lads and see how things are working so I’m just absolutely delighted to be here and hopefully I can play my part on the pitch as well as off it.”
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