Shrewsbury's Carl Winchester on why he almost quit the game

The 31-year-old played 64 times for the Robins, scoring six goals, but those statistics do not tell the full story of the Shrewsbury midfielder’s experience in Gloucestershire.

During that time, his childhood friend James, who Winchester now has a tattoo in memory of, committed suicide.

“I remember we had a game one night, we finished the game and went out for a few drinks after, and I had a phone call from my mate,” Winchester said.

“He was crying. He told me James had died, and I was like ‘what?’

“I was trying to think through who we were talking about because he (James) was meant to come over and see me in Cheltenham a couple of months after because it was his birthday, so he never crossed my mind.

“We were like best friends when we were younger. I still speak to his mum and his family now.

“He used to come over and see me when I was at Oldham and me, him and my brother, we were inseparable. We would do everything together.

“I did not believe it was him.

“Next thing when I hung up the phone, then my mum rang me straight away, and she said I needed to come home.

“When I got home, everything just left my body, and I was like ‘this is not true, this is not true’.

“I went to the funeral, and it was the worst time in my life. I did not know how I was going to get through it.”

After the tragedy, Winchester continued to play for the Robins, going on to become captain.

The former Sunderland man received counselling to try and help him cope with the grief saying there were days when he would lock himself in a room and ‘cry my eyes out’.

“I was just like ‘he would not want me to give up’,” he continued. “He would want me to go on and live my dream and carry on because there were times after that when I was in a dark place. I did not want to play football, I thought about packing it in, and I was just like, ‘think of what he would want you to do?’

“I got through it and I ended up becoming captain at Cheltenham at the end of that season.

“It was one of them moments in my career where it was so tough to deal with.

“I went to counselling just to try and help me out it was a proper dark place but I got the support of my family back home at that time – which helped me through it.

“There were days after training where I would lock myself in a room and just cry my eyes out – every day I was like ‘I don’t know if I can do this?’ It built me into the person I am today and to take every day as it comes without thinking too far into the future.

“I ended up battling through it. Don’t get me wrong I will never get over it but I learnt to deal with it.

“It will always be there, the hurt and thinking why did he do it but I have learnt to cope with it.

“My daughter now she wasn’t around at the time, but she gives me so much life.

“When I have bad days now her and my missus are my saving grace.”