SOCCER: "Aaah, now you're talking about a footballer - he will reach the heights, the real heights," said Bob Pearson, a scout with Millwall for the past 26 years, when asked 18 months ago about Richard Sadlier, one of the many Irish players he signed for the London club.

"He even stayed with myself and my wife when we brought him over from Dublin because I thought 'this one's going to be special, we better make sure he's looked after right'."

Yesterday morning Millwall manager Mark McGhee rang Pearson to tell him that Sadlier's hip injury had forced him to retire from the game, at the age of 24. Pearson was devastated. "I can't bring myself to ring him, but I have to. I will. But what do I say to the lad? It's heart-breaking. It's a terrible thing to happen any pro, but this lad was destined for big things. He'd have been playing Premiership football by now if it wasn't for the last 18 months, they were already chasing him. A lovely, lovely lad. It's all so cruel."

The announcement came less than a fortnight after Sadlier made his third comeback from serious injury, coming on as a substitute against Crewe. He played another 20 minutes against Stoke City three days later, but that proved to be his final appearance for the club he joined from Belvedere in the summer of 1996.

Sadlier, a 6ft 2ins striker who was touted as Niall Quinn's successor in the Irish attack, was given his senior international debut by Mick McCarthy in a friendly against Russia in February last year. Three weeks later, however, when he was playing against Barnsley, he felt pain shoot through his hip after a shot on goal. He played three more games that season with the aid of painkillers but then had to have two hip operations, in April and October. He worked through this summer to regain fitness but, yesterday, conceded defeat in that battle.

"I was told 18 months ago that it was possible that I wouldn't play again - at the time I refused to take that seriously and was convinced that I would," he said. "While I did manage that, it never lasted for more than two or three games, and it just seemed that after all this time I hadn't really made any progress and the symptoms were getting a lot worse.

"It got to the stage where every day I was getting pain in my back and my hip just doing the most basic of activities. Eventually, I just reached the decision that the longer I tried to play, not only was I doing more damage to myself, but the strain was becoming too much, building myself up for each comeback and then being bitterly disappointed when it didn't work out.

"I've been thinking about this for a while, but not seriously until about a month ago. I spoke to the medical people and it just makes sense for me to stop now. The fact is that this does happen to footballers, and unfortunately it's happened to me."

"It's very disappointing news," said Brian Kerr yesterday. "He's a bright, intelligent lad and he performed very well at underage level for us. It's a great shame that he cannot fulfil his undoubted potential. I wish Richard all the best in whatever career he now chooses, whether it's in the game or outside."

"This is desperate for Richard," said McGhee. "I've managed at four clubs now, and he is the best young centre forward I've seen, he had the potential to go right to the top. I've told Richard that he can be proud of the effort he's put in and the pain and torture he's been through to try and get back. He'll now go and do something else with his life, but he can never have any regrets that there was something he could have done better. He has done everything in his power to get back from this injury, but it's just not been possible."

"He was ever so brave through it all," said Pearson. "The irony is that all the ingredients you need to make you a great player - mental toughness, real mental strength, being positive - he now needs to help him get through this, but he has them all. He won't let it beat him. He's an intelligent young lad, very bright, with a good family behind him.

"I have a feeling when I talk to him he'll be consoling me, that's the kind of lad he is. Whatever happens he'll be my friend for life, a lovely, decent lad."

Factfile:

January 1979: Born in Ballinteer, Dublin.

Schoolboy clubs: Broadford Rovers, Leicester Celtic, Belvedere.

August 1996: Signed for Millwall from Belvedere.

February 1997: Debut for Millwall against Bristol City, went on to make 10 appearances in his first season.

1997-1998: Various injuries and a hernia operation restricted him to appearing in just five games.

1998-2002: His most successful, injury-free spell with Millwall, making 143 appearances over four seasons, scoring 17 goals in the 2001-2002 campaign.

April 1999: Partnered Robbie Keane in attack at the World Youths Cup finals in Nigeria.

February 2002: Senior Irish debut against Russia at Lansdowne Road.

April 2002: Had his first hip operation, ending his hopes of selection for the World Cup.

October 2002: Second hip operation. Played just five times for Millwall in 2002-2003 - a recurrence of his hip problem (in March 2003) eventually ends his season.

August 2003: Made his comeback against Crewe Alexandra.

September 2003: Announced his retirement.

Club career: Millwall, 1996-2003 (165 appearances, 41 goals).