Chris heads off to the sun after last Accies game

Apr 30 2008 By Andy McGilvray

CHRIS Swailes played his final game for Hamilton on Saturday before heading off for a new life in the sun.

The Gateshead-born defender, who played for Doncaster, Rotherham, Ipswich Town and Bury, will head to Gran Canaria, where his wife Louise has a new job.

If he likes it there, Chris says he’ll stay and find work of his own – eventually – but for now the 37-year-old is just looking forward to acclimatising to far better weather than he’s used to in this country.

Swailes, who was made captain for the 1-1 draw at Dundee which served as his swansong, said: “It was quite emotional at the end there and it was disappointing to concede in the last minute.

“To be fair, we wrapped up the title last week so the job was done and it was hard for both sides to concentrate because of that.

“I was captain for the day on Saturday, and it’s the fourth or fifth team I’ve captained in my career. It’s a great privilege.”

Swailes is delighted to have finally earned a championship medal in his long career and pleased he took the gamble to come to Scotland.

He said: “I was glad to come up north of the border. It’s been an incredible season.

“I would have liked to have played more games, of course, but that’s down partly to me having two jobs back in the north of England, and the fact that the defensive partnership between Mark McLaughlin and Davie Elebert has been outstanding.”

He added: “Our target at the start of the season was promotion and we’ve done it.

“There wasn’t really a point in the season when I thought ‘we’re going to win the league’ because there were always going to be ups and downs.

“Coming back from 2-0 down to beat Clyde 3-2 away was a good win, but at the same time losing 2-0 to Livingston away, and losing at St Johnstone were games that were hard to take.

“Dundee pushed us all the way. Had it not been for them, we would have won the league with four or five games to go.”

Gran Canaria now beckons for Chris and his wife.

Chris said: “Hopefully we’ll settle there and if I love it I’ll stay, and if I don’t I’ll probably be back.

“At the moment, I’m just hoping to live the good life, but I’m not the sort of person who can sit back and do nothing, I will look for work ... eventually!

“I’m meeting a lad called Paquito who used to play for Hamilton, and he runs a team over there, so I’ll have a talk with him and take it from there.”