RITCHIE HUMPHREYS is eyeing up a manager’s job – once the Hartlepool United hero calls time on his playing days.

He is nursing a hamstring problem that has prevented him from playing since the victory over Walsall on September 25 and will not be considered for tomorrow’s visit of Bristol Rovers.

Having avoided serious injuries for most of his career, his team-mates have jokingly suggested his latest problem is down to age.

But Humphreys, who turns 33 next month, is not about to start thinking about retirement just yet.

He has been helping first team coach Mick Wadsworth out in training since Chris Turner’s departure in August – an avenue he would like to explore long term.

But he said: “I don’t know any other industry, I want to stay in football and that is what I intend to do when it is all over.

“If there was a coaching job or a manager’s job that comes my way then I would like to take it.

“For the time being, though, I’m concentrating all I can on getting everything out of my body as a player.”

Humphreys was speaking at his golf day this week, the first of a series of events he has lined up as part of his testimonial year.

He knows his career has entered the latter stages and continues to work towards a life in the game afterwards.

“The last ten years have had their ups and downs, but more ups than downs,” he said.

“I have become more involved on the coaching side and that is a path I would like to go down. I have been working at the centre of excellence in the last couple of years, but if you ask any of the expros they will all tell you to play for as long as you can.

“I have been on my A-licence course, plenty of people have failed it, but it’s about hard work and doing things right. Hopefully I can get that and then once I have stopped playing, I will stay in the game.”