Dylan has gone from Parkhead to parklife

Club-less McGeouch is still chasing his dream but knows it’s hard to fit in as older pro trying to find a team

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DYLAN McGEOUCH has been at this football crossroads before but past experience doesn't make it any easier to navigate.

The season has started but the midfielder still has no club going into the final week in August.

In between attending PFA camps for free agents and his A-Licence coaching course, he’s training alone in public parks with dog walkers instead of teammates for company. It’s a lonely place. Doubts enter the 32-year-old’s head, even though he knows he has years left in the tank.

Then there’s guilt at the upheaval he knows is sure to lie ahead for his young family. It's the brutal reality for hundreds of professional players facing a similar uncertainty.

And it's a reminder of how short a playing career really is.

Just 14 years ago McGeouch was at the centre of an Old Firm tug-of-war that ended with Neil Lennon visiting his parents’ home in the north of Glasgow to convince him to sign for his boyhood heroes. But only after Walter Smith had offered him a lengthy deal to stay at Ibrox.

McGeouch moved to Parkhead, won two titles, went on to become a Scottish Cup legend with Hibs, won two Scotland caps and enjoyed spells at Sunderland and Aberdeen.

But after three years at Forest Green Rovers and latterly Carlisle, he’s on the lookout for a club again. He's confident a suitable offer will come.

But he may need to uproot his partner Leila and daughters Aviana, 5, and Halle, who is just 10 months, from their Cumbrian home.