Republic of Ireland striker Scott Hogan says he came close to hanging up his boots earlier this year after he ‘fell out of love’ with football.
Capped 12 times for the Boys in Green – with his last appearance coming in 2022 – Hogan has fallen out of the international picture.
After starting out working his way up through the English non-leagues, the striker made a name for himself with his goalscoring feats for Brentford when they were still in the Championship.
A move to Aston Villa followed in January 2017 and the forward made his Ireland senior bow the following year.
Now 32, he left Birmingham City at the end of last season following their relegation and had been without a club until earlier this month.
After signing a deal with League Two outfit MK Dons, Hogan opened up on an eventful few months that almost saw him walking away from the sport altogether.
‘I fell out of love with football,’ he revealed to the BBC. ‘There was a lot of things going on, and I was asking myself whether I wanted to do it anymore, was it worth being unhappy all the time?
‘As the summer dragged on, I was getting a bit itchy, “is there anything there?”, but nothing really appealed to me.
‘When the season kicked off, I thought “I want to play” – I’m 32 but there’s no real mileage on my legs. I’ve got years left in me and it was a case of “don’t waste it”. It made me hungry again [joining MK Dons] so that’s where I am now.’
Hogan netted for his club for the first time over the weekend in their 3-1 win over Morecombe – but the player admits he is still finding his fitness.
He added: ‘I came out in the second half, did a couple of runs and thought “oh no, my legs have gone”.
‘The gaffer’s aware of where I’m at and I was struggling second half but I can only keep building on what I can do.’