FORMER York City star Matty Blair has announced his retirement from professional football due to injury.

Blair sustained a knee injury last season for League One side Cheltenham Town and has retired due to its after-effects.

The midfielder-turned-defender spent two seasons with York, helping them win the FA Trophy and promotion to League Two in the 2011/12 campaign, the much cherished ‘Wembley Twice’ term.

After promotion, Blair helped City avoid relegation, finishing four points clear of the drop in 17th place.

He made 93 appearances for the Minstermen in all competitions, scoring 27 goals and notching nine assists, before departing for Fleetwood Town in 2013.

Blair's versatility was of much use to the Minstermen, particularly in League Two, where he was deployed on the left, right and centre of midfield.

He went on to play for Northampton Town, Cambridge United, Mansfield Town, Doncaster Rovers and Cheltenham Town before bringing his career to an end.

“(I’ve made this decision due to) a lack of options really,” noted Blair. 

“It’s a knee injury that I sustained last season, but with the thickness of the games, nothing was really mentioned, I just got on with it. 

“I went away in the off-season and completely shut my body off and started feeling okay again. 

“Coming back to the demands of pre-season this season, it wasn’t feeling good at all. I reported it, we’ve now found further issues going on. 

“My options were simply man-management, so play on Saturday and maybe not walk until Monday or Tuesday. 

“Having a young family, that was just not an option. They come first. I want to have time with my kids. 

“Or, have an operation, which was effectively an 18-month to two-year recovery that still might not have worked.”

The 33-year-old joined York in 2011, moving to Bootham Crescent on a free transfer from Kidderminster Harriers.

City were in the fifth tier of English football at the time, then known as the Conference National, where they had been since their relegation from League Two in 2004.

Blair quickly became an established part of York’s starting side, helping them reach the Conference National play-offs.

He played every minute of the close season, scoring against Mansfield in the second leg of the semi-finals and netting York’s second goal of two against Luton Town in the final as the Minstermen came back from a goal down to win.

In the FA Trophy, Blair scored at least one goal in his first four games. His 90th minute equaliser against Luton in the second leg of the semi-finals saw City advance to the final against Newport County.

Blair scored yet again in the final, grabbing the first of the Minstermen’s two goals as they won 2-0, in front of almost 20,000 fans at Wembley Stadium.