Coulson hoping to end drought with Boro

In his 14-year career Coulson has yet to win a promotion, the closest he came was when his York City side lost out to Fleetwood in the League Two play-offs back in 2014.

This is a stat that the 29-year-old is keen to put right and he’s hoping to be celebrating in a few months’ repeating that heartache.

“It would be nice to have some success in my career, every player wants to lift a trophy,” he said.

“The nearest I came was at York when we lost out against Fleetwood Town.

“I’ve been in the game a long time, but I’ve never experienced a promotion, so hopefully that will happen this season.”

One taste of this probably wouldn’t be enough for Coulson though, as he is hungry for honours since his move back to the town.

He added: “I’ve never really thought about what I want to achieve at the club, but fingers crossed I would like to play for Scarborough in the Conference again.

“I’ve still got five or six years left in me as long as I steer clear of bad injuries, so it would be nice to get back to that level with Scarborough.

“Obviously, I’ll be a bit older then, but I think I’ve still got it in me to play at that level.

“You can’t get too carried away with things at the moment though because we’ve still got a job to do this season.”

After gaining some of his love back for the game since joining Boro, Coulson has underlined that he is in it for the long haul.

“I didn’t just fall out of love with football at St Johnstone, I hated it,” Coulson said.

“People ask you how can you hate football because it is a dream job, but I got to a point when I had just had enough and I wanted to pack in.

“I fell out with the manager and I wasn’t getting a game. I used to come home on a Saturday wondering why this was.

“It dwells on your mind all weekend and affects your life, I just needed to get away from there.

“I had a year left on my contract at St Johnstone, so I could have just stayed there and picked up my money, but I needed to be playing and feel wanted by a club.

“When I first came back to Scarborough I was struggling with the switch from the pro game to this level, but now I’m really enjoying it.

“Not training on a full-time basis has probably been good for my body, I’m maybe not as sharp as I was, but I’m still feeling really good.

“It is five minutes to the ground, my family are settled and the atmosphere at home games is amazing, so you can’t complain.

“It has been great being back in the town and seeing some old faces, like Jimmy Beadle, who I spent so much time with when I was at Scarborough as a young lad.

“It was a bit of an eye-opener when I was turning up to away games and playing on some of the pitches, but those are the games where you win or lose the league.

“When I made my mind up to come back to Scarborough, I made the decision to come back until I retire.

“A couple of teams from the levels above have come in for me, but my family is happy and it would mean travelling again, which is something I’m not prepared to do.

“Obviously if an offer came from League Two or something like that, you’d have to think about it, but I made the decision to return to Scarborough for the long haul.”

At this moment in time a step into the coaching game isn’t something that really interests Coulson, but after his retirement he is still keen to be a part of the club.

He said: “I don’t really want to do any coaching at the moment.

“Richard Cresswell and Jono Greening at York were the best coaches I’ve worked with and they can’t get a full-time job in the game, which I think is ridiculous.

“You tend to get managers and coaches that always seem to get jobs, whereas clubs should be looking at Cressy and Jono.

“When I do retire I’d still like to be involved and stay with Scarborough in the long run, but it is something that I’ll have to think about.

“In the past we’ve never really had a family Christmas, having trained on Christmas Day at some clubs, and you don’t get to spend weekends with your family.

“I’ve still got a few years as a player yet anyway, so we’ll just have to see what happens.”

The short-term goal for Coulson is one thing - promotion.

“We are in a great position thanks to a richly-deserved run of good wins.

“If we can manage to secure the end to the season that we want then it would be amazing.

“You can imagine the buzz that it would create, I’m really hoping that happens.

“I’m happy with how things have gone this season, especially on a personal note.

“I didn’t really have any goalscoring aims, apart from having my heart set on maybe 20 for the season.

“When I was playing in the pro game I used to always aim for double figures.

“There is a month or two left of the season and I’m already well past my 20-goal aim, so I’m obviously more than happy with that.”