George Howard will be part of Chatham Town’s coaching staff next season.

The former Gillingham goalkeeper,

who almost died in a car crash in South Africa two years ago

, will be the club’s goalkeeping coach under new boss Tony Beckingham.

It’s an opportunity the 22-year-old is relishing as he looks to put a traumatic two years behind him.

He said: “My aim is to stay in the game as long as I can. I did think about walking away from it all but I now have the chance to give something back.

“I have missed football so much and I bit their hands off at the chance. I just can’t wait for the season to start now.”

Howard played understudy to Stuart Nelson during Gillingham's 2013-14 season, signing for Martin Allen’s team after they had won the League 2 title.

Nelson often told his Gills team-mate to take his coaching badges early, just in case. They turned out to be wise words.

During a summer holiday with friends, Howard was involved in a car crash leaving him fighting for his life. He sustained a fractured skull and had three bleeds on the brain.

It could have been a tragic end to what Howard described as the best year of his life, playing for his hometown club. But it was the hard work during that year which helped save him as he spent 17 days in a coma.

Howard said: “People always told me to get my badges. Stuart Nelson was telling me to get them, saying ‘you never know what is around the corner.’ He was right.

“It was an unreal season – it was the best year of my life. If it wasn’t for Martin Allen (who worked his players hard in training) I would have died. Because I had a bigger heart than most, it kept pumping away and the doctors said that because I was an athlete, that saved me.”

Howard had to wait until July last year to have an operation to see if he could play again. After the accident, a ventriculoperitoneal (VP) shunt had been inserted into his brain to relieve the pressure caused by fluid accumulation.

That needed to be removed and replaced with a metal plate for him to play again but the news wasn’t what Howard wanted to hear.

“The surgeon wouldn’t take it out,” said the former Charlton trainee. “I tried to argue but
he said no.

“He explained his reasoning and what I didn’t want is for my mum and dad to have to pick me up again if I got a bang to the head. It wouldn’t be fair.

“I just want to thank my mum and dad, because without those two there was no chance I would have got through what I have.

"It is a massive release to be back involved and what I’ve been waiting
for. It is gutting that I am not playing but I am alive, I am working and happy.”

The full interview appeared in the May 27 edition of the Medway Messenger