Goalkeeper David Stockdale has revealed how he nearly 'stopped playing football' before he joined Wycombe Wanderers.

The 38-year-old, who was recently at York City in the National League, played 76 times for the Chairboys across three spells between 2018 and 2022.

He initially joined the Chairboys on a six-week loan in the autumn of 2018 from Birmingham City, but was recalled after playing just two matches.

A move back to Adams Park in January 2020 followed where he again played twice for the club, before signing permanently that summer.

Stockdale was part of the squad that achieved promotion to the Championship, and despite not playing a single game for the club in the first-half of the 2020/21 season, he ended the year as Wanderers’ number one keeper.

He would then play every second of Wycombe’s league and play-off campaign the following year, winning the golden glove with 18 clean sheets.

Before his moves to South Buckinghamshire, Stockdale had spent the 2017/18 season as Birmingham’s first-choice keeper, but was banished from the squad for the entirety of the 2018/19 campaign, where he was forced to train with the U23s and then the U18s under the instructions of the club’s hierarchy.

Multiple loans to other clubs followed that year, before was brought back to the frame for the 2019/20 season, playing just one game in six months.

Speaking on his spells at Wycombe, Stockdale told the Undr the Cosh podcast: “I was probably at one of my lowest points because for the first three to four months [of the 2018/19 season], I still thought I had a chance [to get back into the first team].

“But it got to six months and I hit a dip, and in that dip, Wycombe rung and said ‘we need a loan keeper as our keeper is out.’

“They agreed a weekly fee so I went there [to Wycombe] and I loved it.

“I played the first game which we won, and then for the second game, which is against Accrington Stanley away, I got man of the match – I was on fire.

“You’ve gone from drinking at night on your own to playing again, and I just wanted more of it.

“But then the director went to the manager [Gareth Ainsworth] after the game, and said, ‘Birmingham have called Stocks back.’

“My first thought was that they’ve realised [how well I was playing].

“It turned out that they didn’t want to see me doing well when they weren’t, and they said Wycombe weren’t paying enough.

“Wycombe said ‘we agreed six weeks’ and they [Birmingham] said it wasn’t enough money.”

Moves to Coventry City and Southend United followed that year, before he re-joined Wycombe in 2020.

He continued: “I needed to get out of Birmingham.

“I went to Wycombe [again] to get out and Gareth Ainsworth wanted to give me a chance.

“He said that he couldn’t guarantee that I’ll play, but it wasn't for that, I would have stopped playing football.

“I felt so drained – the [Birmingham] fans hated me and all I did was try and play football.

“Then you go to Wycombe and you’ve got Gareth Ainsworth going ‘whooo!’ listening to rock music in the changing room – it was brilliant.

“Even though I wasn’t playing [at the time] at Wycombe, I was loving it there.

“I took something like a 90 per cent wage cut to stay there and Wycombe wants what’s best for the players.

“Wycombe is a very special club.”