IT was the end of an area last week as a well-known and long-standing Dunfermline physiotherapist retired after more than 40 years in the profession.

Philip Yeates, who worked with the Pars for more than two decades until 2004, completed his last day at his clinic on Friday.

Staff at his business, Philip Yeates Physiotherapy, which is based within East End Park, held a lunch to mark his retirement, which he said will allow him to enjoy family time with his one-year-old granddaughter, and to work on his golf handicap.

Philip, or 'Pip' as he is known to many Dunfermline Athletic supporters, players and managers, attended Queen Anne High School, where he fostered a passion for rugby and cricket.

He played for Dunfermline Rugby Club and, although he had thoughts of becoming a PE teacher, he went on to study physiotherapy in Edinburgh, completing his qualifications in 1982.

Philip, 64, said that he had begun helping out with the Pars a year earlier, and went on to have a successful career that also included working with the Scotland senior men's football team - including at Euro 96 and the 1998 World Cup in France - and with Rangers, from 2008-2013.

He established his own clinic 20 years ago, having provided physiotherapy in Dunfermline for 10 years prior, but is now passing the business on to Colette McLaren, who first began working with Philip full-time, at Dunfermline Athletic, in 2001.

"I’ve worked since I was 18, I’ve never not worked, so it will be a bit different, but hopefully the golf handicap will come down, and we have a granddaughter who has just turned one. So there’s plenty going on," he said.

"I think what I will miss is the interaction with people because, every half hour, you're seeing somebody different, chatting about things - football, rugby, politics, whatever. It's that type of thing I'll miss, the little bits of chat and banter that you have with folk, but the fingers are telling me it's time.

"I've beaten folk up for 42 years, so it's time to give them a bit of a rest!"

Philip, who described his PE teachers at Queen Anne as "mentors", continued: "Rugby was my sport when I was at school, and cricket, and because of them, sport was always my safety valve.

"Academically, was I a real brain box? No. I worked at it to get what I needed to get, but the sport was the safety valve at school for me.

"In those days, they took you for evening sessions, you had games at the weekend - that doesn't happen in schools now, regretfully.

"Sport was my thing and, in those days, when I looked at it, the first choice was PE teaching. Ultimately, I went to Dunfermline Rugby Club, but I knew folk that hadn't got jobs after doing the course at Jordanhill, as it was in those days, and I thought it's pretty specialised.

"I don't want to end up doing it, and then having to use the degree to get something else. That's when I'd been treated for things because of rugby injuries and I thought, right, that might be another avenue."

After a journey on that avenue that has provided a book of memorable experiences, Philip will now pass his clinic on, adding: "Collette's been with me for over 25 years anyway, and that was part of the transition, over the last year, that we've kind of been doing that.

"Collete's taking over the clinic. We've got five physios that are still working, so they'll not miss me! They'll just keep going on.

"That was part of the reason for doing it that way, that it was going to be a smooth takeover, that I wasn't suddenly going to disappear.

"First and foremost, we're physios, but there's a lot behind the scenes that you need to do these days.

"It's been nice on that side also to do that for Collette, so the thing will just move on, and I'll get out the road, and let them get on with it!"