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Birmingham City have announced that long-serving fan favourite Lukas Jutkiewicz will retire from football at the end of the season.
The 36-year-old striker, fondly known as Dukey, has made 356 appearances over the last nine years at the club and has made the difficult decision to hang up his boots.
He joined the club from Burnley in 2016 and has played through difficult times for the club, and under many different managers.
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Jutkiewicz has only made 14 substitute appearances in League One for Blues this season and yet his goal against Barnsley, the sixth in a 6-2 victory, will probably go down as the moment of it.
His time at St Andrew’s is not entirely over, however. He will take on a yet to be confirmed role at the club in a move that will keep him involved at Blues.
He is in the club’s top 15 for all-time appearances and was the club’s top scorer in three different seasons (2016/17, 2019/20 and 2020/21).
Leading the tributes was his former teammate and now Blues Director of Football, Craig Gardner, who commented: “Firstly, I’d like to congratulate Jukey on a fantastic career. A powerful frontman, he gave absolutely everything on the pitch and is a credit to our profession.
“His loyalty and love for the club was evident to everyone throughout what was often turbulent times, and he always embraced his role in the community programme and more recently with the Foundation.
“As a former teammate of his, I’m delighted he will be remaining with us as he takes the next step in his career.
I have no doubt that he will be an overwhelming success and will be as committed and hard working off the pitch, as he was on it. Lukas Jutkiewicz’s career will always be associated with Birmingham City Football Club.”
His thoughts were echoed by the club’s interim CEO Jeremy Dale who praised his dedication to the club and his impact over nine years.
He stated: “When people think of Birmingham City, the name of Lukas Jutkiewicz is never far away.
“He is held in the highest regard by everyone at the club and he is loved by our fans like no other player in recent history.
“Even though his time as a player is ending, we are delighted that he will be taking up a new role.
“To spend nine years at one club is a rarity in the modern game, and not only has he led by example on the pitch with his performances, but he has so often been an ambassador off the field within the local community.
“On behalf of everyone at Birmingham City, I want to thank Jukey for everything he has given the club in his nine years as a player here and wish both him and his family the best of success for the next phase of his journey with Blues.”