Rock  legend Rod Stewart  has hung up his football  boots to avoid getting  injured before his Brighton  concert.

The 69-year-old has played  football all his life but has  stopped playing to ensure he is  raring to go when his tour starts at Brighton and Hove  Albion’s American Express  Community Stadium on June  13.

He said: “It was beginning to impinge on my work playing on a Sunday, then having to go and play
a concert at Vegas in the  evening.

“But I’ve had a great run.  I’ve played all my life. The lads  gave me a good send-off. And  now I’m assistant coach to the  assistant coach.”

The former singer with The  Faces went out on a high with  a 3-2 win which saw his Sunday
League side, based in LA, reach  fourth in their league.

The superstar’s return to songwriting after 20  years has seen his new  album Time  become a  massive hit.

His stop off  at the Amex is  the start of  his five-date tour across the UK  this summer.

The venues chosen have  brought back memories of  Rod’s early days as a musician, days when he toured the country in vans working to make it  to the big time.

One track, ‘Brighton Beach’,  is an emotional love song about  his time on the south coast as a
teenager.

He said: “There’s a  track on the album about  Brighton and what that place  means to me, I spent a lot of my  teenage years there.”

As a 17-year-old he fathered  a child with Brighton girl  Susan Boffey.

Sarah was born in 1963 and spent some time in children’s homes and with foster carers before being adopted  by a couple in East Sussex  when she was aged five.

Rod stopped off on a world  tour with a date at the  Brighton Centre in 1978 and his  last performance in Brighton  was in November 1986.

The singer is still keen for a  Faces reunion but it is proving  tricky getting a time that suits  everyone, including Ronnie  Wood, who is busy with the  Rolling Stones.

Rod said he decided to tour  after the album was well  received.

He said: “It’s what I do and I  love doing it. It’s my job and I’m  just loving it.”