Speaking in the Bournemouth Evening Echo, Perrett is quoted as saying: "It's not a decision I've taken lightly. I spoke to a few people who have been in the same position and they told me not to rush into anything. But I'm happy with my decision and now I want to move forward and start something else. What's happened over the past few months has made up my mind. It's been soul-destroying not being able to play and train. I just don't want to go through another awful season of picking up injuries and illnesses. Initially, it was scary when I fell ill. It hit me straight away and I wasn't quite sure what was happening. It was all down my left side and you immediately panic that something is wrong with one of your major organs. I picked up an infection which turned out to be pleurisy. That laid me low for a while and because things didn't really improve, I got it checked out again and was told I had pneumococcal pneumonia. It's taken me two to three months to get myself back to normal. Nothing could have prevented it or speeded up the recovery. It's something that can hit anybody at any time and I was just unfortunate that it hit me at the end of the season when I could have done with being fit".