In the 2012–13 season, Picken suffered a knee injury in a game against Preston North End in September 2012 and was subsequently ruled out for the rest of the season, with Bury suffering relegation in his absence. On 28 May 2013 it was announced that Picken would miss the entire 2013–14 season following further setbacks with his injury. Because of this, he was not allocated a squad number ahead of the 2013–14 season. After failing to recover from his injury, Picken announced his retirement from professional football in May 2014.