Ex Utd star who was warned not to touch CR7 in training says regret at leaving

A former Manchester United star who left the club for Burnley in 2009 has said he regrets leaving one of the world's biggest clubs.

The former full-back once hoped to be the next Gary Neville and broke into United's first team in the 2008-09 season, making four appearances.

His job was to mark Cristiano Ronaldo in training – he even told The Athletic that 'I didn't find it that difficult' – but Sir Alex Ferguson enforced a 'hands-off' rule.

The player in question is Richard Eckersley, who has played for United since the age of nine and made his debut against Tottenham in the fourth round of the FA Cup in 2009. He still has a League Cup winners medal from that 2008-09 season.

In that match he played alongside big names such as Ronaldo, Dimitar Berbatov and Paul Scholes – and now he looks back on those days with nostalgia, despite being happy and satisfied with his surprising career change.

“I probably should have stayed at Carrington and developed under the coaches I was already working with because I was making steady progress,” he told the Manchester Evening News.

“To go from the cusp of one of the biggest teams in the world, you could say at the time, to Burnley, who had just been promoted but would become a struggling side in the Premier League, was a huge leap and a huge education. for me, in terms of what men's football is and what it's like to play with players who don't have the background that people had at United.

“It was a huge change from where I was at United and the standards we set with professionalism, the facilities and all kinds of things we had. You were actually taken care of down to the last detail.

“When they went somewhere like Burnley – and no disrespect to Burnley – they were just in a different head space.

“I think the decisions I made were essentially based on promises that weren't made. Nothing in football is guaranteed, but in retrospect I think I should have stayed at United. I think I regretted it when I made that decision.”

Eckersley had a respectable career, playing for Plymouth, Bradford, Toronto, New York Red Bulls and Oldham.

At the age of 26, he lost interest in football after one of his daughters was born and stepped away after a family trip to the Isle of Man.

Now 35, he's doing something completely different: running an organic, zero-waste food store called Earth.Food.Love.

'We wanted to invest back in the community. The idea of ​​a store arose and initially the idea was that it would become a full-fledged food store. There was already a fully fledged food store in Totnes and we thought about what else we could do to make us unique,” ​​he said.

'The idea of ​​a 'zero waste' whole food store was unique and would attract people. That's how it started. It gives us purpose, I think that's the most important thing. It's a joy because it's something I enjoy doing. It doesn't feel like a chore and it doesn't feel like I have a 9-to-5 job.”

Eight years later and the rest is history. He also owns ReRooted, which produces plant-based milk.