“In 2009 I trained with Cristiano, now I make oat milk”

Richard Eckersley has counted in The Athletic how much his life has changed from 2009 to now. At that time he belonged to Manchester United and trained with Cristiano Ronaldo. Now his life is very different: “I’ve been thinking about it the whole time. Ronaldo is back at United And the last time he was there, I was there. I was training with him. And now I am a dairyman and a merchant, I sell oat milk. He still plays soccer. It’s crazy. Worlds apart“, has counted.

“But I wouldn’t trade for him. I’m very happy and in control of my destiny.”


Eckersley

And adds: “But I wouldn’t trade for him. I’m very happy and in control of my destiny.”. At 32, Eckersley has been retired for six seasons. At 36, for his part, Cristiano is still a star. Eckersley reached Manchester United’s first team in 2009 playing as a right-back. A few seasons later, in 2015, he played his last game for Oldham Athletic against Doncaster Rovers. He was injured in the 71st minute and did not play again. In that same December, Cristiano scored nine goals with Real Madrid. In his Manchester United generation, Eckersley coincided with Cleverley, Drinkwater, Chester or Welbeck. “An incredible team,” he says.

“I was coming back from a wedding, we had a newborn baby and I told my wife that I wanted to quit football. It was a relief.”


Eckersley

When he recovered from his injury in the summer, Eckersley was on trial with Southend United and Elche. In August he made the final decision: “Oldham had no money or aspirations. I was coming back from a wedding, we had a newborn baby and I told my wife that I wanted to quit football. It was a relief. I had enough money to last six months or a year.” remember in The Athletic.

He decided to go live in Totnes, where he began to build his new life: “We have our own house, our garden, we grow our own food. It is like a town without roads. It is a community of about 40 people. Everything is vegetarian and 100% organic. We are producing 25,000 liters of milk per month in glass bottles.l. Everything is reusable, it is a circular business model. We have 22 employees, we want to be the UK’s largest milk distributor in the next five years. Who knows … maybe Manchester United will have it stored in their refrigerators one day? “