‘I regret leaving Man Utd when I did – I now run a shop after ending my career early’

Richard Eckersley clearly remembers stepping onto the field for his Manchester United debut in 2009. Eckersley, who had been nurtured by the club from the tender age of nine, was part of the squad that took on Tottenham Hotspur in the FA Cup fourth round.

The Salford-born prospect was called upon by Sir Alex Ferguson to step in for Fabio, with United leading 2-1. Taking the pitch alongside the likes of Paul Scholes and Cristiano Ronaldo was more than just playing a match; it was realising the dreams of millions of aspiring footballers.

Fast forward to the present day and the former right-back is now bagging up environmentally friendly products instead of opposition forwards as the proud owner of his own zero waste store. While speaking to the Manchester Evening News about his debut, he said: “It was an awe-inspiring kind of moment. I was playing with people I had watched growing up and I was giving them the ball. It was a really surreal moment.”

Although he secured a spot on the bench for the League Cup final against Tottenham, the thrill of first-team football beckoned, prompting Eckersley to join Burnley in search for regular minutes. The move didn’t pan out as expected, leaving Eckersley with a sense of regret.

Thinking back to that move in 2009, he admitted: “I think the decision to leave United was probably too early for me. I think I probably should have stayed on and developed at Carrington under the coaches that I was already working with, because I was making steady progress.

“I think the leap from being on the brink of one of the world’s top teams, you could argue at that time, to Burnley, who had just secured promotion but were set to struggle in the Premier League, was a massive jump and a huge learning curve for me, in terms of understanding men’s football and playing alongside players who hadn’t come through the ranks at United.

“It was a significant shift from where I was at United and the high standards we upheld in terms of professionalism, facilities and all the other aspects. At United, every detail was taken care of. Then moving to a club like Burnley – and this is no slight on Burnley – they were simply in a different mindset.”

Reflecting on his time at Turf Moor, he added: “I think the decisions that I made were based on promises that weren’t fulfiled, essentially. Nothing in football is guaranteed, but I think, looking back, I should have stayed on at United. I think I regretted it when I made the decision.”

Eckersley, who also had spells at Plymouth Argyle, Bradford City, Bury, Toronto FC and New York Red Bull, eventually hung up his boots at Oldham Athletic. Unlike his former team-mates Gary Neville and Wayne Rooney, who ventured into punditry and management, Eckersley took a different path by opening ‘Earth.Food.Love’, a Devon-based shop that focuses on vegan and organic food as well as zero-waste products.

Discussing the inspiration behind founding the store, he said: “We wanted to invest back into the community. The idea of a shop came about, and initially the idea was that it was going to be a wholefoods shop.

“There was already a wholefoods shop in Totnes and we thought about what else we could do that makes us unique. The idea of a zero-waste aspect wholefoods shop was unique and would draw people in.

“That was how it started. The idea came from having a contact in Germany about a shop that was completely zero-waste, where people would take their own containers, and we were like ‘why don’t we do that? That’s a great idea’.

“Plastic was very much at the forefront of people’s minds. It has been eight years now since that decision. It was initially about finding a place [to live] first and then thinking about what we could do here, and how we could invest back into the local community. That is how it all happened.”