Richard Eckersley, the former Manchester United right-back, vividly remembers January 24, 2009 — the day he made his dream come true by debuting for the first team.
A product of United’s youth system since the age of nine, Eckersley was called into action during an FA Cup fourth round clash against Tottenham Hotspur at Old Trafford.
With United leading 2-1, Sir Alex Ferguson gave the nod to the Salford-born defender to replace Fabio after 53 minutes. Joining the ranks of Gary Neville, Paul Scholes, Cristiano Ronaldo, and Dimitar Berbatov on the pitch, Eckersley played his part in securing United’s win.
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“It was an awe-inspiring kind of moment,” Eckersley reminisced in a chat with the Manchester Evening News. “I was playing with people I had watched growing up and I was giving them the ball. It was a really surreal moment.”
During his time pushing for a spot in the star-studded first team, Eckersley drew inspiration from the dedication and professionalism of legends like Ryan Giggs and Scholes. Their influence was felt throughout the academy, where tales of their commitment were often shared.
“You hear stories about them when you’re growing up and coming through the academy,” Eckersley said. “You heard about Roy Keane, Giggs, Scholes and their professionalism. You hear in the academy that this is what these players are like and how they got to that stage.”
Eckersley, now aged 35, reminisced about his limited yet impactful time at Old Trafford. “When you get into that space, are training and mingling with these players, and seeing their dedication and their passion, then you get the first-hand experience of what it takes to be a footballer at that level for that many years.
“It was really inspiring and, for the most part, all the things that I learnt there I have taken into my life now.” Despite only making four senior appearances for United, Eckersley holds a League Cup winners medal from the Reds’ triumphant 2009 campaign.
He didn’t play a minute in the final but was on the bench at Wembley, having impressed Ferguson with a strong display in a reserve game against Manchester City shortly before. “Sir Alex Ferguson used to watch all the reserve games and obviously contacted all the coaches,” Eckersley explained.
“I was playing really well in the reserves and I think we played Manchester City in a reserve game a few days before the League Cup final and I played really well.”
He believes Ferguson included him as a substitute in the final as a form of recognition: “I think he just put me on the bench almost as a reward. I guess he was seeing it as an opportunity for me to get some time with the first-team and potentially win something.”
“Also, the confidence in me after seeing me play and the confidence in me to say ‘I can put you on the bench’. Anyone on the subs bench has a chance of getting on, so he could see it in me that I had the potential to step into the team in a final, even though it was not a competition I had played in before.
“It was a surreal moment – and I do have a League Cup medal; I think it is in the loft at the minute, actually – I have not looked at it for a while! “
He recounted the surprise of learning he was in the squad as he arrived at Wembley. “It was either me or Fabio [in the squad]. You can kind of work it out because if they’re taking 20 players, two players are not going to be in the squad.
“I was only 20 at the time, and I was only just breaking in, so I was thinking to myself, ‘I am probably not going to be on the bench’. I just walked into the dressing room at Wembley and my shirt was hanging up, meaning I knew I was on the bench. If your shirt is not hanging up, you know you’re not in the squad.”
Though he didn’t get to play, being on the bench for United at that final stood as a high point in his career with the club. The latter part of the year brought decisions he’d reflect on with mixed feelings, including leaving Old Trafford for Burnley where he found limited playtime.
“I think the decision to leave United was probably too early for me,” he confessed. “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 jump from the cusp of one of the world’s greatest teams, you could say at that time, to Burnley, who had just got promoted but were going to be a struggling team in the Premier League, was a massive jump and a massive education for me, in terms of what is men’s football and what is it like to play with players that haven’t had the pedigree that people at United had.
“It was a huge shift from where I was at United and the standards that we were setting with professionalism, the facilities and all the kinds of things that we had. You were basically looked after to the nth degree. Then going somewhere like Burnley – and no disrespect to Burnley – they were just in a different headspace.
“They were obviously not a Champions League winner, they had not won the Premier League, and they did not have the money that United had. It was just a completely different experience and in hindsight I think it would been sensible for me to stay on [at United].
“I think the decisions that I made were based on promises that weren’t given, essentially. Nothing in football is guaranteed, but I think, in hindsight, I should have stayed on at United. I think I regretted it when I made the decision.”
Eckersley recounted his move across the Atlantic in April 2011 to join Toronto, after loan spells at Plymouth Argyle, Bradford City and Bury left him yearning for more enjoyment in football. The switch was initially on loan before becoming permanent in January the following year.
“I was desperate just to play and desperate to enjoy football, because at the time I wasn’t enjoying football,” he recalled. “I was playing in League Two, I was going on loan to Bradford, Bury and places like that.
“Even though it was competitive football, I just wasn’t enjoying the football side of things because I enjoyed playing football and how we used to play at United – and that was the standard, in my mind, that I was wanting.
“I was just desperate to play football again, and I went on loan to Plymouth and we were in a bit of a relegation battle. I played under a manager called Paul Mariner, who really liked me and really liked how I played. He got the general manager’s job at Toronto, and that is how the move came about to North America.
“He said come over to the MLS, play for six or seven months on loan and enjoy the football. That is exactly what I did. He took me over and I loved it.
“I loved living by myself, I loved the culture, I loved the relaxation around football and people just enjoying the football. Don’t get me wrong, the football was a very physical league, going here, there and everywhere.
“But I just felt that it was such an enjoyable time for me as a player, to enjoy just focusing on football and also off the pitch as well, learning to live by myself and on my own.
“I had a close-knit bond with my teammates and it was a really enjoyable time. From there, I just wanted to stay and that was how it triggered.”
Reflecting on his stint overseas, Eckersley opened up about his tenure at Toronto where he played for nearly three years, clocking up 92 appearances. Despite moving to New York Red Bulls in January 2014, that chapter was short-lived with only 17 games before leaving after less than a year.
The drive to restore his career back in England was palpable, but stints at Swindon Town and Southend United didn’t work out, leading him to Oldham Athletic.
His return to English football wasn’t as fruitful as he’d hoped, and during this period. He shared: “I came back [to England] in January [2015] and for the first few weeks nothing came about. I was waiting, waiting and waiting and nothing was available. I was like ‘wow’.
“I ended up signing for Oldham but I didn’t enjoy my time there. By that time, I think I realised that I didn’t really want to play football anymore. I was on the way out and I wasn’t enjoying playing.”
At the tender age of 26, while returning from a trip to the Isle of Man on a ferry, Eckersley made the life-changing decision to retire from football. He yearned to explore new avenues that would allow him more quality time with his family.
“My daughter was born in the June and I literally stopped playing,” he shared. “I wasn’t interested in making any calls to my agent and I wasn’t interested in football.”
He further recounted how a family wedding trip to the Isle of Man sparked his decision. “We went to this wedding on the Isle of Man, we were hanging out as a family, just the three of us.
“And on the way back I was like ‘I really enjoyed that, I want to do it more often; I don’t just want to keep being moved to here, there and everywhere, trying to find a career in football’.
“I felt that it was telling me something and that I needed to do something different. That was the reason that I said to my wife on the way back: ‘I’m done, I’m not going to continue with this – I’m going to do something different’.”
What happened next was not something typical of an ex-footballer. Determined to open a new chapter for him and his family, Eckersley, along with his wife and daughter, travelled to Totnes in Devon in a camper van. They instantly fell in love with the place, so much so they decided to up sticks and move there permanently.
Eckersley wanted to give something back to the community and decided to open a shop that specialised in zero-waste. Passionate about vegan and organic food, Eckersley and his wife created Earth.Food.Love – a zero-waste shop that was the UK’s first.
Reflecting on his move from Manchester, he shared: “We wanted to find somewhere where we wanted to live; it wasn’t the zero-waste shop that came first, it was where we wanted to live.
“We were living in a city centre apartment near Spinningfields and we wanted to move somewhere where there was nature, vegan alternatives and all these kinds of things that we had picked up on our road leading up to this point.”
Having experienced life in Toronto and New York, Eckersley noted the availability of alternative lifestyles. “Obviously, having lived in Toronto and New York, you get access to these alternatives. Living in Manchester there are alternatives, of course, but I felt to choose a place where we wanted to live was the cornerstone.
“We sat on the beach (near Totnes) and said that we wanted to make this our home. Obviously we need to do something while we’re here, we can’t not just do anything.
“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.”
In addition to running Earth.Food.Love, Eckersley also owns ReRooted – a company that produces plant-based milks which are now distributed across the UK. Despite the demands of managing two separate businesses, Eckersley takes pride in his accomplishments.
He emphasised: “It gives us a purpose, I think that is the biggest thing. I love letting my children see that. They come into the shop, they come into ReRooted, and they can see the processes, they can see organic food being made into things, they can see customers coming in and enjoying what we do.
“I think that is the biggest thing: seeing their mum and their dad enjoying what they do. We’re all intermingling and they are never more than five minutes away from me all the time. That is important for me.
“I am never away from them. It is about trying to be a role model for them and to show them that you can change, do something different and it can still be positive.
“It is not going to make as much money as what a footballer would have made or can make, but it is more meaningful in my mind to do something you are passionate about, rather than just doing something because it is a popular sport.”
When asked about his daily routine running two businesses, Eckersley quipped: “Well, I don’t finish at 2pm anymore! Those days are pretty much gone. But there is flexibility.
“I am going here, jumping in there. At times, don’t get me wrong, it is not always desirable. Sometimes I feel like I am getting pulled from pillar to post.
“But it is a joy because it is something that I am enjoying doing. It doesn’t feel like a chore and it doesn’t feel like I am working a 9-5 job.”
Despite only making a few appearances for United, Eckersley says he often gets recognised in the shop, which frequently leads to requests for him to participate in charity matches.
“I have people doing it all the time,” he confessed with a laugh. “People come into the shop all the time asking if I can play in this charity match, can you come and join our team at night, and I am just like, after a long day in the shop or at my other company, I am a little bit knackered. I just want to go home, put my kids to bed, and then probably go to bed myself.
“I don’t really want to play football afterwards. I do play every now and again down on the astroturf at the local school, but it is very fleeting, essentially.”
