Richard Eckersley: From Manchester United to zero waste shop owner

FujiVice

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Hey, football isnt a guarantee. Just listening to s podcast with Ben Thorney, who was touted as being a massive star, and some old cnut in the reserves for Blackburn purposely smashed his knee in. It was the beginning of the end there. He was set to play against Oldham in the cup semi final as well, because Giggs was injured. Glad Richard Eckersley is doing well.
 

SalfordRed18

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Thought he was an aright, able right back tbh. Almost certainly was when you consider the ol' reserve team he played with, world cup and premier league winners in it. If i looked into it further, probably a CL winner in their too. Glad hes happy though. He had a brother too if im not mistaken.
 

Valar Morghulis

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What the Hell they turned him into Barney before his girlfriend left him for that sleazy businessman. When do we get to the suits bit.
 

Snow

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Seems like he never really was that happy playing football and when you can't give it your all at the professional level then it's hard to continue doing it.

Good for him that he found something that he's happy doing. Personally I like the look of his business.
 

R.N7

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Thought he was an aright, able right back tbh. Almost certainly was when you consider the ol' reserve team he played with, world cup and premier league winners in it. If i looked into it further, probably a CL winner in their too. Glad hes happy though. He had a brother too if im not mistaken.
He turned down a new contract didn't he? I remember a lot of disappointment at the time as he seemed quite decent every time he got an opportunity to play.
 

Hullyback

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Can honestly hand on heart say I've never heard of him, which isn't unusual as I'm not a United fan but you generally remember anyone that's been in or around the big clubs squads.
 

devilish

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Hey, football isnt a guarantee. Just listening to s podcast with Ben Thorney, who was touted as being a massive star, and some old cnut in the reserves for Blackburn purposely smashed his knee in. It was the beginning of the end there. He was set to play against Oldham in the cup semi final as well, because Giggs was injured. Glad Richard Eckersley is doing well.
Thornley was considered as the best of the class of 92. What a waste
 

prateik

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I remember him playing for us.. wasnt shocking... surprised he didnt have a decent career at a lower level..
Happy he is doing alright..
He had a brother too who was on our books..

I randomly think of players like Brandy, Hewson, Galbraith, Lee Martin who were in the u18s/reserves when I was following that... dont get the time to do that anymore.
McCormack went to Italy.. He is now playing in the Irish league.
 

Smores

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Crazy. He does sound like he's trying to spn the failure though "oh yeah i was never really into anyway".
 

Rhyme Animal

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Nonchalantly scoring the winner...
Crazy. He does sound like he's trying to spn the failure though "oh yeah i was never really into anyway".
Running your own business in Totnes wouldn't be regarded by most as 'failing' in life.

Being happy while making a living by doing something that really matters to you is most people's view of success!
 

JJ12

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Was playing for Toronto when i lived there - thought he was one of the better players on the field
 

Smores

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Running your own business in Totnes wouldn't be regarded by most as 'failing' in life.

Being happy while making a living by doing something that really matters to you is most people's view of success!
For most of us yeah but not if you dreamed of being a footballer it isn't. He didn't choose to not play football he failed after many many attempts. Its like me saying i got bored of Scarlett Johansson and decided on my missus through choice :lol:

Good on the lad for doing something though i guess
 

Rhyme Animal

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Nonchalantly scoring the winner...
For most of us yeah but not if you dreamed of being a footballer it isn't. He didn't choose to not play football he failed after many many attempts. Its like me saying i got bored of Scarlett Johansson and decided on my missus through choice :lol:

Good on the lad for doing something though i guess
He didn't fail to become a professional footballer though - he was one, for ages.

Being a PL footballer is a tiny, tiny bubble of opportunity. Becoming a pro-footballer at all and then maintaining it for a decade is actually an incredible achievement.

It's just that for most armchair fans the reality of making a living as an athlete begins and ends with what's on TV.
 

Acole9

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Don't blame him, being a footballer isn't all that it's cracked up to be. Earning loads of money for kicking a bag of wind around and getting abuse from the stands.
 

poleglass red

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Eckersley played over here for TFC in the mls for a couple of seasons. He did okay in a terrible team, he was a bit too rash at times. You certainly wouldn't have thought he was a product of the Utd youth set up. He was getting a very good wage when he was here, way above what he was actually worth. I liked him though, he aways give his all, what he lacked in ability he made up for in determination. He then went to NY and didn't do too well.
 

soap

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Hey, football isnt a guarantee. Just listening to s podcast with Ben Thorney
I still to this day vividly remember him missing an absolute sitter against Barnsley when they knocked us out of the FA Cup. I can't have been any older than 7 at the time.
 

arthurka

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VeevaVee

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Good on him. Shame how almonds are killing the Bees and using a lot of pesticides, 85% of almonds orchards are treated with pesticides like Glyphosate (Round-Up).
It´s not all plain sailing going Vegan I can tell you.

https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2020/jan/07/honeybees-deaths-almonds-hives-aoe

https://www.mic.com/articles/104496/no-your-almond-milk-obsession-is-not-killing-all-the-bees

You don't have to be vegan to appreciate why alternatives are better. It's arguable whether commercial bee use would be truly vegan anyway.

It's not about finding a perfect solution, but finding better ones, which almond milk definitely is. Oat milk is better tasting though and much better for the environment.
 
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RedBanker

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We will someday have a similar thread about Solskjaer, won't we?
 

jojojo

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Good on him. Shame how almonds are killing the Bees and using a lot of pesticides, 85% of almonds orchards are treated with pesticides like Glyphosate (Round-Up).
It´s not all plain sailing going Vegan I can tell you.

https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2020/jan/07/honeybees-deaths-almonds-hives-aoe
He'll be buying from an organic producer in Spain. Mind you, they'll be using parasitic wasps to kill the nut boring almond moths. So there's a bit of a hierarchy in play here.
 

arthurka

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Agree just saying there are no easy solutions. California produces 80% of the worlds almond supply. They all need to be pasteurized due to salmonella outbreaks. It's either fumigation or PPO plus 85% of the worlds production uses pesticides like Glyphosate which pollutes the ground water and causes cancer. It's not all rosy when it comes to the healthy choices, Rice contains high levels of arsenic and oats contain high levels of Glyphosate. But by far the almond industry is the worst of them all.


As someone who went vegan couple of years ago I can tell you it's not all that easy but at least after a while you have a much better understanding of how, where and why your food is the way it is.
 

Black.Ghost

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How did this become a pro-vegan thread?!

Anyway, fair play to the lad for actually being interested and motivated and doing what he enjoys. Most of us would love that opportunity, rather than something that you end up falling into.

The story of Thornley is just tragic, but he bears no ill will to anyone and seems a genuinely nice person. Good on him
 
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Samid

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Richard? I could swear his name used to be Adam in the CM games. I remember it well because the first thing I would do in every new save was to release him because he was a complete dud.
 

cj_sparky

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Richard? I could swear his name used to be Adam in the CM games. I remember it well because the first thing I would do in every new save was to release him because he was a complete dud.
Richard Eckersley and Adam Eckersley are brothers both where with us.