Ex-Man Utd and Wrexham defender Lee Roche now working on building sites after quitting at 27 | OneFootball

Former Manchester United and Wrexham full-back Lee Roche, who started a Champions League tie in 2003, quit the professional game at 27 and now works on building sites.

"I have had a few fellow workers on the building sites asking me about United and how have I ended up here," he told Planet Football in 2019.

Back in 2003, Roche started a Champions League match for Manchester United against Deportivo La Coruna, lining up with Ryan Giggs, Diego Forlan and Laurent Blanc. It was his third senior appearance after a successful spell with Wrexham, but he was substituted at half-time and never played for the club again.

Four years later, after spells at Burnley and a return to Wrexham, he was in non-league with Droylsden and retired from the professional game at 27.

He fell out of love with football after injuries, retrained as a plumber and later launched a cavity wall removal business. He kept a foothold in the sport by coaching Bury U11s and working as a matchday data analyst for Opta Sports.

"I do think young players today should be made to train as something, so they know about the real world. Most of them probably don’t have a plan to fall back on if they don’t make it as a professional."

"The only thing I would point out is that I was known at United for being really quiet, so perhaps I should have been more assertive and mingled more with the lads."

Source: Wales Online

“Artificial intelligence was used to assist in creating this article based on reporting from the original source quoted.”