Professional football is not a job that lasts forever and for some they go on to have very normal careers after it is time to hang up their boots.
One Premier League winner decided to go to university after quitting football and is now a qualified solicitor.
He was part of Blackburn’s title winners
This man played more than 500 professional games in a career spanning across the 1980s, 1990s and 2000s before calling it a day.
That is former winger Stuart Ripley – who was also capped twice by England.
He started his career at Middlesbrough, before making a £1.3million move to Blackburn Rovers in 1992.
Ripley achieved cult hero status when he helped them win the Premier League in the 1994/95 season in a team containing Alan Shearer, David Batty and Chris Sutton.
He then headed to the south coast with Southampton in 1998 and retired four years later.
Ripley was 34 when he retired and decided to enrol at the University of Central Lancashire.
Ripley told The Guardian in 2015: “The only thing I knew I wanted to do when I retired was to go to university. I got nine O-levels and then joined Middlesbrough at 16, so that option was taken away. I was in the first team at 17 and life was taking care of itself.
“I won the Premier League and represented my country, but when I retired at 34, I felt I’d missed out by not going to university. So, after taking a bit of time out, I enrolled at the University of Central Lancashire.
“My first intention was to do a foreign languages degree, but that meant a year abroad and I couldn’t just up and leave; by then, the kids were in school. So I ended up on a combined course: French, criminology and law.
“I went to some law lectures and thoroughly enjoyed them. At that stage, I never had any intention to become a solicitor.”
Ripley played more than 200 times for BlackburnGetty
He also made two England appearancesGetty
He also helped educate young players about various issues like agents and social media.
Ripley added: “Football’s not real life, and if you do move away from it, you get a different perspective and a different grasp on things. The rhythm of your life changes completely.
“When you’re playing, you’ve got two potentially very big highs within a week – you play on a Tuesday or Wednesday and then at the weekend. That’s a huge adrenaline rush. When you retire, that’s very difficult to replace. You’ve got to find another goal in life.”
Later, he was appointed to the FA’s judicial panel and was a member of the three-man regulatory commission that, in 2012, determined John Terry was guilty of using racially abusive language towards Anton Ferdinand.
He departed from law firm Brabners and transitioned to a career as a lecturer in law studies in 2019.
Ripley’s son, Connor, is currently a goalkeeper at Port Vale.
