Isaac Buckley-Ricketts left Manchester City in 2018 having starred in Youth Cup finals and won the European Under-19 Championships with England. Now he is fighting back up the football pyramid
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Isaac Buckley-Ricketts of Curzon Ashton in action during the Emirates FA Cup First Round match between Curzon Ashton and Mansfield Town at Tameside Stadium on November 3, 2024
Isaac Buckley-Ricketts in action for Curzon Ashton
Sitting in a near empty changing room at Curzon Ashton seems an appropriate enough place for a career check.
"I am always striving to play better, I am never going to say I am playing perfect football because there is always room for improvement." Isaac Buckley-Ricketts is level-headed and determined.
This is a player who played in two FA Youth Cup finals with Manchester City, scoring in one, and won the European Under-19 Championships with England. He came through at the Etihad alongside household names like Jadon Sancho. Mason Mount and Reece James were international contemporaries.
Buckley-Ricketts chose first team football over academy fixtures and while loan moves to FC Twente and Oxford United, and a permanent switch to Peterborough United, didn't work out, the now 26-year-old is sanguine about his journey and purposeful about what comes next.
In 2017 Buckley-Ricketts was a Euro champion, by 2021 he was without a club and contemplating whether he had the desire to forge a football path as life returned to normal after the Covid pandemic.
"It was resetting, back to the drawing board," he admitted, speaking to the Manchester Evening News. "Do I still want to do this?
"It does put a dint in the motivation, football is a passion and even though it is part of the game you still feel it emotionally. You have to treat it as a job but acknowledge it as a passion. Not having a club is only going to have an effect on you emotionally.
"But it is just part of the journey and they are just intrusive thoughts, you can't let them overwhelm you because it will only disrupt your journey. Covid made it harder but you have to take it in your stride and keep your head."
Buckley-Ricketts had a strong family and friendship group that reminded him of his talent and ability. They were the same people who kept him grounded when he was starring for City's academy sides.
"You have to surround yourself with level headed people who don't big you up and say you have made it at 16 because if you don't at 20, you wont know how to deal with it," he said. "You need to have a good family and a good foundation."
That came to pass.
"Family and friends reminded me that one bad situation does not mean you are a terrible footballer," he said. "Life things happen, don't think about it too much, they might send me the odd clip or video to remind me that it is still there."
So does it annoy him when the natural tendency for fans, supporters and observers is to pluck the biggest name of his former team-mates and compare journeys?
"Maybe when I was younger, football is a passion and there is still friendly competition even if you are not jealous," he reasoned. "It is something I have been through and with them being good players there are going to be some who are top class."
Buckley-Ricketts came to City's attention almost by accident. Scouts were watching his school to check in on Tosin Adarabioyo, who was already in the Etihad system. Suitably impressed they invited the the 12-year-old Buckley-Ricketts to a trial.
"It was a unique situation, but I got a trial and from there kicked on," he reflects. His arrival was shortly before the move from Platt Lane to the CFA and everything that came with it. He remained at City for eight years, crossing paths with world stars and stars of the future.
Isaac Buckley-Ricketts of England celebrates at the final after winning the UEFA European Under-19 Championship Final between England and Portugal on July 15, 2017 in Gori, Georgia
Isaac Buckley-Ricketts celebrates winning the European Under-19 Championship with England in 2017
"If I think about it, it is a reminder that I have played with players of a certain level, I may not be at that level now but I was not there by accident," he said. "People's paths are different so it is an encouragement for me in a way."
City played a huge role in his life, he grew up in the academy both literally and figuratively, and his outlook and attitude has been shaped by the positive experience at the Etihad.
"It was a very good balance," he said, of the fine line between desire and pressure. "You got to learn your own breaking point for what is too much or when you need to dig deeper. There is only so in your own head you can be because you have to make sure you are good enough to be in the starting line up every week. The moment you do slack, or over think, or be a bit down, someone will come in. You are not competing just with kids in the UK but abroad so you have to force it.
"The pressure kind of gets blurred out because you don't think about too much. You just kind of deal with it."
As he progressed through the age groups there were international calls and suddenly the first team was just one step, albeit a big one, away, while life with England exploded into reality.
"Everything changed from it being a dream to being a dream that seemed reachable and you are trying to make that a reality," he said. "Being at the City Academy it is a big pool of great players but England is like that times two. Initially you are nervous but once you play it instils confidence that you are not there by accident."
His Young Lions career peaked with the 2017 European Under-19 Championship victory where he started in the final. Diogo Dalot was one of the opposing full backs, Viktor Gyökeres was the tournament's joint top scorer. Heady company.
"It is hard to take it in at the moment until you come home and people are mentioning it to you," says Buckley-Ricketts. "In retrospect it is maybe better, but it has still not hit me in terms of how rare it is to gain that achievement.
"There were some crazy names in that tournament. Ask me who played in that tournament other than for England and I would need to be reminded. I was just focused on the game and not being in awe of anyone else. It is only now that you can appreciate it for what it was and that you were there and it does still give me confidence."
Isaac Buckley-Ricketts of Manchester City celebrates after scoring their second goal during the FA Youth Cup Semi Final, First Leg match between Manchester City and Arsenal at the City Football Academy on March 18, 2016
Isaac Buckley-Ricketts in action for Manchester City during an FA Youth Cup win over Arsenal in 2016
He needed that confidence when deciding to leave City on loan following the tournament. He joined FC Twente in the Netherlands and then Oxford United in League One. On both occasions the manager who signed him was sacked shortly after his arrival. It meant for a tough school for the then teenager.
"I looked at it as this was a taste of senior football," he said of moving away from the Etihad. "The Academy is like a bubble, you can be one of the best players in 23s football but as soon as you go to the first team regardless of the level the reality check is so big.
"When the chance came I wanted to snatch it to see how good I am against first team player. You go on a loan, and I might not know who so and so is, but he could have had a long extensive career, hundreds of appearances and they are the players you need to play against if you want to progress."
"It gave me a taste of it and what it was like and I went."
The loans prompted him to take the decision to leave City permanently and join third tier Peterborough in 2018 aged 19 with designs on making a breakthrough in senior football. The move didn't work out and his journey had to begin again. But there are no regrets.
"In the moment I would do it again," he said. "You could sit and pray and wait for a potential injury to get in the squad or on the bench at City, or you can go somewhere and play football. You are going to go to play. I was keeping control of the outcome."
Spells at Stretford Paddock, Southport and Warrington followed. Now at Curzon Ashton and riding high in the National League North, he is controlling outcomes once again.
"You just never give up, don't stop until your body stops."
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It is a fitting line with which to finish, and Buckley-Ricketts is far from finished yet.