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Five years after making his Champions League debut for Manchester United against Deportivo La Coruna in 2003, Lee Roche was installing cavity wall insulation for a living.
Roche developed through United's academy, joining his boyhood club's youth set-up in 1997. Rising through the ranks at Old Trafford, the right-back grew up alongside the likes of John O'Shea and Luke Chadwick before making five appearances for the first team under Sir Alex Ferguson.
He left the Premier League giants on a free transfer just three months after his European debut, going on to enjoy stints at Burnley, Wrexham and non-league Droylsden.
However, after a series of injuries derailed his career, he decided to call time on his footballing endeavours at the age of 27, and has since taken up an entirely different profession.
Lee Roche's Post-Football Job
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Many who abruptly hang up their boots pursue completely unrelated careers, and Roche falls into this category.
The former United defender opted to become a plumber after announcing his retirement from the beautiful game, and he's since launched his own cavity wall removal business, whilst also enjoying a spell as an under-11s coach at Bury.
Speaking to Planet Football about his unusual career change, Roche revealed that he's often asked by his colleagues on building sites how he ended up in this position.
"I have had a few fellow workers on the building sites asking me about United and how have I ended up here," the 45-year-old said.
"Most of them probably don’t have a plan to fall back on if they don’t make it as a professional.”
Speaking about his football career, Roche revealed that he has no regrets over how things panned out. “I don’t have any regrets,” the 45-year-old said.
“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.
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“I’d be straight off home after training to hang out with my own group of friends. I look back now at teammates like John [O’Shea] and Darren Fletcher and think I should have been more like them and gone out and socialised.
“I think it would have gone down better with United.”
Lee Roche on Life at Man Utd
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Roche was mixing with legendary figures at Old Trafford from a young age. In his interview with Planet Football, he detailed how he and his youth teammates used to eat in the same canteen as the first team, which included players like Roy Keane and Ryan Giggs.
"All the players, from the first team down to the academy kids, used to eat in the same canteen,” Roche says.
“At first, I would turn around, and Roy Keane and Ryan Giggs would be sitting there, and I would be thinking ‘wow’, but I got used to it.
"Nobody looked down on anyone else and people like Giggs, David Beckham and the Nevilles had come through the youth system, so there were no egos.
When he returned from a successful loan at Wrexham in the 2000/01 season, Roche was determined to break through into United's senior side.
"I was hungry for first-team football but understood that it was going to be difficult with defenders like Wes Brown, Ronny Johnsen and Lauren Blanc in front of me,” he recalled.
He had impressed Ferguson enough to be handed his debut in November 2001, in a third-round Worthington Cup clash away at Arsenal, which ended 4-0 to the Gunners.
“There was no hairdryer from Sir Alex afterwards because he knew we had been up against it. I took what I could from that game and tried to learn from it," Roche said.
Lee Roche on Falling Out of Love With Football Post-Man Utd
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After playing a handful more times for the Red Devils, including in the Champions League, Roche revealed that he opted to leave after being relegated to reserve football towards the end of his time at Old Trafford.
“I couldn’t see a clear pathway to the first team and I had reached the stage where I had to be playing competitive football every week,” he explained.
"Stan Ternent wanted to take me to Burnley, so I signed for them. Sir Alex said if I went away and proved myself, I could always come back.”
The return never materialised for Roche, whose career never quite took off following his departure from United. In fact, the Englishman admitted that he'd fallen out of love with the game by the time he turned 27, which ultimately pushed him into retirement.
A silhouette of Danny Drinkwater a Premier League trophy and some construction site iconography
A silhouette of Danny Drinkwater a Premier League trophy and some construction site iconography
"I was coming home and not wanting to even watch football on the TV," he said.
"I went out to Royal Antwerp where Warren Joyce, who had coached me at United, was the manager.
“I trained with the squad for two weeks, but the lad who I was supposed to replace didn’t leave the club, so the move never materialised.
“Dave Pace at Droylsden got in touch, so I spent a couple of years there.”