‘I as soon as performed for Man Utd – now I look unrecognisable and promote luxurious watches’

You might not recognise Kieran Richardson these days.

Richardson, who turns 40 on Monday (October 21), once turned out for Manchester United, Aston Villa and Sunderland – but now he travels the world selling luxury watches for a living.

The ex-England international decided to call time on his playing career at just 33-years-old – and he even refuses to use his footballing past to build rapport with clients.

“Whenever I meet someone new, I don’t even say I was a footballer anymore, I just say I sell watches for a living,” Richardson told Ladbrokes Fanzone last October.

“The places I go, in the business world, most people don’t even really know about football. If I was to meet anyone now, and they asked me who I am or what I do, I’d just say I sell high value watches around the world.

“Then, a lot of people will go on and check me out on Google, maybe, and they’d see my career in football, and then it goes on from there. The football career definitely helps, actually, because it gives people a sense of trust.

“I feel like my clients do really trust me, and so they should. The football background definitely helps, for sure.

“But, obviously, you still need to be knowledgeable about the product, and know what you’re talking about. Luckily enough, I’ve been doing watches for a long time now, so I’m quite savvy on them, even though I’m still trying to learn more every day.”

Richardson was happy to slip out of football quietly and look to the future. He added: “I’ve never been the kind of guy to go and make a song and dance out of my retirement. I don’t really care, to be honest. I had a great career, I enjoyed it, but I’ve moved onto other things now.

“When I was a kid, I had hobbies, right? Football was always my number one, but my second was watches. I always loved watches. My father was into watches, I was into watches, and throughout my career I’d always be buying – and learning about – new watches.

“I just happen to have left one hobby, and gone into another one, that’s how I see it. I still feel like I’m living the same life. It’s crazy. I’m really, really blessed to be in a position where I don’t call my work, my work. Even when I was a footballer, it never felt like work to me, it was something that I loved.

“It’s probably why I didn’t come out and say I’d retired, because I don’t feel like I have retired. I’m still doing something that I love.”