Micah Richards has issued an apology to Aston Villa fans after he announced his retirement from football at the age of 31 on Friday.

The former England and Manchester City defender last made a competitive appearance in October 2016 as Villa drew 1-1 with Wolves.

getty 2 Micah Richards has announced his retirement from football at the age of 31

Richards, whose career was ravaged by a persistent knee injury, made just 26 appearances during his four-year stint at Villa Park.

And following his release by Villa in the summer, Richards has now taken the decision to hang up his boots.

He will now take up an ad hoc off-the-field role at City, while concentrating on his business interests.

Richards explained the reasons behind his retirement on Friday’s Drivetime – while also reaching out to the Villa faithful.

“It’s mixed emotions, really [announcing his retirement]. First of all I’d like to apologise to the Villa fans, because they didn’t get to see the best me,” he admitted.

getty 2 Richards, 31, has issued an apology to Aston Villa fans

“I went there with the best intentions in the world, but when I signed for Villa I knew I was good enough to perform, as long as my knee was handled right.

“I don’t want to blame anyone for the reasons why it didn’t hold up, but literally after only a couple of sessions at Villa my knee just couldn’t cope with.

“It eventually got worse and worse as the seasons went by, and now I’ve had to make the decision to call it a day.”

Richard cited the encounter with Wolves, nearly three years ago, as the final nail in the coffin in terms of salvaging his Villa career.

“You’re fighting a battle in your head. You think you’re in good enough shape to play. You go out and train on a consistent basis – three or four times a week – and my knee was coping with it,” he added.

“I got my chance to get back into the team when Steve Bruce brought me in for a game against Wolves when we were in the Championship. And just like after 60 minutes my knee blew up.

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“I’d passed all the fitness tests and done all the training required to get myself back into contention, and then it went just like that.

“Training is obviously very different to a game in that respect, with the amount of moving your making and so forth – my knee just couldn’t cope with it.

“We did various things to try and help it, but in the end nothing worked. You want to do it, not just for yourself but for the fans, too.

“They’re obviously asking questions like ‘why is getting paid’? I didn’t really want to put too much out there in terms of the media side out of respect to them and I didn’t want to look like I was blame somebody else.

“All this time I’d been working hard to try and get back out on the pitch, but I understand why people are frustrated with how everything panned out.”