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It is almost 11 years ago that Ryan France drove away from Hull City’s Cottingham training ground with tears in his eyes.

Phil Brown’s side had avoided relegation to the Championship by the skin of their teeth in the days before but a number of players had already been told they would not be hanging around for another crack at the Premier League.

Among the unwanted was France. Six years at the KCOM Stadium had taken the midfielder up through the divisions and to heights he could never have imagined when joining from Alfreton Town but May 2009 was when the ride ground to a halt.

“Any footballer that’s had longevity at a club will understand exactly how I felt that day,” said France.

“I was very emotional. It wasn’t about leaving the team, because it had evolved over the years, but there was a core of players, the staff at the training ground, the staff at Cottingham, so many people that you’ve built relationships with. Then that’s it, it’s over.

“I knew the next week I wouldn’t be driving into Hull anymore. I knew that moment was inevitably going to come but it’s very hard to prepare yourself for it.”

France made a total of 151 appearances for the Tigers; the first against Kiddersminster Harriers in 2003, the last away to Arsenal in 2009.

That contrast between beginning and end illustrates how far France and City came together. Along with Ian Ashbee, Boaz Myhill and Andy Dawson, he was part of an elite group that played in every division as the Tigers underwent a dazzling transformation.

“Sometimes it feels like it never happened,” said France. “It’s weird. I still feel like a young man in my head but so much has happened since football, with my career and my family, that it’s almost as though it didn’t happen.

“Those were six really great years with Hull City. A lot – and I mean a lot – happened. What a ride.”

For France, perhaps more than anyone, if offered exhilaration beyond his wildest dreams.

Released by Sheffield Wednesday at the age of 16, he had placed his education first when studying at Nottingham Trent University and playing part-time for Chris Wilder’s Alfreton Town in the Northern Premier League.

Only when France graduated in the summer of 2003 was he ready to consider becoming a professional footballer and shortly after was when City came calling.

“I loved the university experience,” he said. “It was the first time I’d moved away from home. I was away for three years and met some really good friends along the way.

“I used to enjoy the old pound-a-pint nights. I really jumped into that world with two feet.

“I got the opportunity to join Coventry two years into university but I wasn’t going to give up my degree. There was no way I was going to chuck it after doing all the hard work for a two-year contract.

“Once I’d finished university I was lucky enough to get the chance again thanks to Colin Murphy and Peter Taylor. At that point, because I’d graduated, I thought ‘Why not? It’s only two years and who knows where it’ll take me?’

He added: “I had nothing to lose. I had my degree in my back pocket and I knew I could use that whenever I needed to.

“It was completely different to what I’d been doing at Uni but I’d had a bit of levelling. I’d seen the real world. In the summers I’d be a waiter and work behind the bar, I’d work with my uncles on the roofing.

“I’d seen the real world but I liked the footballer’s life. Who wouldn’t?

“The best thing was playing on a Saturday but that was closely followed by the relationship I had with the lads.

“Money was a by-product, it really was. I was getting paid well but it wasn’t the money putting a smile on my face every day. It was such a close-knit squad.”

For all France achieved with City, winning promotion in 2003-04, 2004-05 and 2007-08, he does not need long to decide which moment he would chose to relive.

Within days of joining the Tigers, signing his first professional contract, he came off the bench to score in a 6-1 rout of Kidderminster.

“Not only was I surprised to be in the squad, because I’d only joined that week, I was surprised to even be in the 16,” he explained. “I didn’t expect to go on so to get the nod was when it really hit home.

“I don’t think I enjoyed it as much as I should’ve done because it was just a blur. I look back now and I must’ve had a decent game. I’d love to relive the goal.

“That was a moment when I felt I’d made. I’d achieved something. All those years of hard work. All the weekends my parents had given up. All the Fridays I could’ve been drinking with my pals at the park.

“It all led to that moment and when I stood up I just said ‘Get in. Get. In.’

“It felt like a 60-yard screamer, I tell you. I look back and it gets closer and closer to the goal every time.”

France’s time with City eventually concluded six years later, paving the way for him to join hometown club Sheffield United. Just 10 appearances came for the Blades, however, as complications from an ACL injury in 2007 brought his premature retirement aged 30.

“I wanted to do well at Sheffield United, I wanted to make friends and family members proud,” he said. “But I never felt I was playing at anything more than 80 per cent because of my knee.

“I needed to be 100 per cent because of the type of player I was but my knee just wasn’t letting me.

“Of course I was disappointed to retire so young but I looked at as though it was eight years I thought I was never going to get. I took the positives.

“Ninety nine per cent of lads wouldn’t get to do what I did. You can say I could’ve had longer but I’m very grateful for what I got.”

That was when the education began to come in useful. Although France admits to struggling in those initial post-football years, he is now a fully-qualified financial advisor based in Sheffield with a client base that includes a number of current footballers.

(Image: Joby Sessions)

“I tried a few different things when I finished,” he said. “I became a fully-qualified sports massage therapist, I did some sales, but there wasn’t anything I felt I could get my teeth into until I became a financial advisor.

“I’ve got a few footballers now that are clients. Footballers are young men and they’re vulnerable in some ways. They’re in a bubble but it’s important they get people around them who will help them for the right reasons.

“I saw it first-hand during my career when there was people who weren’t doing it for the right reasons. I’d always like to think I can help people, regardless of whether they’re footballers, or I work alongside someone that can. It’s important you care about their wellbeing.”

This article was first published on May 31, 2019