PLAYER WHO SNUBBED MANCHESTER UNITED DEAL FOR UNIVERSITY DEGREE.

Oliver Gill made only four appearances in Manchester United's first team squad before choosing another path
Image: Getty.

Most people would do anything to play for the team they supported from being a child, just once. Oliver Gill was on the verge of doing that, and possibly more, but chose to go to university rather than stay at Manchester United.

Not many footballers even get as playing for the under 18s at their team, let alone making the bench for a team in a Champions League game, even if it was a dead rubber.

In December 2009 Oliver Gill, son of former Manchester United chief executive David, found himself on the bench when Manchester United faced Wolfsburg, a match that Michael Owen's hat-trick gave all three points to the Red Devils.

Gill on one of his four occasions on the bench for United.
Image: PA Images.

But 18 months later he'd rejected a new deal at Old Trafford instead going to university to study economics. Now working in assurance for PricewaterhouseCoopers the 26 year-old spoke to the Independent about his decision to quit one of the biggest teams in the world for university:

"It was a really tough decision. I've been asked a lot of time why I did it and no one has ever said "that's a good decision" but I would stick by it. I occasionally regret it when I am working long hours now, but I haven't regretted it too much."

Watching soccer with his father, David Gill.
Image: PA.

Gill went on loan for a month to then League Two Bradford City where he realised that the thought of not making it at Premier League level, and falling down the ladder, put him off being a professional footballer:

"Men's football was a good learning curve, it didn't put me off, but it maybe made me realise it wasn't the life I wanted. It was not the same as training at Carrington, we were training at some local school, there wasn't a gym. It was the other - more lowly side - of football, so it was eye opening in the other direction...

"...I wouldn't say there was one moment when I didn't make a squad and thought I needed to get out of there or anything like that. It was more going on loan and realising I wasn't going to get to get to the level I wanted to; I wasn't going to be a Premier League player - I could see where my limitations were.

I realised I wasn't going to be a Manchester United player, and I could see my friends having fun and I had to decide what life I wanted for myself.

"I wanted to give university a chance and thought I'd enjoy myself there, not that I didn't enjoy my second year full-time at United, but I could see I wasn't going to be playing for Manchester United or playing in a Premier League team, I would be off playing somewhere I didn't want to play in the lower leagues and that didn't attract me as much.

"If I could make the decision again, I wouldn't change it, it was the right one for me, even if it's not for everyone."

Football isn't always the be all and end all for everyone.

SOURCE:

sportsbible.com

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