The real world

The fifth and final part of 'Life After Football' looks at the various occupations players can move into.

From dog grooming to drawing, there is life after football...

In Part Five of Sky Sports News' special series on 'Life After Football' we meet three former footballers who explain why, after their playing days were over, they wanted nothing further to do with the game. Tony Bird enjoyed a 15-year playing career for Cardiff City, Swansea and Kidderminster, but when it ended he wanted a change from football. With the help of the PFA, Tony Bird became a dog groomer in South Wales. With a fully kitted out van he now sees to the needs of the canine community of Cardiff. When planning a life after football, he spotted a gap in the market and decided to give it a go and hasn't looked back. A persistent hamstring injury ended Lee Baddeley's career at Exeter City. Whilst playing for Cardiff, Baddeley had taken BTEC and NVQ2 qualifications. He knew he wanted to get away from football, even though his career ended at just 25 years of age, but he wanted to remain outdoors. So, while playing a round of golf at his local club on the outskirts of Exeter, he saw an advert for a trainee greenkeeper. He applied and the rest in now history. He's the assistant greenkeeper at Downes Crediton Golf Club after recently completing a three-year foundation degree in Leisure Studies. His aim is to become a head greenkeeper and who knows maybe a bizarre return to football at some point, as a head groundsman at a football club! We also meet 29-year old Steve Roberts, who was forced to quit football last year. The former Walsall central defender had a chronic back problem and while he loved playing football he had no ambition to coach or be involved the game after his playing days were over. Fortunately, Roberts was not only a talented footballer, but a gifted artist. At school and in his spare time he drew and with advice from the PFA is embarking on his new career. He's not making a huge amount of money yet, and concedes he may need to get a second job, but he sees his future career as an artist. Already Liverpool FC have taken possession of some prints Roberts drew of Fernando Torres which have - at the time of writing - been sold. It's an area Roberts hopes to work in through his contacts in the game, selling prints and portraits of players in club shops. And if you want to see how Sky Sports News filmed and produced their series 'Life After Football' watch the Sky Sports News podcast. It goes behind the scenes of Sky Sports News Special Projects department and sees how the team produced the series from it's inception to broadcast. CLICK TO DOWNLOAD DIRECTLY TO YOUR MACHINE If download doesn't start automatically, right click and choose 'Save Target As...' Or... For iTunes users: CLICK HERE TO DOWNLOAD WITH iTUNES For non iTunes users: 1. Open your media player / music library software. 2. In the advanced menu, find the subscribe to Podcast command and select it. 3. Type in the web address or copy and paste following link The podcast will now download automatically and sync with MP3 player.