Manchester City and England starlet Isaac Buckley-Ricketts was deflated when he didn’t follow team-mates like Jadon Sancho and Mason Mount into the Champions League and Euros spotlight.
Now it’s his turn to have a crack at glory. An FA Cup first round tie on Sunday between non-league Curzon Ashton and Mansfield may not have been the dream growing up but it’s an opportunity to roll back the years and show why he was once tipped for the top.
The football world was at his feet when Buckley-Ricketts was twice an FA Youth Cup finalist with City and then won the Euros with England under-19s in 2017.
For City, he played with his school pal Tosin Adarabioyo, now at Chelsea with Sancho. Brahim Diaz is at Real Madrid and Lukas Nmecha has won caps for Germany.
Many of his England team-mates went on to full international recognition. Mount, Reece James, and Aaron Ramsdale for England, Ben Brereton-Diaz for Chile.
Isaac Buckley-Ricketts was once one of England and Manchester City’s brightest stars
He started the U19 Euros final in 2017 against a Portugal team containing the likes of Rafael Leao
To underline his level, Buckley-Ricketts started the final against Portugal. One of their substitutes, Rafael Leao, is now a superstar with AC Milan.
Buckley-Ricketts has finally made peace with his journey and still only 26 has hopes of returning to the EFL.
First, he has to hope his National League North team Curzon pull off a cup shock at their small but smart Tameside Stadium, less than five miles from The Etihad on the east side of Greater Manchester.
A statue outside the ground signifies the proud football heritage of Ashton-under-Lyne, depicting three World Cup winners.
Sir Geoff Hurst (England 1966) and Simone Perrotta (Italy 2006) were both born in the small market town and Jimmy Armfield, who grew up close by in Denton, was also in Sir Alf Ramsey’s squad.
Buckley-Ricketts is happy to talk to Mail Sport about his own Mancunian roots.
‘I grew up in Moss Side,’ he says. ‘I was a big United fan. Obsessed by Wayne Rooney.
‘I was 13 when City asked me to train with them. Tosin was a friend from school. Their scout came to watch him play and noticed me as well. It was a surreal moment.
His Curzon Ashton play their football next to a statue of English legend of 1966 Sir Geoff Hurst
The forward was ‘obsessed by Wayne Rooney’ when he was growing up as a Man United fan
He joined the Man City youth academy at the age of 13 and stayed there until 2018
‘We were based at Platt Lane to begin with. From there, we had the big transition to CFA (City Football Academy). Everything started to become more serious.’
Standards were high. Buckley-Ricketts played in the 2015 and 2016 FA Youth Cup finals – scoring in the first – but City lost to Tammy Abraham-inspired Chelsea on both occasions.
‘You could tell with Sancho. He had the talent and on top of that he had a confidence in himself, not being scared to play against anybody.
‘Phil Foden was only about 15 but came to train with us. He had this sparkle. There was an awareness around the club this kid has something.
‘All the age groups would play at the same time and word would get around who was playing well on the other pitches.’
Buckley-Ricketts lived with the best of them and England took note. In the summer of 2017, the winger was a key member of Keith Downing’s team who became champions of Europe for their age group.
It should have been the start for him but turned out to be the pinnacle, so far.
He had rotted luck when City loaned him to FC Twente and Oxford United. On both occasions, the managers who wanted him – Rene Hake and Pep Clotet – were sacked shortly after his arrival.
Buckley-Ricketss describes former team-mate Jadon Sancho as having ‘a talent’ and ‘confidence’
He endured an ill-fated loan out to Oxford United where Pep Clotet was sacked shortly after his arrival
Shortly before his 20th birthday, he signed for Peterborough but didn’t fit with manager Steve Evans. He agreed to terminate his contract at the start of 2020, not knowing Covid would strike a month later leaving him unable to train anywhere.
While he floundered, it didn’t help the following year that Mount provided the winning assist for Chelsea in the Champions League final.
‘It hurt to leave City but I knew the chances of me breaking into the first-team competing against Raheem Sterling was slim so I felt ready to leave the nest,’ he explains.
‘Peterborough had a bid accepted but it didn’t work out. I’m the type if I am getting grilled, I don’t answer back. It was my first experience with an intense gaffer (Evans). I think he felt I was ignoring him.
‘I’ve seen my team-mates go on a certain trajectory. I was never jealous but maybe upset at one time, but not any more.
‘My approach now is that I played with these guys so know that I am capable. I am happy to have played at a certain level and still believe I can. Until my legs stop working, I am going to keep trying.’
Buckley-Ricketts rediscovered his love for football with Warrington Town in the seventh tier and earned them promotion with a play-off winner against Bamber Bridge.
Last summer he joined Curzon. Though the club is part-time with landscape gardeners and builders in their team, Buckley-Ricketts lives with his brother and uses his savings from the game so he can train like a full-time athlete.
He has scored five times this season to help Curzon’s push for promotion to the National League and can’t wait to face Nigel Clough’s Stags to test himself against professional opposition again.
Now 26, he admitted that he was perhaps ‘upset’ that his career had not followed the same path as some of his former team-mates
‘I’ve got the butterfly feeling I had making my senior debut for Twente against Feyenoord,’ he says. ‘It’s a chance to see if I can still perform against teams of a certain level. Ability-wise, I should be able to compete against them. I probably back myself more than I used to.’
Across town, his good mate Tosin will be with Chelsea facing Manchester United on Sunday afternoon.
The gap between the two games is huge but the cup-tie is just as important for Buckley-Ricketts as going to Old Trafford is for Tosin.
There is just one final task – persuading his Mum to attend. ‘She doesn’t like to sit in the cold,’ he laughs. ‘I am going to have to bribe her with an overcoat and some blankets!’
