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A former Liverpool defender who made one senior appearance for the club has admitted he has no regrets after walking away from the world of football at 26.
Joe Maguire, a left-back by trade, earned his only appearance for the Reds in an FA Cup third-round tie at Exeter City in January 2016.
The defender left the club on a permanent basis in 2017 to sign for Fleetwood Town, though has admitted he immediately felt "regret" over this transfer after feeling out of place at the club shortly after arriving
He later endured further experience at EFL level with Crawley Town, Accrington Stanley and Tranmere Rovers.
Playing further down the pyramid proved to be a "toxic" experience for Maguire, who rapidly fell out of love for the game
He has since taken up flying lessons, owns a property and cleaning business and went backpacking around Colombia with friends earlier this year.
Opening up on his decision to cut his career within the game short,
Maguire Said:
“I always felt it was wrong to think about football in a negative way because it was all I’d ever wanted to do growing up and I know so many people would love to be a professional footballer.
"I wasn’t having the career I wanted, but I would blame other things because I never wanted to accept football could be the reason.
“And that’s when I got to the point where I felt, ‘Let’s leave’. I only had a year at Tranmere anyway, so I would leave, take a few months out, enjoy the summer, and see how I felt.
"And if I didn’t miss football and if I started to feel happier in my life, then it would be clear that football was making me unhappy and I would walk away.”
Maguire added
"I thought it would be really good for me, going down a couple of divisions.
"I thought the culture would be even more hard-working, everyone in it together, but it was just… less motivated people, people taking shortcuts, people having little chats in the corner, talking about the manager possibly getting sacked."
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