Heavy traffic builds in the skies behind Ryan Shawcross. It is a busy day at the airport in Fort Lauderdale, which flanks the sprawling base of Inter Miami where the next leg of Shawcross’ football journey has just taken off.
At 34, the former Stoke defender had designs on playing for a few more years. Injections and painkillers had always soothed the back injuries that dogged his career.
But then, just as it seemed those problems were consigned to his slipstream, a new issue struck.
‘(That) finished me off,’ Shawcross says.
Management was always going to be his next stop; he began his coaching badges long before heading Stateside last February to join manager Phil Neville – and his boss, owner David Beckham.