Some footballers go on to become coaches and managers, some head into the media industry – but for Liam Fontaine, he’s going in another direction altogether.
The defender, who won promotion with Bristol City in 2006/07, has just released his first single as a music artist!
And the 32-year-old, who is now plying his trade in Scotland with Ross County, has revealed exclusively to Bristol Live how his new-found career direction actually began at Ashton Gate all those years ago.
Life Lessons hit the iTunes store and Spotify yesterday and could be in the UK charts come Saturday afternoon.
Fontaine told Bristol Live: “I remember the tough days when I picked up an ankle injury at Ashton Gate. I had to have two operations and when you’re sat in a treatment room every day for months on end, while the lads are out training, it becomes very monotonous.
“My good friend Daniel Stratford, who I was with at Fulham, played the guitar and it was always something I thought it would be good to learn to play. So when I was injured at Bristol City, I decided to go out and buy a guitar – I learnt how to play it from YouTube.
“The single I’ve just released I’ve had ready for around a year, but I played it to a guy who has his own recording studio and his eyes lit up. Like most people, he asked ‘is that really you?’ We put it down in one night, chose the best version and the rest is history.
“The song itself I think anyone in any walk of life can relate to. You learn from every experience in your life and the lyrics really speak for themselves.”
He added: “I’ve got another four songs written but not yet recorded. I just want to put this single out there and see how it does. Music has always been big in my life, ever since I was a kid, so it’s something I’ve always been keen to do.
“I’m not ready to give up football just yet though. I’m fit as a fiddle, I’ve got two years left on my contract [at Ross County], with a further year on appearances, and I’d hope to still play on after that.”
Fontaine arrived at Ashton Gate in 2006 on loan from Fulham, before turning the temporary move permanent after securing promotion to the Championship.
He played a key role as Bristol City reached Wembley in 2008, just 90 minutes from a place in the Premier League, and later went on to captain the club before leaving for Hibernian in 2014.
Fontaine continued: “I absolutely loved my time at Ashton Gate. I don’t think people realise I was there for nine years; it was a long time.
"There were difficult times towards the end of my spell, in and out of the team, but overall I really enjoyed the experience.
“I still keep tabs on how Bristol City are doing, especially with my old team-mate (Lee Johnson) in charge, and obviously Macca (Jamie McAllister) and Scotty (Murray, kitman) are there too. I also speak to Louis Carey and Lee Trundle regularly because they were my close friends.
“The new stadium looks incredible, although I haven’t got down to Ashton Gate since I left. It would be great to visit at some point.”
With Ashton Gate announcing plans to build a new 4,000-seater arena in BS3 this week, could Fontaine be on stage in Bristol in the years to come?
“Haha, I would love to do that, I’m not going to lie!” he said. “One of my dreams in music is to perform live and see people sing back at me.
“It’s funny because I’ve been walking around the training ground today and all the lads have been singing it to me and humming it. I think it’s stuck in their heads.
“I’ve never done a live performance for anybody before, I’ve only ever performed for friends. Although I’ve played in front of big crowds in football, including Wembley with Bristol City, I’m not sure what it would be like to be one man on a stage with everyone focused on you.
“I don’t know what will come of [the single]. I’ve put it out there now and hopefully as many people will listen to it as possible.”