Soccer player's academic double

Mark Byrne said education was more important than football.

A professional footballer who quit the game to study is celebrating winning a place to read law at university.

Mark Byrne, 21, left Stockport County FC to take law and history A-Levels and scored two A-grades when the results were revealed on Thursday.

Mr Byrne, of Granville Park, Ormskirk, Lancashire, starts his degree at the University of Liverpool in September.

"Football will only get you so far and then you have nothing to fall back on," he said.

The striker signed as a professional at 16 for Blackburn Rovers, before moving to Stockport nearly three years later.

There's not really the glitz and glamour that everyone would have you believe Mark Byrne

Mr Byrne started studying when he was still on Blackburn's books, taking business studies A-Level part time.

But he decided to become a full-time student at Preston College.

"I'm not sure when, but at some point, I thought getting an education was more important than football," he said.

"Playing football isn't as easy as people think. There's a lot of pressure to perform well and there's no room for slacking.

Mark Byrne (left) in action for Burscough FC

"It's not quite the way it looks on television. There's not really the glitz and glamour that everyone would have you believe."

His links with the game were not cut completely as he played for Southport and then Burscough as a semi-professional while he was studying.

He even starred in the Burscough team that won the FA Trophy in 2003.