A Manchester City legend who swapped fast cars and a heady lifestyle for the dangers of the frontline has greeted the Afghanistan truce as a long overdue step towards reconciliation.
When Lee Crooks hung up his boots in 2009, he made the decision to join the British military and was deployed along with thousands of troops to fight against the Taliban.
As the 19-year war draws to a close with the historic signing of the US-Taliban peace deal, the midfielder looks back on his time in Afghanistan with sadness.
“A lot of lives got lost for nothing. I feel the war shouldn’t have happened,” he said.
“I don’t think we should have been there. British troops should not have been sent.
“There needs to be peace now. Having a lasting peace through the peace agreement is for the best without a doubt and I’m glad it’s happening.”
More than 450 British lives were lost in the conflict before the UK withdrew its troops in 2014 and thousands more were left with life-changing injuries.
Serving in Afghanistan was a far cry from entertaining 35,000 strong crowds at the then home ground Maine Road for the player.
Inured to colourful chants from the fans on the terraces, in often inclement conditions, the star was suddenly faced with acclimatising to the blazing 50C heat and dust storms at the British Afghan outpost of Camp Bastion.
His entry to the camp took place under cover of darkness with the plane’s lights off.
For the next four months home for him consisted of concrete buildings and sand storms with the constant drone of military helicopters overhead.
“It was tough,” he said.
“I went from having everything and taking life for granted to having nothing.
“There were suicide bombers, IEDs, 24 hours a day we were being watched.
“You are a uniformed soldier and the people you were fighting aren’t. The hardest part was the Taliban, the insurgents we were facing, we didn’t know who they were.
“Sometimes they would send women and children in suicide vests. It was pretty bad.”
Crooks will forever have hero status in the eyes of Man City fans and during his time in Afghanistan he was not forgotten.
Man City’s Club Ambassador, club legend Mike Summerbee, sent a team flag out to him which the player adorned in the troops’ accommodation.
Crooks will always be remembered in the club’s history books for his role in the famed 1999 play-off final – it saw fans witness an unlikely comeback, leading to a change in Man City’s fortunes and their rise back to the top tier of the Premier League.
“We got relegated two years on the bounce and then we turned it around and got to the famed Wembley play-off final in 1999 which has gone down in history,” he said.
“We were 2-0 down in the 88th minute and then the ref gave us six minutes of extra time and we equalised and came back to win on penalties. We then got promoted. If we had lost it would have broken Man City financially. It was the turning point.”
When the glory moment of winning the Premier League came in 2012, the star had just come off patrol in Kabul and was greeted with the news City were champions. The team had gone into the final game on level points with arch-rivals Manchester United.
City fell a goal behind by the end of normal time, leading some of United's players to finish their game celebrating in the belief that they had won the league. But two injury time goals resulted in another legendary last minute victory.
“It was unbelievable,” he said.
“We had been on patrol and to get back to that news. I don’t regret not being there to watch it. I wanted a new challenge and I had a new team and a new job to do.
“I was over the moon for the boys though. All our hard work coming back after relegation had finally paid off and it was great to know I played a part in getting them back up there.”
Crooks, originally from the Yorkshire city of Wakefield, joined Man City at the age of 16 in 1994 and made more than 70 appearances for them before he left in 2001.
He then went onto play for British clubs Barnsley, Bradford and Rochdale among others.
The player took the decision to fulfill a lifelong wish to join the military in 2010, his younger brother was already a serving soldier.
“The players thought I was mad when I signed up,” the star said.
“But I wouldn’t change a thing. It is the best thing I’ve ever done in my life.
“I had been playing football since I was six-years-old and it just got a bit stale. I wanted to make changes in my life and going into the forces was the best thing I ever did.
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Sergeant Jay Kenney, 26, with the 101st Airborne Division, Task Force Destiny, assists wounded Afghan National Army (ANA) soldiers off the Blackhawk UH-60A helicopter after they were rescued in an air mission in Kandahar on December 12, 2010 in Kandahar province, Afghanistan. Getty Images -
An Afghan Northern Alliance fighter mans the front line against the Taliban on October 2, 2001 near Jabul os Sarache, 30 miles north of Kabul. Getty Images -
Abdullah Abdullah, chief executive of Afghanistan travelling via helicopter for the final campaign rally in Bamiyan, Afghanistan on September 25, 2019. Afghans will head to the polls on Saturday, September 28th. Getty Images -
Mustafa Tamanna, 10, son of Afghan reporter Zabihullah Tamanna, weeps during the funeral ceremony in Kabul, Afghanistan on June 7, 2016. Tamanna was killed by a rocket-propelled grenade fired by the Taliban. Getty Images -
Northern Alliance soldiers come back from the front line after a battle near Charatoy town in the north of Afghanistan on October 10, 2001. REUTERS -
A Northern Alliance fighter throwing rocks as part of a popular national game yards away from a multiple Grad missile launcher in October 12, 2001 in the Salang Gorge in Northern Afghanistan. Getty Images -
A French soldier from the 7th Mountain Regiment, part of the International Security and Assistance Force (ISAF) stands on a boulder overlooking Kabul during a patrol August 3, 2002 in Afghanistan. The ISAF has been patrolling Kabul since January 2002, working with the government and a new police force to prevent the violence and lawlessness that threatened to engulf the city after a U.S.-led coalition forced the Taliban from power. Getty Images -
US Marine Sgt. Jerry Brown (L) of Jacksonville, North Carolina watches over a weapons cache found during a patrol near the American military compound at Kandahar Airport in January 16, 2002 in Kandahar, Afghanistan. The Marines recovered mortars, rockets, rocket-propelled grenades and artillery rounds discovered in various caches near the base while on the patrol. Getty Images) -
Members of the Princess Patricia's Canadian Light Infantry patrol through poppy fields in the village of Markhanai in May 6, 2002 in the Tora Bora valley region of Afghanistan. Getty Images -
The United States and Britain on October 7, 2001 launched a first wave of air strikes against Afghanistan. President George W. Bush said the action heralded a "sustained, comprehensive and relentless" campaign against terrorism. REUTERS -
A young Afghan girl eats a piece of bread at the Chaman refugee camp on November 8, 2001 on the Pakistan border with Afghanistan. The UNHCR has estimated that since September 11, 2001 over 135,000 Afghans have crossed the border into Pakistan, adding to the already millions of refugees living in the country. Getty Images -
Afghan opposition Northern Alliance soldiers leap over a trench as they return from front line positions after battle near the town of Charatoy in the north of Afghanistan October 10, 2001. REUTERS -
An Afghan child peeks out from the doorway of his family's home as a US Army soldier from the 101st Airborne stands guard in the eastern Afghan village of Hesarak on July 16, 2002 during what the Army refers to as a 'sensitive site exploitation' mission or 'SSE'. Getty Images -
Fred Perry, a British Royal Engineer soldier, reads the book "Black Hawk Down" inside his tent after a day of work on January 29, 2002 at the International Security Assistance Force (ISAF) barracks at the Kabul airport in Kabul, Afghanistan. Getty Images -
Afghan soldiers (L) speak to a local Afghan, while a medic in the U.S. Army's 1st Battalion, 36th Infantry Regiment, Charlie Company (R) monitors a soldier who has just survived a blast from an improvised explosive device (IED) while driving a vehicle during a mission near Command Outpost Pa'in Kalay, on March 19, 2013 in Kandahar Province, Maiwand District, Afghanistan. Getty Images -
Marines on a light armored vehicle prepare for patrol as an AH1W "Super Cobra" helicopter flies by on December 28, 2001 at the U.S. Marine Corps Base in Kandahar, Afghanistan. Getty Images -
A Norwegian ISAF (International Security Assistance Force)soldier from Recce Squadron 3 patrols on October 4, 2004 in Kabul, Afghanistan as election officials get ready for the Presidential elections. Getty Images -
Interim Afghan leader Hamid Karzai (L) is greeted by a group of Afghan military officers on his arrival to Kandahar airbase on May 04, 2002 in Southern Afghanistan. Getty Images -
Soldiers in the U.S. Army's 101st Airborne Division wade though a creek to avoid buried insurgent bombs while on patrol October 16, 2010 in Zhari district west of Kandahar, Afghanistan. Getty Images -
British commandos descend from a mountain observation post overlooking the beginning of the Helmand River at the Kajaki hydroelectric dam on March 13, 2007 in Afghanistan's southern Helmand province. Getty Images -
101st Airbornes 1st Sgt. Kerry Black from Westmoreland, Tennessee uses an Afghan child's sling shot on February 6, 2002 as children crowd around him while he patrols on the outskirts of Kandahar, Afghanistan. Getty Images -
Marine Cpl. Jonathan Eckert of Oak Lawn, IL attached to India Battery, 3rd Battalion, 12th Marine Regiment works his improvised explosive device (IED) sniffing dog Bee as they secure a compound during a patrol near Forward Operating Base (FOB) Zeebrugge on October 11, 2010 in Kajaki, Afghanistan. Getty Images -
Afghan refugees walk across the border into Pakistan on October 11, 2001 as they leave Afghanistan at the Chaman crossing point on the 4th day of U.S.-led air strikes against the ruling Taliban and terrorist networks in the country. Getty Images -
Anti-Taliban Afghan fighters watch several explosions from U.S. bombings in the Tora Bora mountains in Afghanistan on December 16, 2001. -
British Marines run under fire from the Taliban during a morning operation on March 18, 2007 near Kajaki in the Afghan province of Helmand. Getty Images -
Afghan Army troops prepare to board a British chinook helicopter from their base at Shorabak on March 12, 2007 in Southern Helmand province, Afghanistan. Getty Images -
British Marine Joe Harvey from Stafford, England (R), watches as British forces come under fire by Taliban insurgents on March 18, 2007 near Kajaki in the Afghan province of Helmand. Getty Images -
U.S. Army 101st Airborne 3-187 "Bravo" company soliders pass through a corn field while conducting a sensitive site exploitation (SSE) mission July 23, 2002 near the town of Narizah in Southeastern Afghanistan. Getty Images -
Scouts from 2nd Battalion, 503rd Infantry Regiment (Airborne), pull overwatch during Operation Destined Strike while 2nd Platoon, Able Company searches a village below the Chowkay Valley in Kunar Province, Afghanistan on August 22, 2006. US Army
“With the troops I was the same bloke doing the same job as them, just because I had kicked a ball around made me no different to them. We all faced the same risks out there. I was just there to do a job.”
The impact of the war on the Afghan people has left a lasting effect on him though.
“I was in Afghanistan for four months, it was not a safe place, I just felt sorry for all the local people who had nothing do with it,” he added.
“We gave them a lot of aid, their living standards were horrendous. The Afghan people are lovely, they were great, they just didn’t deserve to be stuck in the middle of it all.
“It really made me realise how lucky I am, having running water, having a family, being able to pick up a telephone, all the things we take for granted.
“It has made me appreciate my life more.”
When he left the forces five years later he set up the Lee Crooks Project to help homeless servicemen.
His former teammates and colleagues contacted him and offered him coaching positions in America and Dubai.
Now he runs Pro Elite Football academy to help train the next generation of youngsters from similar backgrounds to him in Yorkshire.
He helped open the Man City Abu Dhabi Cup and his youth teams have played in the competition, which will now be hosting its fourth tournament in March.
Last year Crooks joined former players for the 20th anniversary celebrations at Man City to commemorate the famed 1999 victory.
“I have no regrets at leaving football and going into the military,” he said.
“It made me appreciate everything I have.
“You get two choices in life one to go under and one to go over and I chose to go over. You have to live life to the full.”
As the peace deal was signed, Crooks was back on familiar turf in the UK outside on a freezing pitch mentoring his academy’s youth team.
