Premiership Football Star Goes Window Cleaning

Marc Albrighton was a town centre window cleaner for the day. He is pictured getting his blade from Daren Fulford.

Winger Marc swaps Villa Park for window cleaning: Tamworth football star Marc Albrighton is used to taking corners at some of the Premiership's biggest grounds. But this week the England under-21s ace was making sure he didn't miss corners of a different kind — when he joined non-league football boss Daren Fulford on his window cleaning round. Youngsters heading for school on Monday were forced to do a double-take as they walked passed soccer star Albrighton cleaning town centre shop windows.

The Aston Villa winger was taking up a challenge laid down by Bolehall Swifts manager Daren Fulford and son Conor. "I'd had a bit of banter with them about window cleaning," Albrighton explained. "They were saying I had never done a hard day's work in my life! "I'd put it to the back of my mind but when the season finished they brought it up again. "So I decided it would be fun to give it a go and it was a great laugh. "I really enjoyed it and didn't think it was too tough. The one killer part was the 5.30am start but I thought I did well with the rest of it!"

While Albrighton said he had found his window cleaning experience relatively easy, his boss for the day, Fulford, wasn't so sure. He joked: "He did four hours and he was totally knackered, which doesn't surprise me because he doesn't normally last 90 minutes on the pitch! "We made it into a proper working day for him. "He didn't exactly come dressed for work, wearing a smart tracksuit, and I think the early start was a culture shock for him. But it was a really good day and he did a good job, to be fair. "There was some banter flying around but we all enjoyed it.

Don't forget the corners: Villa star Marc Albrighton pictured cleaning Christopher's Jewellers' shop with owner Chris Duffy and Daren Fulford.

 "School kids in particular were walking past and then glancing back and saying, 'that's Marc Albrighton!' "I just thought it was great that he was doing it. "Most Premiership footballers are probably sunning themselves on a beach in Barbados while Marc is down in the town centre, window cleaning. "I just think it says a lot about what a genuine lad he is." Albrighton has remained strongly connected to Tamworth despite his rise to stardom with Aston Villa. He recently provided the Bolehall Swifts FC squad with plush new tracksuits and training tops and is a regular supporter of local events.

The Premiership star added: "It's always been drilled into me to stay as grounded as possible and my mom and dad have always helped me to keep my feet on the ground. "I know a lot of people have bad views on footballers. "There's a stereotypical view of players in the Premiership but there are a lot of good lads. "For me, I enjoy being a part of Tamworth. It's my hometown and so doing things like this are important to me."

Soccer star: Marc celebrates scoring for Aston Villa.