How ex-Man Utd and Aston Villa youth players turned pro football snub into £8m revenue

It's at this time of year, the end of the football season, when countless young players up and down the country are told that their dream of becoming a professional footballer won't turn into reality.

But if they're anything like sporting entrepreneurs James Wren and Jack Dyer, they've still got a bright future ahead of them. The duo founded Freetrain, a sports apparel brand that's made waves in the training world over the past few years thanks to their trademark running vest, purpose built for handily holding a mobile phone.

Wren, a goalkeeper, spent time in Manchester United 's famous youth setup as a teenager, while midfielder Dyer was at Aston Villa until he was 18. The two crossed paths at Burton Albion more than a decade ago and a friendship was forged during journeys up and down the A38. The pair began their business adventure together in 2015 upon realising that full-time football wasn't an option.

"Myself and Jack met playing for Burton together. We kind of parted ways there and went to a few different football clubs," Wren, 28, exclusively told Mirror Football . "We ended up circling back at Nuneaton Town. It came to a time where we had to think outside the box and the football world, and we always wanted to create a business.

"We had numerous ideas; renovating houses, we even came up with a product about a portable blender. We were actually pursuing an app at the time and, with how expensive apps are, we were thinking we needed to create something to supplement that. We were running in pre-season and the vest idea just sort of spawned really. Then we just took it from there and had a gamble."

Starting with a £1,500 grant from the PFA while balancing 9-5 sales jobs, Wren and Dyer's creation has helped