ONCE feted as a footballer, today Lee Sharpe is the media player with the day-glo hooped Polo shirt and piercing blue eyes. He's back on his old turf, at Manchester's Waterstone's signing copies of his biography, My Idea Of Fun, which has been published just in time to service a demand inflated by interest in his pneumatic celebrity girlfriend, Abi Titmuss.

They met while the former Manchester United winger was appearing on TV's Celebrity Love Island. But if it's that part of Lee's life which whet your appetite for the book, you'll be disappointed. Of its 308 pages, only seven recount the transformation from "where is he now footballer?" to reality TV star.

"It was virtually finished and written before I went into the Love Island," he says. "Those seven pages have only been put in because of the show."

If you're not a football fan, don't imagine for one minute that this is a boring book. It has everything you need to know about his Old Trafford years: the "drink culture", Sir Alex Ferguson's "hairdryer" dressing downs and the categoric truth about an infamous Lee Sharpe story which is still part of United folklore.

In the book, Sharpe recalls what the rumour mill incorrectly said about him at the time.

He writes: "I was still going out with my mates, usually with a flock of girls chirruping around us, me at the centre grinning, talking, dancing, flirting, so it all made sense: like a lot of young men my age in Madchester at the time, I was E-d up, sailing away on the love pill. I contracted viral meningitis and the rumours were all confirmed. Viral meningitis: a likely story!"

Drugs

He liked a drink, loved the ladies and displayed a wonderful line in flamboyant goal celebrations, but says he NEVER touched anything more potent that alcohol and a little bit of cannabis. Disproving the drug stories and setting the record straight was a major motive for the book.

"I just had so many people coming up to me asking certain questions," says Lee, 34. "I thought it would be nice to tell my side of the story. It was all about being honest and painting a picture."

At times it sounds an uncomfortable picture to paint, particularly his dealings with United manager, Sir Alex. "There were times when there was no need for the shoutings at that he gave me," he says.

"I scored a hat-trick at Highbury on the Tuesday, a goal at Everton to win on the Saturday and I got nailed pretty much after both games.

"I just thought, as a 19-year-old kid, living the dream, scoring goals like that and winning games, it could have been handled a little better. You achieve your dreams only to be shot down in flames."

Sharpe says he asked to leave Old Trafford after eight increasingly unhappy years and then landed a golden opportunity at Leeds just weeks before the manager who signed him left Elland Road.

His soccer career having somehow fizzled out, he no longer speaks to any of his Old Trafford friends, including Ryan Giggs, who was most closely associated with him as one of United's pioneering group of celebrity players. He isn't bothered that Giggs' biography is also out while he still plays for one of the world's most famous clubs.

"I didn't want to stay," he insists. "I wasn't happy. Moving to Leeds was both a case of bad timing and bad luck. But, hey, que sera sera."

Having laid his demons to rest, one of the few references in the book to the "new" Lee Sharpe is the fan who approached him in a Leeds pub after he'd returned from Celebrity Love Island, bought him a drink, and said: "You pulled Abi Titmuss. Fair play to you, mate."

"That just goes to show the power of TV," Lee says, opting for a defensive stance once talk turns to his girlfriend.

"She has a public image and a public persona and there are rumours about her in the way that there were rumours about me," he says.

"Behind closed doors, she's lovely. She's not quite the character that you see in the papers.

"You get used to blocking rubbish out that's been written about you. Your friends know you and will always be there and your family are the same. You become a little bit more thick skinned."

Adoration

That said, Lee's Celebrity Love Island success reveals that growing a thicker skin hasn't cost him the charm of his Old Trafford glory days.

Does he miss the club, the money, the adoration? "I don't miss Old Trafford particularly," he says. "But I do miss playing on the big occasions.

"I'm regularly in Manchester. I was down here last Sunday at Prohibition for my mate's 30th, so I still like Manchester."

Has he forgotten the feeling of being paid £250,000 a year when just 22, driving flash cars and being surrounded by girls? "No, it was great," he smiles. "Of course it was great."

But as those seven final pages of Lee Sharpe's biography suggest, there are other things that he looks forward to.

He's been meeting with TV companies and says his name is attached to a number of potential commissions. "All the TV channels sit down in September, so I'll find out then. Touch wood, there should be some good news.

"I did a little bit of TV presenting when I was playing - I did Junior Gladiators and an Audience With Spice Girls when I was at Leeds, so it was always something that we were going to have a look at when I retired."

Is there really no going back or would he leap at the chance to show Sir Alex some competition by signing for breakaway Reds' side, FC United?

"No, they haven't approached me," he laughs. "I'm a bit too unfit and I live too far away to play for FC United."

And he's right, of course. Having travelled all the way from Old Trafford to a Celebrity Love Island, his footballing days must feel millions of miles away.

Lee Sharpe: My Idea Of Fun: The Autography, is published by Orion Books and is priced at £17.99.

Hear an audio clip from this interview via the link below.