Micah Richards reveals his VERY famous babysitter from when he grew up in Leeds – but can you guess who his iconic 90s pop group minder was?

Micah Richards left Gary Lineker and Alan Shearer stunned with the revelation that he had a very famous babysitter as a child. 

The former Manchester City and England defender, now pundit and TV personality, told his podcast co-hosts that Mel B used to look after him. 

The Spice Girl, now 50, made a bit of extra cash before she was a world famous popstar with the iconic 90s group by babysitting. 

And Richards is still in touch with Mel (full name Melanie Janine Brown McPhee), known as Scary Spice in the band.

Speaking on The Rest Is Football podcast, he said: ‘Mel B, she used to babysit me when I was younger.

‘Get her on the pod! My sister [still] does her hair now.’

Richards (pictured for Oldham Under 12’s) says he is still in touch with his former minder

An incredulous Shearer interjected: ‘Can I just ask… what the f*** am I on here?’

Lineker was also gobsmacked by the information and said ‘unbelievable’. 

Richards went on: ‘This is way back, back in Leeds days. I spoke to her just a couple of months ago.’ 

Shearer then joked: ‘Did she tell you what she wanted, what she really, really wanted?’

On the strange connection, Richards added: ‘It’s not known. You’ve always got to save something for the pod, haven’t you? Always have something up your sleeve.

‘I don’t remember too much of it but there were obviously pictures back in the day, yeah.’

The Spice Girls split up in 2001 after finding incredible success in the 90s that made them the best-selling girl group in history. 

After the group went their separate ways, Mel B remained in the public eye on The Masked Singer in Australia and America’s Got Talent in the US, where she lived for years before coming home in 2019. 

Micah Richards left Gary Lineker stunned by the revelation about who his babysitter was

(L-R) Victoria Beckham, Emma Bunton, Melanie Brown, Geri Halliwell and Melanie Chisholm made up the iconic 90s pop group 

Richards did not divulge how old he was when Mel B babysat him, while Lineker joked that he was 16 at the time. 

Richards grew up in the Chapeltown area of Leeds, a place with drugs and gun issues. 

In a 2021 Sky documentary, he said: ‘Someone a couple of doors down might be getting arrested but the police are looking round to see if they can cause more trouble,” Richards says.

‘They’re coming and pressing up against you to try and provoke a reaction so they can lock you up.”

‘There was a deep and dark side to my childhood which I don’t speak about much. I’m always smiling and laughing and joking because that’s my personality.

‘I’ve seen someone get beaten up with a hammer in front of me.

‘It scarred me for 10 or 15 years after it happened, it was just always on my brain.’

Richards previously posted this image on Instagram of him growing up in Leeds (left), speaking about the racism he suffered, and working as a pundit (right)

He also previously shared a split image of himself working as a pundit and one from his time growing up in Leeds, writing: ‘The picture on the left is of a young man from Chapeltown in Leeds – a place where opportunities are few and far between.

‘I used to think that such a situation was normal but the older and wiser I have become, I’ve come to realise there was a problem with prejudice and racism because of how I looked and spoke.’

The 37-year-old shot to prominence as a teenage star for Man City and won the Premier League and FA Cup at the club. 

Injuries curtailed his career before he transitioned into punditry for Sky, the BBC and CBS where he remains a regular fixture.