All language subtitles for The Class of 92 2013 (The Class of 92 2013) (ENGLISH)

Welcome to Barcelona.

Almost 100,000 people here
in the Nou Camp this evening.

It really is an
extraordinary atmosphere.

But you do wonder, is Fate now taking
a hand in Manchester United's destiny?

They have made their own luck with their
boldness and their adventure, but they

have had just enough luck to
stand here on the brink of history.

It's the chance of a lifetime, a
treble chance, the likes of which

knowing this team has had
before or may ever get again.

1992 is not a year on which I shall
look back with undiluted pleasure.

One of Manchester's busiest
shopping streets, suddenly a living hell.

A bomb planted in bushes
behind Kendall's house department

store showered office
workers with flying glass.

To smash the poll tax, and
smash the Tories, and then

the end to the end of
this Tory government itself.

I've only got one thing
to say, it's nice to be back.

I can't meet all
this frustration.

I can't meet all my desires.

This strange conversation.

Self-control has just expired.

All my delusions.

Only in my head you don't exist.

Who are you fooling?

Don't need a string
for an exorcist.

It's clear tonight that
it is no longer a matter

of weather, but when
there is a world at all.

England's

shattered players
arrive back at the hotel.

A few hours later, we once again
saw the dark face of English football.

It has turned out to
be an annus horribilis.

A club of this size, one would expect,
the platform, the stage, everything,

is geared to doing
very, very well.

And that very, very well
means winning the league.

The first thing I ever did
at United was buy a map.

I had the map at my wall
at the cliff of Manchester.

And I got the scouts in.

I just wanted to make sure that by getting
the map, that all the areas were covered.

I got all the scouts in,
told them, I want the best

ball in your team, not
the best ball in the street.

I was a Man United
supporter, and it's extra

special when you get
a coaching job there.

When Sir Alec took over, everybody realised
that he wanted a vibrant youth system.

And he said to me, straight out,
as typically Sir Alec does, he says,

I'm not entirely satisfied with
the youth system, you know.

He'd only been there probably
a few weeks or a month.

And I said, well, you know, we've had
Norman Wise ride through, Mark Hughes

through, and he looked at
me with those steely eyes.

He said, that's not enough.

I said, do you know how
many local scouts Manchester

City have got and how many
Manchester United have got?

When I told him,
he was staggered.

He was absolutely staggered.

We had only two
scouts in Manchester.

The whole of Manchester
had only two scouts.

Can you believe that?

And if you think of the
population in Greater

Manchester, at that
time it was 6 million.

When I left Aberdeen, the population
of Scotland at that time was 3.

5 million people, and we
had 17 scouts in Aberdeen.

And I'm not exaggerating.

Within a month, it trebled.

It troubled the scouting
system at Manchester United.

And that's when we
started getting the players.

Chaps are smooth like wall Today's the day
she snap To steal what she never could own

And raise from this
hole she can't solve

What an absolute warrior.

What a great player
Nicky Butt was.

Another Ryan Robson,
without questioning.

I think he nicknamed
himself One Knock Butt.

He said, Butt people,
knock on my own side.

I think lads were always
a bit nervous about giving

Butt his nickname, cos
you know, he's gonna react.

He's like, he might
just give you a dig.

You just don't mess with him.

Scorsi was like the joker that
got away with it all the time.

We kind of nicknamed
him the Ghost, you know.

He'd just disappear
at any moment.

I know what Scorsi was like.

He was a little rascal.

And if somebody's underpants were
missing, I knew it would be Paul Scorsi.

You've got a kid who's smaller than most,
he's got asthma, he's not the quickest,

but the best player
I've ever played with.

Work that out.

When I first saw Giggsy, I
just saw this really skinny kid.

There's no flashness to him.

He's probably the most
down-to-earth superstar I've ever seen.

I've never met.

At one minute, he can be the most
serious man in the world, where he can be

eyeballing somebody and really deep
eyes staring at somebody, and then the next

minute he can be dancing
on the table doing Elvis.

The thing that struck me early on
about Becks was his appearance.

You thought, he's too
pretty to be a football player.

That was his
nickname, Pretty Boy.

You just think he's
a flash cockney.

I used to call him Treacle.

What, Treacle?

No, just... That
was his nickname.

People still all know him.

I still see him in his red...

Let's go up Mexico.

That's how I look at it.

Busy brothers, busy one and two.

Nervous Neville's.

Nervous Neville's, yeah.

He was a bit jittery
on the ball at times.

Gary and Phil could be.

Not always, though.

I think Freddie Flintoff on
interviews has said that the

best day of his cricket career
was when Phil Neville retired.

He then became the best
all-rounder in Lancashire.

He's just bubbly.

He's always happy.

Another difference
from him and Gaz.

Wow.

Gary was a geek, wasn't he?

He was always sorting things out
and everyone started calling him Busy.

Actually, Busy ****, we
always used to call him Zzzzz.

Every lad used to walk
past me going, Zzzzz.

I grew up in Bury, lived in a
terraced house opposite a park.

All I remember about being a kid is
playing football, playing cricket at the

cricket club, and massively
about my dad taking me to United.

I always remember the first time I
went and I was absolutely mesmerised.

You always thought next
year would be our year,

we'll win the league,
we'll win the league.

We never did.

All I ever wanted to be
was a football player and

the only club I ever wanted
to play at was United.

Gary was one of them lads
that, when you know him, you

love him to death, he's a
great lad, everyone likes him.

When you don't know him, he has
this persona of not being a nice person.

I couldn't stand his guts when
I was younger and all I was

about to do was kick him when
I played against his local team.

Gary Neville was
nothing like that.

He was nowhere near
as talented technically as

the other boys and he
won't mind me saying that.

I always felt as
though I had to work...

extra all the time and just live and
eat better than anybody all the time.

I've given up on
it a little bit now.

I made a conscious decision at 16 when
I left school that I couldn't continue to

see the friends that I'd been friends with
at school because I knew full well I would

get drawn into doing things that 16 to
18-year-old lads did and I couldn't do it.

I couldn't do it.

I couldn't have any regrets.

And he wanted to
make himself a player.

I didn't make him a player,
he made himself a player.

Eric Harrison was a
massive influence on me.

He was just what I needed.

Took absolutely no ****.

Probably the in-boys would
tell you about him at the window.

I don't know if that
window had ever survived.

He'd be upstairs at the cliff, and
somebody would make a mistake and he'd

batter on the window
and they wouldn't look up.

They were scared
they'd be able to look up.

But if they didn't see him out of the
window, they knew he was on the way down.

Oh, it was funny, it was...

And I'd be in my next door and
I could hear the window bat him.

And I'd shake my head,
kill myself laughing.

I says, God help me,
come in at half time.

I remember my wife watching
me one day, because she wanted

to go to the Trafford Centre
after the training session.

And I got in the car, she was sat in
the car, she said, you're a disgrace.

I said, what do you mean?

She said, you wouldn't do
that to your children, would you?

Eric has grounded them people and he's
put into morals and treat people right.

And I think... You know,
if you're looking at...

Beck's probably one of
the biggest sporting stars

in the world, you know,
and he's still grounded.

You know, we can
thank Eric for that.

You've got to make those
demands to be successful out there.

And those who could cope with
those demands played those who didn't.

And that's football.

The one I was most
disappointed was Raphael Burke.

Supremely talented player.

I wish he had have
had that right attitude

because he would have
been the first team player.

For me, I mean, I thought I was talented,
but I didn't dedicate like these guys.

When people say, oh,
what was Beck's like?

Or what was... I say, well,
the first thing is they sacrifice.

If you're going to even have a tiny chance
of being like them, if you don't practice

or you don't sacrifice,
you haven't got a chance.

I mean, I'm a youth team captain of the
class of 92 and he was a fantastic captain.

Gary was the leader because if you
saw Gary doing something different on the

pitch after training, you
know, it had me thinking,

well, if he's doing it, I
need to be doing something.

You know, he was
the captain of the team.

So we always took on the
mantle of looking after him.

We looked after everyone.

I thought he was the glue
that held them lads together.

Like our dad, isn't he?

Uncle Gary is.

He does everything for us
and that's just the way it is.

We phone each other up now and again and
I just go like, ah, have you finished yet?

Oh, dear me, he talks for
England, he does, you know.

Phil's not bad as well.

Gaz and Phil would be like
throwing balls up at each other.

They'd be like, you
know, jogging on the spot.

Lads, relax, there's an hour
to go, to go kick off, yeah?

Relax.

If you laid back then,
you're just sat there,

just looking at them and
just, what are you doing?

What are you doing?

And they were
probably doing the same.

You can probably just imagine them speaking
to each other, Phil, have you seen these?

It's Cup final, look at them.

They're not even prepared right.

We're prepared.

Are you prepared?

Yeah, I'm prepared.

Yeah, right.

Well, we're prepared.

Never mind these.

You know, you
can just imagine it.

That's what they were
like from an early age.

They were just all about
the focus and it worked.

I'd had two really bad
experiences in the Youth Cup.

I played as a schoolboy,
we got beat in the semi-final.

Played as a first-year apprentice,
got knocked out in the semi-final.

So I was desperate to
win it, absolutely desperate,

even though I'd played a
few games in the first team.

The football was
so good, I think.

It was just so enjoyable
to play in that, you know,

we'd be winning four,
five, six-nil most weeks.

One of the things that I remember
is Buddy's overhead kick, you know.

Didn't go in, but he
got so excited about it.

There was only
going to be one result.

With this team, it was
just, you just knew.

And that was a
really tough game.

But I mean, that was the biggest relief
I've ever had in my life, to come off that

field, winners of the
Youth Cup, you know.

And seeing them lift in the
Youth Cup, it was sensational.

But how many of these faces will we
ever see in a Manchester United first team?

They haven't won it for
such a long time, I think.

They were supposed to be
babes who won it last time, I think.

So there was a great optimism from
everyone at the club, including the

supporters, and
particularly the supporters,

who realised they were
seeing something special.

We went in changing rooms and the
manager was there, the players were there,

the first team players were there, all
the staff was there, directors were there.

It was massive, it was
huge, and I put that

medal alongside every
other medal that I've made.

I won't put it any higher, I won't put it
any lower, it's on par with every single

medal that I've ever won,
because at the time, at

16, 17, 18, it's the
biggest medal you can win.

We had a great team spirit,
great bunch of lads, great coaches.

We hadn't won it for a long time
and we lifted the cup at Old Trafford,

so we couldn't ask
for much more, really.

It was an achievement, but it's
never enough to just win one trophy.

OK, next year, we're
going to do it again.

The best time of my
career was apprenticeship.

You go to work every
day together with your

mates, you've got no
cares in the world, just fun.

You knew you was good, you knew you was
better than most team you played against.

But they were the
best times in my career.

I can still say that now.

I can still say that now.

No joking, lads.

I'll say no.

CHEERING

What happened with Clifford and his
kids was the older apprentices, or the

first-year pros, would
always, you know...

..get older, the first-year apprentices,
which was us, do all sorts of things,

and most of the
things are unspeakable.

It was the end of that era where
it was just a dumb thing, where...

..part of your initiation, part of your
growing-up process, your toughening-up

process, was to put you in
situations that you didn't like.

They put me in a kit bag and
padlocked it up once and put me on a bus.

And then did the same in
schools a week later and...

Nicky went small, but I was
tiny, so I'd fit in quite easily.

And you'd end up, like, smacking
the bag like this and you'd be...

..in the middle of Old
Trafford in the laundry,

getting put out, so it
unlocked and sent back.

At dinner times, you just knew
when you've had your dinner, that's it.

The...

..the second years were
going absolutely trash.

We'd try and abuse him.

We just all used to go
and hide somewhere.

I think we used to
hide in a big gym.

When it comes to the
initiations, a lot of people,

it would be over in 20
seconds, 15 seconds.

They would just go... They
would just do something stupid.

You get a round of, like, it was
brilliant, you get a round of applause,

right, you don't have
to do anything again.

There would be the odd player who wouldn't
do it or didn't want to do it or would do

it rubbish, and then you
would be... You'd be on them.

There's one time they put
scores in the dryer, and...

I don't know if they turned it on, but
they shut the door and they might have

just turned it on and
off like that, quick.

I think he had a panic
attack, I think, but it

wouldn't be with a big
old industrial dryer as well.

I think that's what
brought his asthma on.

Oh, the nightclub
scene was the best.

You had to chat someone up.

I had to do that with you once.

Chat them up?

Yeah.

It wasn't my greatest skill when I
was a young kid, chatting girls up.

I had to perform sexual actions
to Clayton Blackmore's calendar.

Oh!

On the bed?

On the bed.

Yeah, that was my worst one.

The boot polish as well on the... I had a
boot polish number put on the back of my...

The bongs.

With a spoon in the mouth.

Did they dry the kit on you?

I'm not sure about that.

I'm not sure who did it, but...

Do you know what I mean?

It was you.

It was you.

I don't know why
you're here, anyway.

Hey, and look
how you turned out.

No, I didn't... I
didn't enjoy it.

LAUGHTER You were...
You was horrible, Big Z.

I hated him.

You was horrible.

It made you sorry, it made
you hard, it made you tough, it

made you not be scared of
looking a fool in front of you.

Not be scared of asking
your friends, not be scared of,

you know, saying things out
loud in front of older players.

So, although it probably...

Nowadays, the club class is bullying, it
was a massive part of becoming a player

at the club, because, you know,
if you're a 20-year-old lad and

something's wrong on the pitch, if
you've not got the bollocks to go and

say it to these other players, then you've
got no chance of making it Man United.

Even though I hated it, and it used to
make me ill, I still think there's part of

that old-school values and that
toughening-up process that the kids

nowadays I'm happy that us lot came
through at that time, because when we came

into being reserve team players,
we were the players that stopped it.

We were the players
that kind of knew it wasn't

right to do, you know,
these kind of things.

And it stopped.

Having coaches like Nobby that had
done what he'd done in football, and then

moving up to having someone like Eric,
you know, and having the manager around us

all the time, playing at the cliff like we
play, and then having players like Brian

Robson come into the
A-team and playing games like

that, I don't think there's
many teams that do that.

For me, that's my best
moment at the cliff, having Brian

Robson play in the A-team
game with me, next to me.

That's great.

When they come, Brian Robson and
all that, come and watch your team play,

or watch the team's practice and all
that business, what a confidence boot.

We probably learnt how we
need to look after our players.

He was the one
who taught us that.

I always remember, I think, we
were playing Oldham, I think, one day.

I remember Ben
Thornley, the left winger, got

absolutely battered off
the Oldham right-back.

And I can still see it now,
and it sickens me now.

Ben got a crossing and the lad just went
like that with his boot, with his studs

and all that business,
and he's straight down.

You know, Robbo was playing in that
game, we went up to the guy who did it,

he just put his finger up like that, I
remember him waving his finger like

that, and the lad came up, and I told
him two words, and the last one was off.

And I thought, you're dead.

And Robbo just went over
and absolutely steamrolled him.

Not illegally, but hitting him really hard,
which is the typical Brian Robson tackle.

Oh, I'm sure to enforce that.

But Robbo was a fantastic
person for them too, you know.

He had a wonderful way
with the young players.

They all idolised him.

I think we all looked around at each
other, and we all smiled, because...

you know, being looked
after by someone like Brian

Robson, you know, it doesn't
get much better than that.

That was a brilliant
clip, wasn't it?

We were all... We used to
rock the Sparky, Robbo, Inter.

You know, these were
your heroes growing up.

There's only the winners in the team,
but then, like, the success that we had as

a youth team and the A team,
like you say, brought that in as well.

It was a habit.

A lot of football's up here.

You know, people talk about
skill, obviously it's important,

and technical ability and
understanding and tactics.

But also the mental strength to know that
basically, you know, those opponents that

you're playing against,
they know they're in

for a massive fight
here to win this match.

All the lads that came through the
ranks under Eric Harris and Nobby Styles,

you know, Nobby Styles would
say, just get wired into everybody,

you know, just get stuck in.

And that was the message he was
giving to us as 14, 15, 16-year-olds.

You know, we've passed the ball.

We'll make sure you don't
lose any battles out there.

You win that fight.

MUSIC PLAYS MUSIC FADES
MUSIC FADES MUSIC FADES

We've got to remember that in the sort of
60s, 70s and 80s, you know, Liverpool had

an incredible time, you know, in music,
football, and I suppose in some ways this

last 20 years has been
Manchester's time, the

Stone Roses, Oasis,
United winning the league.

But the two cities have got a lot
of similarities, the spirit and fight,

the honesty and
integrity of the people.

There's a tribalness to it.

Why shouldn't there be?

MUSIC FADES

MUSIC FADES

MUSIC CONTINUES When
was your first goal, Lee?

Gal grain taster-ware, I.

Was it?

Ah, yeah.

Was that our scuff
into the corner?

Yeah, proper scuff.

When was your score, Lee?

I'm trying to think.

Do you remember
you used to play at all?

Oh, have you just completely
forgotten our address?

In the A-Team games, we used to come up
against all the teams around the country.

But obviously, when we played against
Liverpool, those were the big games.

I was about 16 and we played
against Liverpool at the Cliff.

And their team with Alan Hansen
was playing, coming back from injury.

Sammy Lee played.

You should have knew that we
were good enough then, I think.

And they had a
really good side out.

And I mean, Liverpool don't
like getting beat by Man Utd.

Even at tiddlywinks, do they?

And they beat them 6-1
at the Cliff, you know?

I think Scoles just
scored a hat-trick.

Probably did beat Liverpool
a few times, 4 or 5-0.

Which was nice.

I think the frustrating thing growing up
as well is Liverpool was such a great team.

They were a great team.

They had great players.

And that just made it worse.

I just hated them because
they were so good.

They played brilliant football.

They played the right way.

They had great players.

They played a good system.

To watch that mob
down the road...

Just to be head and shoulders above
everybody else in the league, in Europe...

It was really difficult.

I remember watching the
World Club Championship.

And I was buzzing.

It was Flamengo, Liverpool.

Flamengo battered them 3-0.

And Zico scored.

I must have been about 10.

And I was flipping, dancing
round the living room.

Flipping Liverpool
just got beat.

But...

I think all things considered...

You play the long game with
Manchester United Football Club.

And these people end up
getting knocked off the perches.

I remember the 1999 season.

January.

Liverpool.

In the FA Cup.

In the FA Cup.

1-0 down, weren't we?

Yeah.

What, five minutes ago?

Michael scored
to them, didn't he?

Michael Owen?

Yeah.

That was my follow as well.

Just got a cross in.

Just couldn't get it in.

I remember.

You left your run.

I think you played me as well.

Again.

I always remember the
goals I give away, Mick.

He's had many
of them, hasn't he?

I thought that was the best
atmosphere of the season.

To be fair.

Yeah.

Yeah.

That last couple
of minutes here.

That's when it
all started, I think.

I think the beginning of
the season, 1998-99, I

don't think it was any
different to any other season.

We knew we had a
good team, a good squad.

We expected to
go on and do well.

Our form was inconsistent in
the early parts of the season.

We were conceding goals.

We were exciting.

The attacking
football was brilliant.

But we were still conceding
goals in the league.

But then turn of Christmas,
the FA Cup against Liverpool.

What a game that was.

And then it just seemed
to snowball from there.

You know, the season hasn't been
all Manchester United had hoped for.

Not so far.

But an FA Cup tie against
what is a young Liverpool team.

The stage should change that.

1-0 down.

Four minutes,
five minutes to go.

A few minutes ago,
they took points.

They took points off.

And Paul had played for me.

And he worked over him.

He had had to me.

You know, winding me
up just wasn't vicious.

I was just, you
know, incy being incy.

We made a substitution.

I could go on and score a score.

Beckham may just take this off.

Lifted towards the head of Cole.

And yes!

When you're 1-0 down and you score
that equaliser, you know it's coming.

Into Cole again.

May break for Scholes.

Sword shot!

I was on the bench.

And whenever I was
on the bench, I was a fan.

I wasn't a sub.

I was in the case stand.

I was singing the songs.

I was up.

I was at it.

Shirt was off.

Track suit was off.

I wanted to dive onto their
bench and just celebrate.

To look over to a bench that thought
they'd won a game and they've lost it is

the greatest feeling in
the whole wide world.

You know, for us to come
back and score two late

goals, it sort of set
the tone of the season.

And it was, for me, it was the turning
point that teams knew that no matter what

the score was, we'd
still come back at home.

It's at the back of their mind
that they always come back these.

That season, the Liverpool
game, we knew we'd score late.

And the opposition
knew we'd score late.

And you know what it's like if you
think against United, it all suffers.

It's amazing because you've played
at Newcastle and you've been out.

When you're out on Man United and there's
like 20 minutes to go and it's 2-0 up,

you're at other teams and
they say, oh, game over.

And you've probably said
it to lads, no, this is Man

United, they're going to
come back, they'll win this 3-2.

More often than not, they do.

All the bosses' teams
always came back, didn't they?

Bruce's goals to win the league
first time, they always had that.

They went right to the end.

I think it's fitness
but also keeping

possession and Old
Trafford being a big pitch.

I think our biggest strength is
we're all Man United fans, aren't we?

It ultimately comes from
the gaffer, doesn't it, really?

Definitely.

It ultimately comes
from him, isn't it?

What he demands of you,
what he demands he puts on you.

You think... We will
get one more chance.

Yeah.

You get one more chance.

You might not score, but
we will get one more chance.

And we always, if we equalise, we
always try and get the second one.

And the third.

It's never enough.

You win a league
and that's not enough.

Next year you've got to
win a league and double.

I think that was a bridge in us from
youth team level, from B team, from A team,

from reserve team.

That was put in us, I think.

The story for Manchester
United was great.

It was great players.

Yeah, we could
feel like the ghosts.

I remember walking the
corridors up to the manager's

office at Old Trafford and
the smell of Matt Busby's pipe.

You just knew there
was a big presence about

him still there and you
just walked past and...

You might see him now and again.

The door would always be open.

And I look back now and
think, you know, we should have

gone in more and talked to
him more, but you were scared.

This was like a god.

There were two, like, big,
important books in our family.

One was a massive Bible and the other
book was the photo album, you know,

like, black and white photos of us
as little kids and with a, you know,

big extended family around
the area and all that kind of stuff.

Biggest picture in that book, at
the back, was the Busby Babes.

On the fringe of a Munich airport lies the
wreckage of an airliner still smouldering

from a crash in which
21 people were killed.

Oh, I heard it at school.

I heard that news at school and I
was crying my eyes out at school.

You know, and me and the
teacher took me into another room.

I was that emotional
about it, you know.

And I thought,
they can't be dead.

The teacher said to me, he
said, Eric, I'm sorry, they are.

MUSIC PLAYS I think
probably 17, 18 when we won the

Youth Cup, the Busby Babe
comparison started to come out.

You've got big
footsteps to follow here.

You've got lads who were
young men just wanting to

play football, wanting to
dream like we're dreaming.

Their legacy is enormous.

Everything you see there at that club
today is built out of that tragedy and

Samat Busby's determination to grow
another team, to rebound, to go again.

Obviously, what he created, what he
created at Manchester United led to what

the boss had created at Manchester
United and what, you know, we were part of.

And you feel that.

The most important part of the history was
Matt Busby's introduction of young people.

That was uppermost
in my thoughts.

To recreate the history which
was started by Matt Busby

and I thought that was a
perfect football club for me.

I was born in Cardiff.

My dad played rugby,
three-time professional for

Swinton, so I moved to
Manchester when I was seven.

Everyone on my street was United fans
and I used to go watch them, Stretford End,

United Road, go with my
mates, catch the match bus at

26, try and climb over the
fence and get in for nothing.

You know, all that sort of stuff,
as a United fan, I used to do.

First time I'd seen him play, I was
like, oh, my God, what have I just seen?

If that's the standard that
we have to get to, I'm done.

I'm finished.

What's the point?

You know what I mean?

Go back to Bury.

Kick your little ball
against the wall.

Just get off this pitch away from him,
because, honestly, he was unbelievable.

Ryan Wilson again.

He is Salford's star man.

That's a terrific
pass from Wynwood.

Oh, it's a marvellous goal.

We were nowhere near him,
do you know what I mean?

We weren't even in the
same bracket as him.

I always remember when we signed
his 14th battle, we were playing Arsenal.

And we signed in my
office, upstairs, and

George Green would
come in for a cup of tea.

And after Ryan and his
mum left, I says, he'll be a

great player in the United's
first team in three years.

So George says, what's the name?

I says, Ryan Wilson.

So a few years later,
we're playing Arsenal again.

And George was having
a little bit of a go, actually.

He says, well, up to
that boy Ryan Wilson.

As much as I say, he's
never seen him again.

I says, point today.

He goes, what, who's the pro?

Well, yeah.

I says, Ryan Giggs
has changed his name.

Bloody hell.

Of course, at that
time, he was a star.

Yeah, when I arrived,
Giggs was playing.

Yeah.

Yeah.

And now I retired, what, 15
years ago, and he's still playing.

It's crazy.

I'll never forget.

The manager sort of naming the team
in the old dressing rooms at Old Trafford.

And I'm just sat there, and I'm not
listening to him, but sort of half not

interested because I
didn't think I was playing.

So left wing is last.

And I'll never forget it.

It was like, Ryan, you'll
play on the left today.

I was like, you say
my name there?

And, like, I started,
I don't like flying.

So when we're taking off,
I've got, like, sweaty palms.

Like, you wouldn't believe it.

It was like, it was
exactly the same feeling.

And number 14 is
17-year-old Ryan Giggs.

We looked at him and
thought, that's our motivation.

You know, if the manager's
giving him a chance, then

surely he's going to give
us a chance at some point.

And this is Giggs.

The manager used to always say, if
I'd ever had a shave, even the next day

in training, he would just look at
me, he was out last night, wasn't he?

And I'd go, no.

He'd go, yeah, he was.

You always have a shave.

When you've gone out,
you always have a shave.

You're always clean-shaven.

So from then on, I just learnt, if
I went out, I just wouldn't shave.

I think growing up in
Manchester in the 90s,

obviously, it was
brilliant, it was massive.

It was the time of the Stone Roses,
Happy Mondays and Spiral Carpets,

all the house music,
and it was the place to be.

I mean, it was a
ridiculous place.

The Hacienda, the Bullet Walk, we
were going to concerts, Spike Island,

and it was a real
special time, really.

I remember once the whole Man
United team went to the Hacienda.

It wouldn't happen nowadays.

You'd be pressed everywhere.

You'd have what's called a players'
pass, a Man United players' pass.

So every professional had one.

And certain clubs,
you'd get in free with it.

So you'd go out with your players'
pass, show it to the bouncer, let me in.

That's a good thing that I
liked about my upbringing

in Manchester, was everyone
looked after each other.

If you was a good enough guy
and you didn't show off too much

and you weren't big-headed,
the bouncer looked after you.

It just seemed like the magic
dust literally had been there.

It had been sprayed
all over the city.

So it was good to see the
football and the music thing.

What else is there?

What else is there?

Manchester reinvented itself.

It didn't wait for a
leader to do that for us.

In fact, it took the
disinterest that was clearly

shown to it by Margaret
Thatcher's Premiership.

It took that as actually
a signal to do it itself.

We can't even get out.

We're walking with
cockroaches, beetles.

In flats in this block.

In these flats over here.

We've got people
coming up using the place

as rockers and everything
all over the place.

It's disgusting.

We all grew up as Thatcher's children
and, you know, hand on my heart, that bitch

gave me my start in
music, man, because she

put me on the dole
straight out of school.

And where else would I have got
the chance to learn an instrument?

There's some great northern cities
that actually aren't beholden to anyone,

you know, and no matter how bad it
gets, they will regenerate themselves.

Now, the football teams, of course,
especially United, is a symbol of that.

Sharpie loved to go out, loved
to party and have a good time.

For me, he was the
one who I had probably

been most in common
with because of the age.

I've seen Gigton lead Sharp
and a few of the guys out and

about in town and in the clubs
of the time and what have you.

I suppose we should
have took it on ourselves to

turn to Neff or Fulham
and get an early night in it.

It would be fun.

There's a Liverpool game
coming up or something.

But it's not our
place to do that, is it?

Fergie had his little
network of guys out there

doing just that, didn't
he, I suppose, so...

The gaffer had been tipped off that me
and Sharpie were going out, so he's just

totally surprised us and
we're at Sharpie's house.

I heard down that road, I phoned Norman
Davies and said, ''Where's Sharp with?

'' And he gave me his
address and I get there.

I didn't know there
was a party going on.

The party, I
couldn't believe it.

So I knocked on the door and there was
the guys inside, said, ''Who is it?'' And I

battered the door and
I says, ''Get that bloody

door open.'' I threw
everybody out of the place.

And I'm literally
in his eye line.

I mean, anywhere
else I could have hid.

But I'm leaning against the
fridge with a beer in my hand.

He's threw my mate out,
he's threw the girls out.

He's gone, ''Where's that?

Where's Sharpie?'' So one of my other
mates has ran upstairs and said, ''Sharpie?

'' Sharpie's in the mirror
just getting dressed.

He's in his bedroom just,
you know, putting his jacket on.

''Your gaffer's here, your
gaffer's here.'' Sharpie's gone.

''Yeah, all right, yeah.''
Of course he is, yeah.

Carried on, sort of,
like, getting ready.

And in the mirror, he's seen
the gaffer walking up the stairs.

At this time, the apprentices
can hear his voice,

cos there was a few
of the apprentices out.

They've hid in the wardrobe,
they've hid under the bed.

One of them jumped
out the window.

And he didn't know about them.

They didn't get caught.

So, anyway, he's caught
me and Sharpie red-handed.

And he's just sat us down
and he's absolutely battered us.

And I says, ''You have no
idea what wife you're going to

have now.'' And I says, ''You're
in tomorrow, seven o'clock.

''Want you in at seven o'clock?''
And I went, ''Ah, the eyes are going.

'' ''Sharpie, you're
going back in digs.

You're not having
your own house.

''You've had too many chances.'' And he
said to me, and he's gone, ''Do you want

to end up like him?'' From that day
on, really, I was a little bit more focused

and, obviously, I'd seen the
gaffer snap before, but not like that.

Fortunately, Ryan took heed.

Because if you look at him now, playing at
41 years of age, it tells you everything.

He's lived his life well, you
know, he's looked after himself.

That was an experience and maybe he'll
look back and say, ''I'm glad it happened.

'' You know?

He's a different kind
of animal, Giggsie.

He came to a point where
he said, ''Enough's enough.

''I'm a footballer, first and foremost.''
Yeah, there was a time where I just had to

play within myself and
sort of change my role

where, yeah, I couldn't
be a flying winger.

I had to manage my game a
lot more and look after my body.

He looked at the bigger picture.

He looked that in 15 years' time, I
still want to be playing football for

Man United, so what sacrifices
now do I have to make?

Diet, getting the right beds, getting
the right car, doing different stretches,

obviously starting yoga, seeing an
osteopath, doing acupuncture, ice baths,

you name it.

I've done it to sort of
maximise the time that I'm

on the pitch and especially
the last three months.

You do everything you can because
you know that's when it all happens.

That's when you
need to be at your best.

That's when the big
games are coming.

The last thing that either club
needed was a replay, but here we are.

United already committed to two games
a week between now and the end of May.

Well, they are out there to
keep thinking about a treble.

And let's not forget the
double's still up for Arsenal.

Something's got to give here.

We'd played, I think, about
three or four days before.

We had the eventers coming up,
we were doing well in the league.

So the manager
decided to change things.

I'd played in the first
game, we'd had a goal

that allowed, we felt that
we should have won it.

And you just wanted to play
in that game and I was subbed.

At that point in our careers,
Arsenal was the rivals.

It was such a great
Arsenal team, it was the best

team that probably we
played against domestically.

Power, pace, aggression,
experience, skill.

They had everything.

And they were such a
tough team to play against.

And they mined Keown from
England and Dave Seaman.

They're all great
lads, I really like them.

But on the pitch,
they're just a real hatred.

And it had been
such a tiring game.

You know, going 1-0 up, then
1-1 and then Keaney got sent off.

So we're playing,
obviously, a man down.

There were so many
emotions as well.

I probably should have came off.

I was physically and
mentally exhausted.

It was such an emotionally charged
evening that I dusted a brick wall.

The ball came across to Ray
Parlour and he was taking me on.

And I remember
feeling shattered.

I actually remember him running at
me to this day thinking, I'm dead here.

So I just collapsed on the floor
thinking I've got to make a tackle.

And it was a tired... I
made the wrong decision.

And when I give the
penalty away, I remember...

thinking...

life's over.

I'm dead.

I'd rather die than
this penalty going.

And it was one of those moments when I
honestly thought if Damien Bergkamp would

have scored, my Man Utd career
would have probably been finished.

Me and Phil go to celebrate
with Peter Schmeichel.

He literally shoves us
the other side of the box.

He literally
clotheslined me away.

And I was back on it.

The game was
getting a bit stretched.

So I think the manager thought,
perfect for me to come on now.

Fresh legs.

And the manager just says,
I think the right-back's tiring.

Whenever you get a
chance, run at them.

Make something happen.

You're ten men.

You're thinking it's
going to penalties.

You're hanging up.

Arsenal are sort of
wave after wave of attack.

And then Giggsie
picks the ball up.

Patrick Vieira plays
the ball square.

And I just remember
Giggsie setting off.

When I sprint, you
can tell I'm sprinting.

Everything's moving.

With Giggsie...

It's almost slow motion.

He glides on the
top of the service.

His feet don't touch the ground.

He picked the ball up and I
was at left-back behind him.

And I was shouting, Giggsie,
Giggsie, I'm on my way.

Thinking I was
going to overlap him.

And Giggsie just went further and
further and further away from me.

Starts running at players.

And I've seen Giggsie do
this since I was 15 years old.

I stood still.

And it was like slow motion.

In and out.

Gliding in and out.

It's like a gazelle.

He had this grace about him.

And he was making
body movements.

Without even touching the ball.

And Lee Dixon went for one.

Martin Keown went for one.

I just saw him going through.

Going through.

Keeping on going.

I'm thinking, Scholes
is coming in back post.

Look at Scholes.

Look at Scholes.

And all he had to do
was square it to me.

And I'd make a big run.

And I'll tell you, I think I
was still 20 yards behind him.

And I sprinted
as fast as I could.

That was Ryan Giggs.

Whether he was playing
on Lower Broughton Road,

Lyttelton Road, the Cliff
Training Ground, Carrington.

That was what Ryan
Giggs was all about.

This was Giggs' moment.

Giggs is here.

A magician wave off.

Hands up, Patrick.

Watch the epic carpool.

Oh, it's close.

Oh, it's past.

Kevin Reveley.

You just lose yourself.

And you don't know
what you're doing.

And everything, sanity
just goes out of your head.

And I just decided to take my
shirt off and just start swinging it.

The team are coming over.

The fans are coming over.

They're on top of me.

And it's just unbelievable.

How many times are you going to
see a goal like that in your lifetime?

Especially scored by
one of your lads as well.

It is the best goal
I've ever seen.

Just for everything,
how important it was.

And the way he did
it, who he went past.

As a defender, you look
at those lads differently.

They're the heroes for you.

They produce the biggest moments
at the best times when you need them.

And throughout that
season, they all delivered.

Every single one of them.

But Giggs' moment is
the standout moment.

You needed a result, but
you didn't need extra time.

Ten men, a real baccalaureate.

Look, who's to know what's
going to happen if you were Gary?

It could all blow on your
face at the end of the day.

But can you forget
moments like this?

I suppose we were
talking about that for years.

I suppose we were
talking about that for years.

That's what football's about.

Trying to reach peaks and climaxes to a
season which we were doing at the moment.

We're in the final.

We've got something
in the bank for ourselves.

Now we're going to try
and win this league now.

I mean, the place went wild.

And I always remember that game.

I don't think a supporter left that
ground not thinking we could win.

We couldn't win
without a treble.

Not one person came
out of that ground.

It just lifted everyone.

I mean, I think if they'd have won,
they might have gone on with a double.

But we were in the footage, man.

Now when he scores a
goal and goes like this.

What's the footage?

He scores, he goes into it.

He scores, he goes in
the goal and goes like this.

And I'm thinking,
what am I doing?

I'm saying it.

Because I was running
waiting for you to square it.

And you run away celebrating.

You take your own top half.

And I go like that.

He talks off.

He totally talks off.

That would have got
me out of jail, Scorsese.

Right next to me.

Well,

cricket was my first love.

And it probably is
my first love now.

I used to miss an awful
lot of school through cricket.

And an awful lot of school
in the winter through football.

So, you know, my dad
was always one of those that

said, well, let's give
him the best opportunity.

So, they came to some
agreement that I could

either miss school for
cricket or for football.

And, you know, it was a
massive decision to make.

And in the end, it was
probably an easy decision.

Because two months before that, I'd
played at Wembley for England school boys.

And there was, I think there
was about 78,000 people there.

We'd played Italy at Wembley.

A couple of weeks after that,
I'd played cricket for England.

Made my debut for
cricket for England.

I was captain of the under-15s.

And we played
in Gloucestershire.

Literally, there was
probably 30 people there.

And what should have been probably one
of the best moments of my schoolboy career,

it was probably one
of the biggest letdowns.

And in a way, that was
probably the turning point.

Phil Neville was a
player we're all after.

I think at Arsenal and the club.

But we're clever enough to say,
right, if you take Gary, who was doing

very well also, and get the
two of them, there's a far better

attraction for the family to
keep the two brothers together.

I used to play two or
three years above myself.

I wasn't just in my own age group playing
at centre-back or full-back or in midfield.

So I was playing with
men when I was only a boy.

So I realised early
on that to get forward

in the game, I needed
many strings to my bow.

The England manager used to say to
me, you need to nail down one position.

You need to nail
down one position.

If you do that, you'll have a
bigger, better, longer career.

And I used to come away
thinking, that is the biggest

load of rubbish that
I've ever heard in my life.

I'm 19, I'm 20.

I'm a regular player.

I'm part of Man
Utd's first team squad.

And I think it was probably one of the
times when I probably did have to be

strong with myself, that what I was
doing and what I believed in was right.

I first saw him at the
cliff playing in a game.

And he was one of them
players that you just...

Wait a minute, is he
right-footed or left-footed?

And me being just, you know, my
right foot's for standing on, that's it.

I'm just so one-footed.

To see someone like that,
I'm always, like, interested.

Phil was always popular because he
was comfortable around anyone's company.

He was one of them people who were good in
the dressing room and good to have around

because he would just
make people feel at ease.

As a full-back, you
need to develop a trick.

And mine was a step over.

And I worked on it every day.

And I did it in a game
once at Old Trafford.

I did a step over, I got to the byline,
crossed it, and we nearly scored.

And as I was running
back, Butty, Becks, Keno,

you know, they were
laughing their heads off.

Just laughing their heads off.

And I could not understand for the
life of me why they were laughing.

I'd just done the best step
over that this club's ever seen.

And they're absolutely
wetting themselves laughing.

So the next time I get the ball,
I threw in a double step over.

And the crowd, you
know, they were cheering.

And I think they thought
I was taking the mickey.

But this is something that I was serious
about and I'd worked on for six months.

And I'd just produced it at Old
Trafford against Southampton.

So I turned around after
the double step over, and Roy

Keane looked at me and
just said, Stop effing about.

I wasn't too happy when I'm playing in
a game and I'm thinking, I'll sing him a

song, you know, for the
first few seconds, and then...

Phil, Phil, we'll tear you a...
Whoa, whoa, whoa, that's not right.

Phil!

No, it's my song.

It must have not been that good because
everyone used to slaughter me about it.

For Ferguson, it was important.

The academy, young
players, was very important.

Then we could see that
it was a great generation.

And we could hear
the coaches, everybody.

It was a great generation.

And then you have to have the...

It's important to have the manager
who gives them the chance to play.

I think if everyone looks at us,
they all think about, obviously us,

but the team in general, about how
we've won everything and done this.

But if you think about our baptism,
we lost the league on a Saturday.

West Ham.

And then six days
later, we lost the FA Cup.

So that was like a wake-up call.

Well, for me personally, I
don't want to do that again.

The first year that we
broke in properly was 95.

And we lost the
double in a week.

It was a disaster.

The last game, the end
of the season, West Ham.

Then you've got the game
against Everton in the FA Cup.

I remember the
Cup Final perfectly.

I was subbing there.

I think we were getting beat 1-0,
weren't we, for a lot of the game.

They scored early on.

I had a great chance to make it
1-1, and I never wanted to see it.

It was a bad summer, really.

I thought about that
loads of times, actually,

and it still makes
you feel a bit sick now.

I can't remember a lot of...

I don't want to sound blasé, but a lot of,
like, the games where we've won trophies,

you remember a lot
more from the defeats.

It's a lot more...

It has a bigger effect on you.

You lose a Cup Final, you
think about it all summer.

You're lying on the beach having a
good time, and then it'll just come back to

you, and it'll ruin your day or ruin your
afternoon, and I can't wait to get back.

I remember when I was on holiday, I
think I was in Cyprus, and you pick up a

paper and you see all these players
are gone, and you're thinking, wow,

what's going on here?

They must be going to go and buy
some proper big players to replace them.

Obviously, the manager was looking at
where we could improve, but I don't think

anyone could foresee
what he was going to do.

You know, Mark Hughes, Andrzej Konczalskis
and Paul Lynch, you know, three massive

players for United.

To be fair to the gaffer here,
he stood by us, didn't he?

He could have bought
any player he wanted.

He was under pressure around
that time, the gaffer, wasn't he?

There were three
players that went.

Massive fan player, you know.

The fans loved him, didn't they?

The fans loved him, didn't they?

Goals, I suppose,
came in for Sparky.

You came in for Ince, you
for Andre, me for Paul Parker.

So we were all replacing
brilliant players, weren't we?

You know what I mean?

If you look at my managerial career,
from the start at East Dilling right

through to Aberdeen,
to Aberdeen, then to

Manchester United, it
was all about young players.

I believed in a foundation in a football
club based on young people coming through,

so there was a stream of
players coming into the first team.

It's a great risk.

But he knew it.

And he was right.

And for me, of course, it was great
to play with a generation of players,

win things with them,
be in the middle of that.

And help the new
players and young players.

And then we go back to training
and they're still not bought in.

Before you know it, we
were playing Aston Villa the

first day of the year and
we were all on the team.

I was in the first half an
hour, so when we were

3-0 down, it was a
disaster, really, at Aston Villa.

It's going from bad to worse!

After the game, we were thinking,
we'd let the manager down, he's put his

faith in us, we're only young,
the fans are going to hate us,

everyone's going to hate us
because we're wrecking the club.

I think they've got pros.

I wouldn't say they've
got major problems.

Obviously, three
players have departed.

The trick is always
buy when you're strong.

So he needs to buy players.

You can't win
anything with kids.

You look at that line-up Manchester United
had today and Aston Villa quarter past two

when they get the team sheet,
it's just going to give them a lift.

And it'll happen every
time he plays the kids.

He's got to buy players.

In truth, that night, watching
the match at day, I felt

the same as what Al Anson
said, it wasn't good enough.

We wanted to believe in it.

And we tried
everything to win it.

But to be realistic with five new players
coming from the academy, 19 years old,

it's not realistic to
think that you can win.

I wasn't probably at that stage in my
career where I felt comfortable to sort

of, you know, don't worry
about it, it'll be all right.

I wasn't at that
because I didn't know

whether it was going
to be all right or not.

They have got star
names to come in.

They've got Cole and Giggs.

Cantona and you, of course.

And Bruce.

Still not enough.

The trick at winning the championship
is having strength and depth.

They just haven't got it.

But we tried.

So Arn and they
were so exceptional.

And Ferguson helped them
to learn things so quickly.

But we won it.

And we won the double.

We won the Premier
League and the Cup.

Eric, when he came back from his
suspension, he was phenomenal, really.

He really did carry the
team quite a lot of the time.

You don't win
anything with kids.

It's right.

You don't win
anything with kids.

We won because we were part
of a team that had Roy Keane in it.

And we had Bruce Pallister.

We had all these top experienced players
who got the young lads through it, really.

In the 90s, they started to put
young players with the old ones.

Players like Postkos, like
David Beckham, like Ryan Giggs.

All these players
had just arrived.

And with the old ones, they
formed an incredible team.

From there, we saw that
Manchester had become

incredible, especially
on the European stage.

We didn't realise how special it
was, to be honest, I think, at the time.

Because, you know,
we're all in the team.

There was not one piece of
jealousy between any of us.

And all we were worried about was
staying in the team and doing well.

When they come from...

One's from Gorton, one's from Oldham,
one's from London, two boys from Bury and

Ryan from Salford, you
never think, years ahead, how

they became such a friendly
unit, almost like brothers.

And they would
practise and practise.

They couldn't give
them enough of the ball.

Honestly, it was... It was a joy to
watch, because they wanted to do it.

They wanted to
be the best players.

It's a lot easier coming
through as a group as well.

Because, like, one day,
Bixy with a man, then it'd be

you, then it'd be you, then
it'd be you, then it'd be me.

And just share that ground.

It's a lot easier.

It's amazing how... I never
like to do it on my own.

There was no jealousy
between us, though, was it?

If I was knackered it at half at dinner
time and all I was wanting to do was put

my feet up, and I'd look on Wimbledon
and I'd see you and you practising on the

harbour thinking, I'd better get over
there because I don't wanna be left out...

You always got left out.

It's like kids in the garden, if you've
got two brothers playing football together

they're going to be better than a lad
who's living on his own because he's

constantly competing against
two people, but we had five, six

of us, we drove each other
on, I think that's what helped.

Like Phil said, there
was no jealousy.

That's for sure.

We've all failed at
some time, haven't we?

That's why it was so rewarding, I
think, when we won what we did.

It was more
rewarding between us.

When Phil really broke in was
the 96 season, 95-96 season.

I'd played 25 games the year before, I
was the England right-back at the time,

and I got left out for
the last three league

games and the cup
final against Liverpool.

It's a strange situation to be in because
we shared a room, I phone home and say I'm

playing, Gary then phones
home and says he's not playing.

It's a real difficult... and I felt for my
mum and dad really because they're in a

situation where they can't show
jubilation or upset to either of us.

I remember my sister taking the mickey
out of me, Phil's got it and you're not.

And... thinking that's hard that, you know,
to see your brother play in front of you.

And I think Gary probably deep down
knew he wasn't playing and he took it well.

There was not one bit of
anonymosity between us.

They're tough moments to have to get over,
but you're happy because he's playing and

you certainly don't ever want
him to fall over or make a mistake.

But you're also... there's
still that competitive

tension because we're
in similar positions.

And going into the game, I'll never
forget walking out of the tunnel and all I

remember thinking was,
one, I hope I play well.

One, two, I hope we win.

And three, I hope my
brother gets on the pitch.

And that was my thought
process going into the game.

This was something
that I wanted for us both.

And we scored and he came on
and that was a special moment.

That's right, I didn't
play in the 96 final.

In the final, I played Arsenal.

He came round to my
room in the morning, I could

hear him coughing
outside, you know, that...

He came in and said he wasn't
playing, you know, but you

could hear his cough outside
the door down the corridor.

He knew you were getting
dropped, I just didn't answer the door.

If he can't find you,
he can't drop you.

Oh, yeah.

Go missing.

He did used to wait for
him that low, didn't he?

Yeah, he used to wait.

About 11-ish.

I remember one time
coming up to me, I think

it was Thursday before
a game on a Saturday.

He said, I'm not playing
you on Saturday, son.

He said, I've got
a game for you.

Two weeks on Saturday.

It's just a game for you.

I was like...

So I'm not playing
for four games.

You make sure you prepare.

I'm not playing for that one.

I need you in that game.

And I was like, right,
you need me in that game.

I'm thinking, have I been
dropped for four games or have I

been told that I'm brilliant
and I need it for that game?

I couldn't work it out.

Do you have a kiddo
after you've been left out?

I thought you were playing.

Are you not playing?

I don't think...

Tomorrow.

Get in there.

I can't have a word with him.

I thought you
were... You're not...

LAUGHTER.

Hey, kiddo, no, no.

No, no, kiddo.

LAUGHTER.

I can't believe it.

He said I was...

How's your mum?

How's your mum?

LAUGHTER.

He's strong, isn't he?

He's a bit strong, yeah.

LAUGHTER.

How's your mum?

LAUGHTER.

There's one team talk that
stands out more than any other.

And a lot of his team talks, particularly
the strong ones, aren't about football.

They're about life in general.

And he told a story
about the geese.

And they'd be
flying in an arrow.

And he'd go, look, that's
what we need to get at.

Look, that's teamwork.

They've migrated
from North Africa.

You know, they leave the country
and they're going to fly in the Vs,

two lots of Vs, and the ones
at the back are not working.

They're carried by the
stream of the ones in front.

You know, one flies at
the front and when he

gets tired, he goes
to the back and they...

And he was trying to
emphasise the need for teamwork.

They don't fly off individually.

They fly off together.

These geese are flying 4,000 miles
to get to a better, warmer climate.

All I'm asking for you is to
play 38 games in a season.

There were some team talks
he'd give that made you shiver.

And that was one
that I'll never forget.

Later in the season, we might be going
through a bad time and we'd look up in the

sky and see the same birds
and they're all over the place.

They're in like a...

No-one's leading and...

You know, look at us there.

We're all over the place.

Look at us getting in our role.

Alex Ferguson, in my view, could have
been a great leader in any walk of life.

I mean, if he'd gone into business, he
would have been a great business leader.

If he'd gone into
politics, he would have

been a fantastic
political leader, actually.

But he chose sport and
he became a great sports

coach, probably the
greatest in the world.

He always fulfilled his promise to
make sure that his group of players,

his 18, his 20, got what they actually
were promised at the start of the season.

They all felt like they
were contributing.

And he always
made you feel special.

No matter how small your contribution,
you may feel it was, he always made you

feel special, that your
contribution was big.

His management of
people was brilliant like that.

What I tried to get through to them
was that they were working class.

They're not working class.

Nowhere near working class, because they
come from far more privileged backgrounds

than I did, and their grandparents
or their fathers came from.

But it's worth reminding them
that work ethic is so important.

It doesn't matter how good a player
you are, if you're not prepared to work,

and have a desire to
work, then it means nothing.

So all my team talks
were based on that.

I would bring out stories, some
imaginative stories, and some actually

true stories, but always working
on the principle of work ethic.

I've heard them stories, you know, a
million times, and sometimes you joke,

you don't even listen,
you've heard them all before.

But what I'd do is I'd look round and
I'd look at, say, Nanny or Anderson,

and the manager's trying to describe
growing up in a Glasgow shipyard in a

broad Scottish accent, and you see Nanny
and Anderson and all the foreign players

who could hardly speak English,
going, what is he going on about?

I don't understand their work.

But they're just, you know, they're trying
to look interested, and I just used to

sometimes just look
round the dressing room

and go, I haven't got a
clue what he's saying.

What's the best excuse to
give you for leaving you out?

To what?

To what?

To what?

To what?

Sharpie always
does well at Villa Park.

He always does well, so
I'm not going to play you.

He said he was leaving me out at Chelsea
once because they had some Combat 18

fanatics in the crowd and he
thought I was a bit too young for it.

The best thing he gave me was, you
know, it's a nice ground and you come

into your own on a heavy pitch,
so in November you'll be my player.

So I only play you one
month a year, mate.

One month a season.

One month a season.

The thing about Nicky is, regardless of
his age, he always had that schoolboy,

9, 10, 11-year-old look on
his face of up to no good.

Stralix used to say,
but you're up to no good.

All the time.

Silly little child, this thing.

I did one once with a
teapot and Peter Schmeichel,

you know, big
six-foot-eight-man giant.

You come in the dressing room and
there's a tray of sandwiches and a big hot,

you know, the big hot, you know,
hot silver pots with tea and hot coffee.

And, obviously, we're just sat in
the dressing room freezing cold day.

Peter Schmeichel's, obviously,
he walks up to get a sandwich,

a cup of tea, absolutely,
absolutely bollocko.

And I put a kettle, a steaming hot kettle
on the bed and I put it behind his arse

like that, just sort of, I was like
that, looking at it, I was laughing,

thinking, he's just going
to just touch it there.

I looked round like that, he turned round,
full pirouette, and caught his manhood

right on the pot.

And you heard a little tsss, like that as
well, and we're just looking in absolute

disbelief and can't
believe what he's done.

And all I hear is,
what are you doing?

He screamed as loud as he could.

I don't know, he was just going to kill
me, so I was literally dropped the kettle

and just legging it right all round
the cliff and he's chasing me.

Ended up having a big
blister on the end of it.

I don't know what
he was thinking.

It was just a naughty school kid in
him, right, I've got a pot here, he's like,

I don't think I'll have to do that,
it's nothing else, right, I'll do it.

And I don't... I just... I
think he just lost himself.

It's one of the funniest
things I've ever seen.

Brilliant.

Manchester was
absolutely brilliant.

We were young lads
playing for United.

What couldn't we be happy about?

We were doing everything
that you wanted to do

with the badge that you
wanted to wear, winning.

At the time, there
was a lot of optimism.

You know, six lads from
the youth team have gone

through and are regulars
now in the United team.

It was becoming a
young person's world.

You know, music was changing, politics
was changing, football was changing.

You had a young band from
Burnage, Oasis, just ruling the world.

And it gave a lot of optimism.

You could feel it
within the country.

Life in England was
just going along nicely.

And then all of a sudden,
there was this... this razzmatazz.

It was this surge, this tidal wave
of culture that suddenly dominated,

suddenly looked sparkled
in front of the world.

I got a Union Jack guitar
and I sent it to him to sign.

And I really should have
known better, to be fair.

He sent it back with, to Gary, how
many England caps do you deserve?

I'll tell you, none.

Lots of love, Noel Gallagher,
and put MCFC all over it.

There was that
feeling, in that few years

preceding that, the public
spirit had disappeared.

This long period of
individuality, of selfishness,

you know, there's no
such thing as society.

That led, inexorably, to us wanting
to re-establish a sense of idealism.

17 years of hurt never stopped us
dreaming Labour's coming home.

I was constantly aware of the
fact that I was young, very young.

And I remember the very first day I came
into Downing Street, going down to meet

the head of the civil service, who
was a much more senior figure from the

British establishment, and he looked
at me and said, well done, what now?

You don't realise until you look back
how important a time that was and how

fortunate you were to be
around the place in them days.

What those young players felt was possible
for them as players, there was a curious

kind of echo in culture,
in art, and in politics.

I mean, when I look back now and think of
the changes we made to the House of Lords

getting rid of their hereditary peers,
Scottish devolution giving Scotland its

first parliament and then peace in
Northern Ireland, sometimes I think we...

What was great about the spirit of that
time was that what on rational analysis

was impossible became imbued by a spirit
of possibility and was actually done.

There was a kind of hope, got back into
everything, you know, and it was a great

time of change and
it's party time, you know.

It was good times.

The Stretford end gets
knocked down and all of a sudden

you've got this massive big
new stadium at Old Trafford.

You've got stadiums going out
around the world, bigger and better.

Everything was getting
bigger and better.

The game became completely
different, the way in which it was viewed,

the way in which it was
televised, the money

that came into the
game, the wages going up.

English soccer became a
major part of our identity.

You know, suddenly it went
from something that was politically

kind of irrelevant to something
that was politically important.

We were part, probably,
of a revolution in a way.

I suppose if you had to
pick a footballer to epitomise

that more than any, it
would be David Beckham.

I grew up in East London,
born in Leytonstone.

I lived in Leytonstone, right near the
dog track, for about ten years and then we

moved to Chingford, a
posh part of East London.

We stayed there
up until I left, for

Manchester, which was
when I was 15 years old.

You know, my dad was
a huge Man United fan.

All he talked about was United.

His favourite player
was Bobby Charlton.

My middle name is Robert Joseph.

Robert because of Bobby Charlton
and Joseph because of my granddad.

My granddad was a Tottenham fan.

He'd been a season
ticket holder for 50 years.

So, at Christmas, my dad always used
to buy me a Man United kit, the new Man

United kit, and my granddad always used to
say, he used to buy me the Tottenham kit.

What was it like
when you signed that?

How did you feel when you... Well, it was
brilliant, straight from when we left here.

When we got there,
it was just brilliant.

Signing the paper and that...

I just couldn't believe
it was happening.

Bex turned up to United.

He looked like a
Man United mascot.

He had all the tracksuits,
scarves, caps, Bobby Charlton

badges, but he was just
a fanatic Man United fan.

It was a weird experience for us local
lads to see, you know, Cockney lad,

knowing more about
United than we did.

Bit embarrassing.

So, Alex Ferguson would just
call my mum and dad's house.

And my mum would answer, and it'd
be this strong Scottish accent, saying,

you know, Mrs Beckham,
it's Alex Ferguson.

And my mum would be like...

And to my dad, you know,
my dad would be like, no way.

So, my dad would come
on the phone and he'd just

have a chat, say, you
know, how's David doing?

How did he do last week?

And most of the time, my dad would say,
he did all right, but he can do better,

because that's what my dad did.

When he was 11, every game in London,
Dave would be at the bus as we arrived,

him and his parents.

In fact, we got him as
a mascot for the game

at West Ham one day,
and he was over the moon.

So, it was sealed, he
was never going anywhere.

And Brucey and Robbo
would just take the mick

out of him, flipping out,
he must be some player.

What's he doing in Man
United's dressing room?

I'd go in the changing room, and I'd
help Norman pick up the dirty pants,

the dirty socks, the
dirty shorts from the...

I was loving it.

You know, it was Man United, Man
United players, just kind of dropping their

underwear on the floor, and I
was grabbing it, putting it in the box.

I liked him a lot, because he behaved
in the same way as everyone else.

I mean, with the president, and with the
people who took care of the equipment,

he tried to treat
people in the same way.

He was very attentive, and he
was very attentive to everyone.

And that, in fact, is the values
that we certainly learnt from him.

And won't you miss home?

I probably will miss it a little bit, but
I'll be doing what I want to do, so...

What I've always admired about
David is his mental toughness.

It's phenomenal.

I mean, you can say...

People can say whatever they want
about him, you don't know him, but mental

toughness is as tough as
anybody you'll ever, ever, ever meet.

The early years were...

were tough.

I must admit.

Being an East London boy moving up
to Manchester, Eric Harrison was so strict

and so scary.

And my dad was strict.

You know, if I didn't do something right,
if I couldn't do something, and I was lazy

one day, my dad would
be on me like a ton of bricks.

And then I had Eric Harrison.

He'd turn around to me
a few times in a game and

turn around and said,
seriously, stop doing...

He didn't say seriously.

He said something else.

But he said, stop doing
those Hollywood balls.

I remember in the youth team, we used to
have Eric Harrison banging on the door at

him, calling him all names, and they
would go off being stupid Hollywood passes.

And he kept doing it, and he'd bang it and
he'd get hammered at it, and he kept doing

it and doing it and
doing it, and he ended up

being one of the best
long passes in the game.

You'd make a run and he
would put it on a sixpence for you.

Just, you wouldn't
have to break stride.

I mean, his 10-yard passing to his 60-yard
passing was just something I've never,

I've never ever seen
before, never seen since.

So I knew that I could...

90% of the time
reach the target.

But when I didn't, I knew that I
was going to get shouted at by Eric.

We all got given
car deals with Honda.

So we all had these
Honda Preludes.

I'd waited for so many months
for that car, so many years.

You know, all the players
had had their car before me.

And I was literally, I think
you had to play 21 games.

And I was like on 18 or 19.

For like six or eight months, which
was killing me because I was so close.

I went down to Honda, ordered my
car, you know, came out with my Prelude.

I was so happy with it.

Beck's had a black one.

He paid extra for leather seats.

He used my Evercut bonus.

I used every, every
penny that I had.

He paid extra for
these Special Alloys.

And the dealer, he said
to me, he said, you know

that you have to give
this car back after a year.

And I was saying, yeah,
yeah, yeah, it'll be fine.

We just used each other's cars.

Every day we would use Beck's,
because he had these leather seats.

And he would go mad.

Because we got
our football boots on.

So we're dirtying his
car, and he used, let's,

let's, don't scuff the
leather, whatever you do.

I can't actually remember saying it, but
it sounds like something that I would say.

As soon as he said that,
every day, we would just

stand outside his car,
are you ready, Beck's?

We're ready to go over.

And he would have to drive over,
and we would just ruin his seat.

We'd just ruin, you know, put...

our studs over the seats.

I got nicked in the end, the car,
but it looked great while I had it.

The goal he scored
against Wimbledon, he

practised that in
training every single day.

Every single day he'd do that.

Just booting balls
from the half-way line.

I call it booting, he was striking them
from the half-way line towards the goal.

Striking a ball was incredible.

I was injured that game.

One of my mates says, Beck's
has just scored from the half-way line.

So I'm thinking,
slight exaggeration.

Probably scored, like, maybe on the
angle from 40 yards or something like that.

I remember Eric Cantona just shaking his
head and I'm thinking, that's Eric Cantona.

And he obviously thinks
the goal was pretty good.

The manager turned round to
me and said, lucky that went in.

I think I would
have been pulled off.

Even if he hadn't
scored his goal...

it was a good idea.

That was when it really all went like
that and the publicity went like that.

It must have been zoomed
all around the world, that goal.

The last person to do it
would have been Pele, I think.

He didn't score it.

And do you know something?

He wanted to be a star.

He wanted to have leather
in his car when we had cloth.

He wanted to have the best
speakers in his boot for the best music.

He wanted to propel
himself beyond football.

Fashion was important to him.

Music was important to him.

Doing things more than just becoming
a football player were important to him.

I mean, Becks was
obviously a huge star and just

got bigger and bigger
and bigger and bigger.

But in regards to in the
dressing room, not a lot changed.

Becks was Becks.

He had a lot going on.

You know, a lot of attention.

He'd scored a goal
against Wimbledon.

He's now going
out with Victoria.

They were a massive story.

So everything that they did,
there was pressure on him.

You know, what he's achieved is
incredible in terms of his global appeal.

I mean, it's phenomenal to
think that's a football player.

Who can kick a football well.

So I went to visit this obscure little
Japanese school in the middle of nowhere.

And I went in and was
introduced to the school assembly.

And I could see the faintest
idea, frankly, who I was.

I'm not really sure they could have
pointed to where Britain was on the map.

And so finally, in desperation, I
uttered the words David Beckham.

And then there was
immediate ripple of recognition.

And then you were away.

The point of connection
was established.

Becks had always been
comfortable with that, right from

the start, really, where I
wasn't as comfortable with it.

And I felt that it was
affecting my football.

Becks did it in a way that
it didn't affect his football.

And luckily for me, sort
of, they left me alone.

And then Becks sort of
took it on to a next level.

I thought, how could
he cope with this?

And he always did.

He always did.

And you were always worried, as a friend,
that when would this have an impact?

We played really well.

We were playing great.

And then I remember being
absolutely hit from behind.

I've reacted...

..just kind of
swung my leg up...

..in a stupid way.

As soon as I'd done
that, I knew that I was off.

I knew that I'd made
a huge mistake.

Oh, it's red!

Oh, no!

At the time, I didn't realise
what would come after that.

I never thought that I would have
to go through what I went through.

And I remember being
sat in the changing room.

No-one was obviously in there.

All the players came in and I
realised that we were knocked out.

None of the players
said a word to me.

The only people that spoke to me was
Gary, Scolzi, you know, the United players.

And then Tony Adams came up
to me and put his arm round me.

He said, ''Do you
know what, son?

''Everyone makes mistakes.

''Forget it.'' I remember walking out
and seeing my mum and dad stood there.

And I was 21, I
think, at the time.

21, 22.

And I remember literally
falling into my dad's arms.

And I haven't sobbed
like that for...for years.

But, I don't know, my
emotions just got the best of me.

I immediately phoned
him the next day.

''Cos are you depressed?'' ''I
mean, this press are ridiculous.

'' The boss called me and
he said, ''Don't worry, son.

''It's over.

''You'll come back.

You're a Manchester
United player.

''We'll look after you.

''Everyone's supporting you.

''Don't even worry
about anything.

''Go away, have a
few weeks of holiday.

''Get some rest.

''But when you come back to Manchester
United, ''you know you've got the support

of everyone.'' David was the first England
player to receive that level of abuse for

a mistake that someone
had made on a football field.

It was sickening.

It was vile.

It was bordering on criminality.

It was criminal, some of the
things that he had to put up with.

I had quite a few death threats.

I'd had bullets through
the post, delivered.

No address on them, just hand
delivered through my letterbox.

It happened to my brother
in 2000, two years later.

My brother gives away the
penalty against Romania.

I got absolutely abused.

Abused publicly.

Abused in the media.

And I found it really difficult.

My wife came home
from work one day.

The gates were on fire with
an England flag on the gates.

You take your wife out for a romantic meal
and you go to the toilet before the meal

and you get threatened
to have your lights punched

out and then you go out
and you take your wife home.

I had journalists turning round to
my grandad, turning round and saying,

''Do you realise what your grandson has
done?'' You know, for me to have heard

that, that made me feel
worse than anything else.

To be honest with you, what I suffered
was 10% of what he went through.

It affected me so much,
it knocked my confidence.

I needed to get some kind of
happiness for football back in my life.

So I started to pray
before matches.

I prayed that I'd make my wife, my
children, my mum, my dad, my sister,

my brother proud of what they
were seeing from me out on the pitch.

And that's all I did.

I said the same prayer every
week for the rest of my career.

And he had the same attitude with
Beckham when he was sent off with England,

with me when I was
sent off in Crystal Palace.

And the club had
the same attitude.

I played for France this time.

Manchester United asked
me to sign a contract.

And I was banned
for nine months.

And France had a
completely opposite attitude.

You have to build
a circle of wagons.

When someone's getting
it, everyone protects them.

That's a family.

That's what you call a family.

You do the same for your
sons, your daughters, whatever.

That's exactly what we
did at Manchester United.

When things happen outside the
club, it's like everything just closes.

You know, nothing
gets in, nothing gets out.

The manager protects you.

When did you allow Mr Beckham to talk
about the incident during the World Cup?

Well, he doesn't need
to talk about anything.

The Manchester United player.

He can talk about
Manchester United.

In French we say
merveilleux malheur.

Sometimes it happens,
something bad to you, but you use it.

And the way you will
take, it will be even better

than the way you would
have taken if it didn't happen.

Ah, the net gets out.

Sad day.

Sad day.

Is that the UK?

Sad day.

First time not being
in here for how long?

20 years.

Giggs is still there, though.

Actually, he almost took me.

That's where I used to sit.

Are you sat in your seats?

Yeah.

They're sat in their seats.

They've done me over.

You're sitting in the
keeper, aren't you, guys?

Yeah.

What's going to happen over the next two
weeks, if we're successful, could be the

most momentous ten
days in the club's history.

Maybe in any English team's history as
well, you know, because the Champions

League, the FA Cup, the
Championship, it's there for us.

Yeah, with the Tottenham game, it
was the first game of three cup finals.

That's always ten days, three
games, you win them, history.

It sounds simple, but
that's what it was, really.

The fact that we had to
beat Tottenham kind of meant

more to me than probably
most of the other lads.

The league title there, start
of a three is within reach.

Manchester United have put
themselves within touching distance.

Can Tottenham Hotspur, of all
people, open the door for Arsenal?

Up to our time, I could have
scored three, four, five goals.

I had that many
chances and nil blew it.

Of course, United be United,
they have to do it the hard way.

Go one nil down.

You know, that's
not in the script.

You know, what's going on?

I had a great chance
with my head to skydive.

And all of a sudden, you kind of
think, it's not going to be our day.

We're going to blow it on
the last game of the season.

And then you just
look for heroes.

Tottenham seem to
bring out the best in Becks.

He used to always
score great goals.

Whatever stadium you are in the world,
when the ball comes to him, you know

because he's practised so
hard throughout his career,

he's going to produce that
same technique, same quality.

Giggs to Scholes.

Scholes to Beckham.

It was a great goal.

Great technique.

Everything what
David was about, really.

Becks don't get the credit for
some of the goals he scored.

He got robbed in the FA Cup
semi-final because I scored the goal.

If everyone forgets about his goals,
25 yards, ending it, past David Seaman.

The Tottenham goal is just...

Only Becks can score it.

It's like a whip ping.

It's just a ridiculous goal.

Then you scored.

Yeah.

Just before half-time and
then it sort of lifted everything.

I had missed a load of chances.

Yeah, we had so many chances.

I had about four
or five chances.

Did you?

Great chances, yeah.

I got a bit of a roast in that
half-time, I remember, for that game.

How many chances do
you want to score, yeah?

Nothing was going right for us.

Scholes obviously
had a few chances.

It had never happened before that
we'd actually won it here at Old Trafford.

Did you set the goal up, guys?

Yeah.

A left-foot hoik.

Nice.

It's a wonderful hoik.

It's a culture.

What's that?

Passing to his path, I thought.

A left-foot hoik down the channel
to Coley that he scored from.

Yeah, it was a big,
long goal, wasn't it?

Fluke.

Scholes and
Beckham, not that pass.

Honestly, they've been
talked about forevermore.

You gave him a big
divot, though, after that.

Yeah.

A big 9-9.

And the fact I hadn't
looked before I played it.

It was a wonderful pass.

It was platini.

It was just a hoof
down the channel.

And Coley just dinked it over.

And then it was 2-1.

You're thinking,
right, we're at it.

But then we were hanging on towards
the end because we still needed to win.

And I remember being in the
centre circle when the whistle went.

I fell to my knees and kind
of held my hands in the air.

I turned around and
Buddy literally comes along,

grabs me by the shirt, lifts
me up and we celebrate.

Those are special moments that I know my
grandad would have been kind of swearing

at me, but then also kind of really happy
the fact that I was going to win a league.

And I think he'd have been even more
happier just because it had even meant us

winning the league or
Arsenal winning the league.

And as a Tottenham fan, he was happy
that Man United was winning the league.

I mean, with Beck
scoring that goal, it was the

full turnaround really
from the start of the season.

All the World Cup carry on, the backlash
from that, having a brilliant season and

finishing it with such an
important goal in a league decider.

And, you know, one
ticked off the list, two to go.

I grew up in a place
called Langley in Middleton,

it's just a council estate
really, a rough area.

I didn't think it was a rough area,
people from outside probably do,

but it wasn't the
nicest of places I don't

suppose, but it's where I
grew up and I enjoyed it.

We had like a square at
the end of our street and a big

fence and I was just beating
the ball against that all day.

And then the neighbours tried to
ban me, tried to stop me playing.

And I think there was always
arguments with my dad and

the next door neighbour
about stopping me from playing.

Then you get the no
ball game sign, don't you?

You're not allowed
to play anymore.

You have to go off, try and
play football wherever you can.

It's hard to explain
Scholes because there's

probably three or four
different sides to him.

As a character, he was
always quiet, but, you

know, with this dry sense
of humour and one-liners.

Finished training.

Straight off home.

You know, we would joke,
where's Scholes gone?

Didn't even see him leave.

Goes back in his bat cave, in his room,
his packet of wine gums, his minstrels,

his M&M's, whatever
he has, watches his telly.

And the next time you see him is if you
go round to his room and you go in his room

and it was funny because whatever time
of day you'd go into Paul Scholes' room,

it'd be pitch black.

The curtains would be
closed, he'd be in bed with

his shorts on, pitch
black with the telly on.

I also liked the player
and the person he was.

He was someone who didn't
make a lot of noise off the pitch.

He was very good on the pitch, but
we didn't see him much off the pitch.

But I suppose for me,
Scholes, I love that.

It's just very romantic, that idea of a
guy who doesn't really care about all this.

Not so much.

Not really bothered
about all that, really.

Just wants to play the game,
get on with it and live a normal life.

I think a lot of us
relate to that, you know.

People ask me to do interviews
and I don't have to do them.

To me, it's just not necessary.

All I wanted to do was
play football and I never

realised that all that
side came with it, really.

He hasn't changed as a person,
he hasn't changed as a player.

He's just one of these naturally gifted
players that just gets on with the job.

But he's so talented.

He was a frightening
football player.

Frightening football player in terms of his
awareness, intelligence, speed of thought.

It was evident how good he was.

His vision was second to none.

He knew before anybody what
he was going to do with the ball.

If you had Paul Scholes on your
side in training, you were winning.

You know, his tackles
are really, really bad.

Never gets the ball.

When I foul someone,
it's normally because

I was probably just
trying to get them back.

If they did something to me.

He's a good tackler,
he just likes fouling.

He just likes
leaving a bit on him.

He's a good tackler, Scorsese,
but he gets away with it because he...

Obviously, he's made this
thing that he can't tackle.

But if he wanted to
tackle, he could tackle.

But he likes waiting back a couple of
yards to show people what he's about.

He was playing for Boundary
when he was 13, 14, 15.

He was only small.

And I think he must have had
that deep down in his head that...

Just because I'm small, you're not going
to let you kick me up and boss me about.

I'll leave one or two on you just to
show you that I can compete with it.

And he's never really lost that
and he's kept that going all his life.

There is nothing more beautiful
than seeing him arrive in that hole.

Everybody's fascinated.

There's nothing about
in the penalty area.

There's a big hole outside the
penalty area, outside the penalty box.

And there he is arriving.

All back for Scholes.

That's one of the kind of
great moments in life, I think.

Seeing Paul Scholes
arise for a screamer.

The best way I found it was trying to keep
things as simple as it possibly could be.

I think the minute you start trying to
do things you can't, you're not good at.

So if I wouldn't
start trying dribbling,

trying to beat people,
it'd be a waste of time.

I mean, if you know Scholes,
you just don't turn your back on him.

You know, you go out and train and we'd
be on a field and if you needed a piss or

something, you'd go over in the
bushes, but you'd never turn your back.

I mean, you learn that as a young
player, you'd never turn your back.

So you'd be, you
know, you'd be...

I was trying to hit someone
on the back of the head.

Not intensely, well,
a little bit intensely.

Just aim for him if they
weren't quite watching.

You'd go over and Scholes
would just be peppering balls at him.

And now and again, he'd obviously
hit you, more often than not, actually.

So if you were new or if you were
a foreign player and you didn't know

Scholes, you soon got to know,
if you're going to have a piss,

then don't turn your back.

One day I did catch Phil
Neville with a beauty, actually.

He was about 60 yards away,
right on the other side of the pitch.

And I think he was doing a bit
of extra running after training.

A few lads were sat
down up and I've smacked

a ball and it's just
hitting full on the head.

And he's gone down
eating grass and everything.

And it was on the
floor pissing ourselves.

And he didn't have a
clue which one of us it was.

It was one of them
perfect moments.

But like I say, I just saw that as
a bit of passing practice, really.

The FA Cup final, to me, and probably
to you as well, growing up as a kid,

it's something
you look forward to.

The Twin Towers at Wembley,
just a full day, I think, getting

up from nine o'clock in the
morning, whoever's playing in it.

It was just the biggest day
of the football year for me.

It was the biggest thing in my
eyes as a kid, was the FA Cup final.

And to even think about being able to
be involved in one or a couple of them was

just something you'd laugh
about as a kid, wouldn't you?

If you told your teacher
you were going to do

that, he'd probably piss
himself laughing at you.

Growing up, like I say, the
FA Cup, just, it was huge.

The game, the build-up.

And also what we got to do.

What we got to experience
was FA Cup songs as well.

Here we go, here we go When you're singing
with one united voice You're letting us

know we have no choice but to carry
on Our winning ways seem to be our...

You've probably got footage of
the songs as well, haven't you?

They're just embarrassing,
it's shocking, aren't they?

It's just something that's so
much out of my comfort zone.

It's untrue.

I just...

You know, I remember some rapper or
something, I can't even remember his name,

coming to the dressing room and we're all
up dancing, trying to dance on the side,

on the benches
where you get changed.

It's just so embarrassing.

Three, four, two, three, four, two,
three, four And we did the video in

the dressing room and we're all sort
of, you know, it's sort of a hip-hop feel.

And I don't think Scorsese enjoyed
that with a baseball cap on the side.

He wasn't giving it all
that in the dressing room.

But it was, yeah, it
was cringe-worthy.

It was stupid, the camera
panning on us and we're

all in that training kit,
dancing around like idiots.

And there was another one.

But they were a big
part of the FA Cup final.

Was it the John Barnes
one with Liverpool?

It was good, wasn't it?

It was good to watch.

But to be involved
in that, it was horrible.

The FA Cup final is the time-honoured
finale to the domestic season.

But if Manchester United can complete
the English double here tonight, a European

treble, a unique treble
falls within their compass.

So the FA Cup final comes on the
Saturday and we just want peace.

We're playing against Newcastle
and you just want a comfortable game.

You never get that
in an FA Cup final.

It's always nervy,
it's always tense.

But we got a comfortable game.

We played really
well in the first half.

We lost Keeney after about
20 minutes, which was a blow.

And then Teddy came on.

Even in adversity, things that went
wrong for us ended up being a problem.

We were positive because
the lad that came on scored.

Scholes.

That's perfect for Shearingham!

The substitute scores instantly!

And Paul Scholes, who
won't have any part to play

in Barcelona, sadly,
played a big part in that goal.

And Scholes, he manages
to do what he normally

does, scores big
goals on big occasions.

Just to play one, but
to score in the FA Cup

final, to me, it's the
best thing I've done.

Scholes, H2!

I think, again, like Scholes, it sort
of goes under the radar, that goal.

Part of me thinks he
was happy that he was

sandwiched in between
two of the biggest games.

He scored the winning goal.

Not only did he score the winning goal
in the Cup final, your face is on the front

page of the newspapers and you showed
all summer, and you just got lost in the

euphoria of the previous seven
days and the next three days.

And it sums up Scholes' character
in a way, because he wasn't bothered.

This was a lad that was just scored
the winning goal, FA Cup final, go home,

play with his kids, have
a beer, end of story.

One thing that the times did represent and
in a way those individuals represented was

an understanding that although we lived in
more individualistic times, yet there was

still a unique capacity to be
greater together than you were alone.

I think in our eyes,
we were just...

playing a game of
football with our mates.

I know it sounds a bit...

It sounds a bit stupid.

You think, God, you're playing for Man
United, but we were lucky enough to play

well together and at the same time, we're
playing for the biggest club in the world.

We bounced off each other.

We were all pals.

We all went out,
socialised together.

We'd even go out with
our girlfriends in groups.

It was just six young
lads who were enjoying

life like you couldn't
believe, really.

It was just like a dream.

No matter where we were from, no matter
how we were brought up, no matter what

we'd been through
throughout B Team, A Team,

Reserve Team years, we
all had each other's back.

When you're talking about brothers,
me and my brother, it wasn't just that.

Everyone was like a brother.

No matter whether you'd grown through the
ranks or whether it was a team-mate that'd

been bought in, you
really looked after one.

If someone got hurt, we always tried
to make sure we got the person back.

And it was usually
Nicky that did.

THEY SING Growing up in
Gorton was just a joy, really.

It was all with all my mates.

It was a real
working-class place.

Everyone looked
after each other.

No matter where you went,
the doors were always open.

But it's from Gorton, and I think it's
where they film Shameless, so it gives you

a bit of an idea of the
area, but obviously,

but he's proud of
where he comes from.

I think one of his first
cars was an Orion.

I remember getting it once, and I looked
down, and there's a chain about that thick.

Boy, what is that?

He went, no, no.

Where I live, you've
got to have one of these.

And he used to wrap it round the gear
stick, wrap it round the steering wheel,

and it was the thickest chain.

I'm surprised the
car could even move.

It was like an anchor, and it
was just purely for security.

He was a tough lad.

He was streetwise, and if there was ever
any trouble, then you knew you could just

look to your right or left, and
Nicky would be there to sort it out.

I think he looked after Gary
a few times as well, actually.

Down tunnels.

It's always nice to have, you know,
a couple of lads alongside you, innit?

He wasn't the biggest Butty, but he had
good technique of how to get into people,

you know what I mean?

You know, people
know how to hit people.

But he's Butty.

I mean, he's a
fantastic soldier.

He's a typical cotton scallywag.

I always thought Butty would be the first
to make the first team when he came to us.

I always thought that.

He was more
mature than the rest.

I think he'd lived a life
before he came to us.

Nicky, at youth level, was
the best player in the team.

He had an unbelievable
temperament.

He could play on any stage,
any level, and not be phased.

We started thinking this was going to
be magical, probably after the FA Cup,

cos all the hype was about the
treble, but we never really mentioned it.

Everyone must have thought about it
deep down, but never come out vocally.

We had a big problem
because Keeney and Scholes,

they were banned for
the final European Cup.

Scholes tackled.

Well, he won the ball.

But the... Oh, it's a yellow card, and
he'll miss the final if United get there.

I knew from that point I
wasn't going to be available

for the Champions League
final, and that was that.

Nothing could do about it.

Do you know what I mean?

Obviously, he disappointed the team,
a little bit disappointed in his dressing

room, but the most important
thing was that we'd got there.

I think the biggest disappointment was
Ryan missing it, cos he's been so good in

that semi-final that he
was going to be the man.

It was a major problem in the
final for us, really, not having Ryan.

We needed someone...

We needed someone that
was willing to take the fight to

Bayern Munich, and in Nicky
Butt, we had the perfect person.

He's fearless.

You know, you go to war,
you take Nicky Butt with you.

You know, the manager told
him, forget the FA Cup final.

Forget it.

You're playing in the
Champions League final.

You know, I can't risk it.

I was distraught, I was
thinking... I was devastated.

I was thinking, well, I was just saying
to the manager, where's the FA Cup?

But I knew, ultimately,
the end, the reward at

the end was massive
for myself and the club.

He's the, you know, the only real
proper centre midfielder in the team,

so there was a bit of pressure on him as
well, and it was against a very good team.

They're showing
the character now.

The team spirit has been fantastic
since beating Liverpool in the Cup tie.

It's sort of a focus on
the essential of never

giving in and team
spirit and determination.

I was completely on my arse,
and they had to sell me Lambretta.

The most prized possession
is my Lambretta scooter.

And I sold it on the Monday, the game was
on the Wednesday, and then booked us on a

week's holiday to Salou,
and then give 400 quid

each for a ticket outside
the ground, and we're in.

It was any means
necessary, you know.

The new camp is one
of the iconic venues.

It wasn't plush.

It was pretty old, really.

You go down the tunnel,
it was bare concrete walls.

On the right-hand
side, there's a little room.

It's like a little chapel
where you go in and pray.

Before you go in out to get killed,
you've got to go and say a prayer first

type thing, and then you
come to the bottom of the tunnel.

At the new camp, the steps
go up, and as you're coming

up the steps, all you can
see is the stadium above you.

Manchester United were the first
English club to lift the European Cup,

but no Manchester United team, no
English team has ever won this treble.

History beckons tonight.

The amount of Man United fans out
there was phenomenal compared to Munich.

It took out three-quarters
of the ground.

You knew you were in a massive game then,
and then you just look for your family,

give them a little wave, and
then it's just game on then.

This is it for us.

This is the moment where
we've become Manchester

United, or we just win
the league and the FA Cup.

The game didn't go great,
obviously, with the start.

And they were such a powerful team,
such an experienced team, that you thought

back in your mind, is it one too
many to come back in this game?

We've done it so much.

Have we run out of luck?

Have we run out of
something at the crucial point?

And Manchester United, as they've done
time and time again on this European run,

have made it hard for them.

They've done so
much for themselves.

At half-time, I remember the managers
sitting down with us and I could tell,

you know, there was a few nerves
throughout the team and players.

He told us, just think how you would
feel if you had to walk past that Champions

League trophy and you couldn't
touch it, you couldn't pick it up.

You know, you hadn't won it.

So, you know, if you're feeling tired or
if you feel like you can't run any more,

just think of that.

Just think of having to
walk past it and you can't

pick it up, you can't
touch it, you can't kiss it.

The only doubts that I ever had were
probably in the last half an hour of the

Champions League final because, by
and mean, it was still getting chances.

They were hitting the
bar, they were hitting

the post and we
weren't playing well.

Things weren't happening for us.

We weren't getting
our crosses in.

I wasn't overlapping.

Giggs wasn't
getting his dribbles in.

We didn't have the combinations
between York and Cole.

They were things
that we'd done all year.

There was no
momentum in the game.

And all of a sudden,
with about 15 minutes

to go, Becks came out
to the right-hand side.

We made a couple of changes.

Teddy came on, Oli came on and
all of a sudden I thought, here we go.

It was disaster for the
club, Roy Keane, missing it.

Disaster for Roy Keane.

But maybe that was God's way of
saying, this is Nicky Butt's moment.

If people ever sort of doubted how
good a player Buttie was, then that shows

everything about the player,
because he was just a rock that night.

It was immense.

I was there.

What a guy.

Gorton, there you go.

He's from Manchester.

He knows what it meant.

You know what I mean?

But if it goes back to
fundamentally what it was

about, it was keep driving
forward, keep attacking.

We got corner after corner after corner,
and with people like Becks on the pitch,

just put balls in like that, and the
attacking power we had, and the aerial

power we had, it's shown
to be a matter of time.

Manchester United teams under Sir
Alex Ferguson always went to the end.

Always.

Because we always felt, get
one goal, we'll always get another.

We'll always get a chance.

Three minutes to go.

Don't panic.

We always get a chance.

Three added minutes.

David Beckham.

Now Gary...

Cross deflected.

Effenberg behind for a corner.

Can Manchester United score?

They always score.

I remember sprinting
over to the corner.

I had a good feeling,
because I knew that I'd

been kind of playing
pretty well in the game.

And I remember putting the ball down,
and it was really tight in the corners.

I could hear the United fans, but I was
just concentrating more on watching Peter

Schmeichel run up from his goal,
and knowing that, as a kid, if I put a bad

cross in while we're
warming the goalkeepers

up, Pete would
absolutely kill us.

Yeah, I think those
moments when I was a youth

team player prepared
me for moments like this.

Schmeichel is forward.

Can he score another in Europe?

He's got one in Europe already.

Beckham.

In towards Schmeichel.

It's come for Dwight York.

Clear.

Giggs with the shot.

Cherry.

So then we were
back in the game.

Everyone was celebrating.

Everyone was like, you
know, we've got it to extra time.

I looked at...

the players that I'd grown
up with on the pitch at that

time, and I knew that they
knew that it wasn't over.

Thinking, shit, we've
got extra time now.

I'd better get my
legs going again.

So I've sprinted right
back for like about 50

yards to try and get some
blood going from my legs.

As soon as we equalised,
my mindset just switched.

Get this to extra time,
we're going to beat him.

That was my
mindset straight away.

We're going to beat
him in extra time.

And then for the next minute and a half,
I couldn't even tell you what happened.

That's an out-of-body
experience, that.

We won the ball back again.

We broke forward.

We got another corner.

I'm getting goosebumps.

I can feel it.

I remember the feeling of
getting that ball in the corner,

knowing that I'm going to
put a good corner in again.

And then everything
just literally erupted.

This was what was
meant to happen.

There's no greater feeling than
scoring in the last minute to win a game.

You know, I've had kids.

I've had kids.

I've got married.

But it's the greatest feeling
in the whole wide world.

I don't remember the final
whistle to be honest with you.

It was like the
game was over then.

As soon as the final
whistle went, it was relief.

It was excitement.

It was joy.

It was everything.

And I just went to my knees
and just started sobbing.

I just remember lying on the floor,
looking up, thinking, almost nearly crying

on the pitch, thinking, oh, my
God, what has just happened here?

I went up to Gary.

The lights were on
when nobody was in.

His eyes were glazed.

His eyeballs were rolling.

I looked up and the first
person coming towards me

was the gaffer and just
got up and just hugged him.

But that night, you
felt like you were

hugging and you just
never wanted to let go.

The best feeling I've ever
had on a football pitch.

Best.

Best I've ever felt.

It's the greatest day of my life,
and it's hard for me to comprehend it.

Gary Neville, 24.

Phil Neville, 22.

David Beckham, 24.

Nicky Butt, 24.

Geeks, 25.

Whatever they achieve in their futures,
I doubt that they will ever, ever cap this.

Manchester United are
champions of Europe again.

I remember feeling Scolzi
should have been out there with us.

The image that I like most is when we all
make a tunnel for Scolzi and Keeney and

they come through and carry the European
Cup because they were absolutely critical

to everything that we
achieved that season.

I'd have rather just gone in the dressing
room and waited for everyone, really,

and congratulated people that way,
but, you know, I suppose the players made

a big deal out of it and me and Roy,
embarrassingly, were on the pitch.

I'll never, ever forget that.

After all them years of waiting,
and then to see your team win the

Champions League in your
lifetime in such amazing fashion.

In fact, I missed
the winning goal.

I was crying like a baby
once that first goal went in.

I missed the winning goal.

I was just slumped on my seat, just
out of it, emotionally, gone, you know?

I've always been...

..never got carried away,
never ever got carried away.

I nearly got carried
away that night, you know,

but so excited, but it
made me immensely proud.

It made me feel
like I was in heaven.

The romance of the
last-minute, never-say-die

moment of them winning, I
suppose, was very special.

That continuity between the Busby
Babes being lost as a team, you know,

that potential, that wonder that was
so tragically interrupted and then being

renewed by that manager again ten years
later to win the European Cup and then 30

years later, to have to wait 30
years, to see them do it again was...

Yeah, it's very, very
special, I think, really.

You were massively aware that night of
what you were representing and the history

of the club because that's where the
club and all its tradition, all its history

that it's got comes back and
just comes all into one moment

and that night seemed to
be just one of those moments.

I think winning the European Cup was
massive for anybody, but you've won it

with lads that you grew up with all your
life and they've got good pictures now of

the six of us with the effort
with the European Cup

and it's like some of us
near each other from 12.

I never look back.

I don't like looking back.

I always like to look forward.

But if you said to me, could
you live ten days again?

It would be those ten days.

It's unbelievable.

It's a perfect script.

Yeah.

It's dramatic.

Only sports can give
you this kind of emotion.

They win the Cup in Barcelona,
simply because of their character.

Many people say we're wacky.

You could say that, but I don't think
what I thought was their character won it.

We had a great bunch
of boys who were getting

better every game
and they did it together.

That was an important
thing, they did it together.

The one thing when you
look back in 100 years, the

treble of 99, there will
never be forgotten that.

I think there are
special moments in time

when a whole series
of things come together.

When you had those young people from
very ordinary backgrounds who suddenly

symbolised, represented something new and
had that extraordinary ability to achieve

and to achieve in a way that
people hadn't done before.

You always hope and think that things
will happen again, but will there ever be a

time where six lads who
grew up from the age of 12, 13,

come through and win a treble,
having supported the club?

I'm not sure.

I'm not sure it
can happen again.

I'm not sure of football, the
way in which it's going to go.

I'm not sure of football and
the way in the immediacy

of life now where
everything's got to be instant.

I don't think you'll
ever see the six, seven

players coming through
in British football again.

Well, you probably dream about
playing for Man United, don't you?

But the reality is, for most
people, it's not going to happen.

And we were just the lucky
ones that it did happen to do.

We managed to all play
with each other through, right

through the youth team,
straight through to the first team.

And it doesn't really
happen at many places.

And will anything like
that happen again?

I'm not too sure.

Until recently, where I sat back
and looked at old videos, looked at old

pictures and really kind
of thought about what it

was like with these players
that I'd grown up with.

To win what we'd won.

To turn around and see,
you know, Gary behind me.

We'd grown up
in those positions.

You know, to look to the side and
see Scholesy and Buttey and Giggsie.

You know, to look
back, see Phil.

You know, this was...

This was more special
than anything that I've been

involved in through my
whole life and my whole career.