Kitmen Of Manchester City And United Open Up Ahead Of Derby

You might think the role of a Premier League kitman is to ensure each player has what he needs for matchdays and that their shirts and boots are pristine.

Ahead of Super Sunday's clash at Old Trafford, James Cooper caught up with the men who worked for United and City for almost a decade-and-a-half and read on to find out how they dealt with a far-from-happy Roy Keane, a very demanding Peter Schmeichel and an easy-going Cristiano Ronaldo.

Albert Morgan became Sir Alex Ferguson's go-to man as Manchester United wrote the most glittering chapter in the club's history. Across the town at City, Les Chapman was on hand as the Blues tumbled into the third tier of the English game only to watch the club's transformation into a true footballing force.

No longer kitmen but both were retained by United and City as ambassadors. A sign of the impact both had and the respect they earned.

In the Red Corner, Albert Morgan began his 14-year stint at Old Trafford in 1996 taking over from Norman Davies, a man he'd formerly worked for at a local car dealership. Once he'd got his head round his career switch, he was left to his own devices by Ferguson. Morgan explains....

"He let me get on with it - that was his best asset and we had some fun. Sir Alex used to ring me, especially when it came to the big games like derbies, and he'd say to me 'come on, what's your team?' He used to do that on a Thursday and we'd have a laugh about that and I'd pick a team and he'd say to me 'stick to putting the kit out'."

It was no coincidence that Albert opted to follow the only manager he'd worked with and retire in 2013. Morgan adds...

"I've been all over the world but Old Trafford takes some whacking. You've got to be special to play there and it's been a special ride for me and a lucky ride. I've worked hard with good people, but the journey we've been on, we've won the lot haven't we?"

Across town, no such continuity for Les Chapman, a man who'd played around 1,0000 games and managed two clubs, had to contend with eight managers during his time as City's kitman.

The man known as "Chappie" to all at Manchester City was offered the role of kitman in 1997 to help out an over-worked physio who was trying to combine both jobs but it was all very different then. Les says...

"It was probably just a sweat top and the kit. Now it's all kinds of items - snoods, hats, gloves, you name it, tights, compression shirts. Each player has his own idiosyncrasies of course and as a kit man you make sure everything's there for them so they don't need anything and they don't need to worry about anything else."

Les and Albert shared very few players but one who stood out for them was Peter Schmeichel, the Great Dane wore both Blue and Red and almost wore out his kitmen too. Les explains...

"Peter was the first person I'd experienced who did this. I think he had 92 shirts in a season. He was the first player who swapped every week and now it's just escalated into every player doing it now. He had a different kit for warm-up, different kit for the first half and a kit for the second half.

"He was the first player that really tested me. He'd arrive in the dressing room and give me his match gloves and tell me to hide them. I had to hide them where nobody could see them or even touch them and then I had to produce them at the right time (about a minute before they went out) and then he'd only shake hands with certain people in a certain order."

Albert agrees with Les that the goalkeeper was a far more demanding character on matchdays than he was for the rest of the week.

"Peter was a perfectionist. He was a different animal on a matchday. Many people thought he was ignorant or aloof but he wasn't. On a matchday though he was because he knew what he wanted. He used to come in, no autographs, nothing, he was so focused. He wanted all these kits. If he wanted six towels, I'd give it to him. He wasn't hard to handle if you gave him what he wanted."

Both men might have done the same job but they sometimes approached it differently. Albert confesses it was sometimes a difficult balancing act.

"You're the guy that walks on the top of the fence because you know things that the manager knows and he wants you to know and you know things that the boys want you to know. They want you to tell the manager in a roundabout way and he wants to know in a roundabout way and you've got to juggle whether you get it right or not. If you don't get it right you can imagine some of the things that the lads tell you!"

Les admits that other kitmen can often hold the key to what's going on inside their particular clubs....

"The kitmen are always a good guide to the atmosphere in the club. They give you an opinion on the manager and the players because they're involved in the dressing room, they're working with the players, they're working with the staff and the manager so they can usually give you a pretty true impression on whatever's going on."

Big clubs mean big players and big attention too. One of Les's career highlights was Manchester City's 6-1 derby win at Old Trafford in 2011 with Mario Balotelli centre stage and dressed in a compression shirt which asked the watching world "Why Always Me?". How did that all come about for the controversial Italian?

"It was actually Mario who came up with it. At that time you were allowed to print phrases and slogans on the compression shirts they wore under the match shirts and Mario told me the week before and said 'I want to put something on my shirt for the derby game'. I told him he couldn't have anything that was political or offensive to anybody and he came up with one or two things and i just said 'No Mario'.

"Then he just came up with it out of the blue. He just said 'what about 'Why always me?'. As soon as he said it, I knew it was a beauty. For all his bizarreness, and he was a one-off completely, he was predictably unpredictable. You never knew what he was going to do and he could be scary at times but he did have some endearing qualities and hopefully over the years he'll mature more."

Albert tells me that the 'class of '92' and the players who transformed Manchester United's fortunes under Ferguson posed him few problems too inside the dressing room. He also got to know Cristiano Ronaldo well and starred in a Nike advert with him in 2008. A-list celebrities might like the finer things in life, but Albert says Ronaldo was no trouble at all.

"He loved a mirror but like simple Simon with his kit. As long as you gave him what he wanted, not a dickie bird. He is special, he's got natural talent but he's worked his socks off to get where he is now and he still does."

They stared at each other across dug-outs at Maine Road, Old Trafford and the Etihad Stadium 30 times in total. Albert shaded it with 15 wins to Chappie's 10 with five stalemates but the two men are united in missing their jobs. Albert says....

"One of my jobs was to always go and make sure that the players that got sent off were alright and they weren't getting in anymore trouble and I've taken Scholesy off all over the world! I've walked round more tracks with him than anybody. I took Roy Keane off at Sunderland and he was like a man possessed. What was I supposed to do with Roy when he had steam coming out of both ears?"

"It's easier for a kitman because you're their to do a service, you're never going to drop them, you're never going to leave them out of the team, they're somebody that eventually you get a relationship with and they can trust you.

"You do errands for them, you give them advice and I've formed a lot of great relationships with players. I can remember dressing up as Santa Claus once on Christmas Eve and driving in the outfit. There are a variety of things and I think that's part and parcel of the job. I do think it's important if the players do need something, and it's not just kit, that you're there for them."

Credit: Skysports.com