Beckham: How Sir Alex Kept Us On Our Toes

Six Manchester United legends returned to Old Trafford on Friday night for the launch of adidas' Ninety-Two shoe and took part in a Q&A session with Rachel Riley.

Seated alongside his former team-mates Gary Neville, Phil Neville, Nicky Butt, Ryan Giggs and Paul Scholes, David Beckham gave his thoughts on the United family, his favourite memory as a Red and how Sir Alex Ferguson kept him on his toes.

So, how often do you get back together as a group of six?
Obviously we’re busy doing other things a lot of the time, but we try to get back together and see each other as much as possible. And [when we do get back together] it's always the same - even if we don’t see each other for six months - it’s always the same banter and it’s like [how it was] back in the day.

Does it feel like coming home when you're back here at Old Trafford?
Of course, these guys grew up here, and I moved here when I was 16, and spent my best footballing years here. It was my dream to play for United, so to be here the length of time I was - and to be as successful as I was - it was the dream really. Obviously, those years with these guys doing what we loved - it was a special time.

Does it feel like family coming back here, are there a lot of familiar faces?
Yeah, I always say that about coming back to Old Trafford, obviously I can't come back too often, living in London, and being busy myself. But when I do come back, it's the same as it always was - United’s always been a family to me. You see people walking the corridors who have worked here 20-30 years and nothing changes – that’s what’s special about this club.

You won so much as a group, but that original FA Youth Cup [in 1992] – is that still one of the most cherished memories?
We were just talking about our favourite memories of playing at the stadium - there were so many because we won so much and played so many games here, for the amount of time we did. But, for me, the FA Youth Cup final is one of my favourites, to be able to play in front of that many people who came down that day, knowing that the first team was there, and the manager – it was such a special moment for us. We’d been so successful as a youth team, so to play at Old Trafford and to win the Youth Cup was special for us. And to be in the changing room with the first-team players that we looked up to after the game, made it even more special. It just really showed how this club is a real family.

Did you ever discuss among yourselves your ambition of what you could go onto win at United?
This club has got such great history of bringing youth players through and Sir Matt Busby obviously had the success that he had with young players - winning the European cup with players that had come through. And the manager came in and took us on – it was a special time – and we were all well aware of that. But when you’re asked the question: 'Do you feel as if you should be in the first team?' - we were always brought up to feel that there were always young players coming through to replace you, and the manager was always great at that, keeping us on our toes. That’s what made us feel nervous, but special, and it made us always give everything that we had and that’s the way we always felt throughout our careers.

You had a slightly different experience to the others, going to away games with the manager, sitting on the bench next to the substitutes. You spent a few years around the first-team players, did it help you when you eventually came into the senior side?
Not at all, because you’re always nervous of going in the changing room. Like Giggsy said, you walk into the canteen and you’re sat two tables away from Bryan Robson, Steve Bruce, Giggsy, it's one of those things, at first you’re in such awe of these players. And yeah, I used to go to these away games, I've always been a United fan, so to play for United was my dream. But going to those games - because I’d been asked by the club to go - I wanted to see the players, to be close to them, and the manager gave me the opportunity to sit on the bench for one game, which was nice.

Was there anyone you dreaded sitting next to in the dressing room?
Maysie [David May] probably, he was the loudest. And he would do things that would do things that were kind of unexpected. He was definitely the one you wouldn’t really want to sit next to, even though he made you laugh when he was doing it to other people.

What is your favourite memory of playing for United?
Obviously there were so many, but I have to say those 10 days - the Treble. If we could ever go back to a time it would be that, because it was so special, to go from one to the other, to the other, and win all three in totally different ways. At Tottenham, on the last day of the season, and going on to the FA Cup and beating Newcastle like we did – it was probably the easiest of the three games. And then going to the Nou Camp and winning there the way we did – it was a special 10 days. 

How does it feel - as a member of the Class of '92 to have your achievements recognised with this trainer?
It’s always nice to be recognised for what we've done and loved doing for a long time. But we wouldn’t be successful without the players we had when we came into the team - Giggsy came into it a bit earlier than we did but, when we came in, we had he support of Roy Keane, Mark Hughes, Gary Pallister, Eric Cantona, all these great players that we all looked up to and were able to learn from. We wouldn’t have been successful without the manger, the team-mates, or the fans – we were very lucky.