Before becoming the famous grass stars in the MU shirt, the stars of the Class 92 have gone through the harsh time of training at the Academy. It is where they learn to win, accept “crazy” punishments and connect with unforgettable jokes.
Steel discipline and unforgettable “missions”
In the MU youth team in the 1990s, no one was exempt from the work of manual. Paul
Ryan Giggs is in charge of pumping the ball. And if the pressure was wrong, Peter Schmeichel would shot the ball into the river and forced him to wade down. And Phil Neville has been sealed with dubbin fat and “drawing” into a MU outfit, and only iron brush can be removed.
There are also other “difficult” punishments such as being stuffed into a clothes dryer, or participating in “entry” screens. Giggs once danced and flirted with a male teammate … girlfriend, and Gary Neville was captured in love with the cover of the senior Clayton Blackmore.
Butt, remember to run naked around the yard full of snow in front of the whole team. This is a “bravery” test that he believes that the clubs no longer dare to apply today.
Those things may sound “excessive” but according to the former players, that strictness helps them grow up, understand the value of discipline and collective spirit. All mistakes are immediately handled, regardless of whether you are a good talent or just a regular student. “It is an environment that does not allow you to be complacent,” Phil Neville recalled.
The spirit of victory from “5 matches 5”
Giggs affirmed that the most valuable thing learned from those years was the desire to win. “It was only a 5 -minute match for a few minutes but I was ready to play with my best friends if needed. Losing was obsessed all day,” he said.
The young coach Eric Harrison rarely blows the whistle, so that students can play as long as they do not injury, in order to forge the will and the ability to withstand pressure. “He wants us to bring the spirit of winning at all costs into the official match,” Giggs said.
Once, at the age of 15, Giggs was deliberately confronted with Marine team. The goalkeeper kept playing football in the right place for the opponent's center -back so that he had to jump the ball and suffered his heads on the back of the neck. “After that week, all challenges for people of the same age became easy,” Giggs recalled.
For him, to become a professional player must be ready to step out of the safe area, face adverse situations and find ways to overcome. This is what he thinks that young players now have little chance to experience. Nicky BuT also agrees: “The pressure makes you grow faster, and be pampered, you will be slow to progress.”
From “hate each other” to a lifetime friendship
Interestingly, before becoming friends, the members of “Class of '92” used to … dislike each other. Beckham told him for the first time, he was looked like a “colorful man from east of London”, and Butt admitted that he hated Gary Neville just because he “talked too much” on the field. But after the time of training, every sensor disappeared, leaving a close relationship that lasted until now.
Not only stood side by side on the pitch, they also wrote the story of long -term friends when reuniting to buy Salford City Club, the eighth team in England at that time was fluttering and having a dressing room was just … two containers.
At the hands of “Class of '92”, Salford not only promoted but also significantly improved facilities, from the yard, stands to the living room. Gary Neville even installed Sky Sports for the club, whether the switchboard staff … did not know who he was.
They still retain the “brothers” of the old days when they were ready to share difficulties together, from tactics to … hand pumping balls and taking care of pie for fans. Gary Neville said only 12 hours to prepare 400 Pie cakes for promising to the fans “eat for free with beer”, and he had to immediately call Pukka Pies to keep up with the delivery.
For those of “Class of '92”, football is not only a title or money, but also a community, a cohesion and a spirit of dedication to his adult. As Beckham once asserted: “Looking back at that time, I found it special. Not only for what we achieved, but because the people we became.”
Nicky Butt said about the “unforgettable” punishment?
Former midfielder Nicky Butt had a very special sharing about one of the punishments he could not forget. The member of “Class of '92” said: “I was forced to run naked around the yard full of snow in front of the first team. That's the way they checked the bravery. A week later, I became a person in the group. Now the clubs do not do this anymore because it is considered inappropriate.
