Life of Ryan: Caretaker Manager Page #2

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They sort of had a celebration

of 20 years of the Premier League,

and this was in recognition

of over 500 Premier League appearances,

which they gave me in 2012.

These were the boots that I wore in Moscow,

when we won the Champions League.

It was the game that I broke

Sir Bobby Charlton's appearance record.

(SPEAKING SPANISH)

(INAUDIBLE)

RYAN:
I supported the appointment

of David Moyes as British coach,

done brilliantly with Everton,

similar sort of traits as Sir Alex and, yeah,

I thought it was the right appointment.

I'd signed another year in March, April.

David Moyes rang me in the summer

and asked me if I'd like to

be part of the staff as well,

which I thought it was a great challenge

for me and the next step in my career.

I started my coaching maybe ten years ago.

We had the facilities of United,

we had the access to the players

and it just seemed the right thing

to do at the time.

Obviously 30, so you could

be finishing in two or three years' time,

so it was that sort of mindset, "Right,

"we need to start getting ready

and prepared for finishing."

(PLAYERS EXCLAIMING)

You know, you come to

your end of your career

and it's horrible, it's the worst...

It's the worst thing probably I've ever had

to deal with professionally.

Coming to the end of your football career,

everyone tells you to play

for as long as you possibly can

because the next stage

of your life is not as good

because you're not playing football,

the sport that you love,

so he's gotta somehow find...

Find something inside him

that brings closure on his football career.

RYAN:
It's been a difficult year playing-wise,

not enjoyed the results and the playing,

so have I contributed? Not as much

as I have done previously.

If I'd have retired last year, I'd have

gone out on a high, United's 20th title

and everything would have been rosy.

But life isn't like that.

Yeah, there's definitely an issue

where you can't be too open,

whereas other sports,

that probably isn't the case.

You're guided by the press office, really,

on what not to say.

I do.

(MALE REPORTER SPEAKING)

MOYES:
Most definitely.

It's a really good competition.

It's been very good for us so far...

...a very inexperienced manager

in the Champions League.

But we've done well, and then

we'll be at the ultimate test with Bayern.

- Players, obviously, apart from myself.

-(REPORTERS LAUGHING)

I don't know.

I'll tell you after tomorrow, maybe.

(LAUGHING)

I mean, yeah, of course,

as a player you want to play all the time.

I mean, the last time I played

was probably the first time

in six or seven weeks, but we've got

a lot of players to choose from

who are always ready to play,

and that's what you've gotta do.

REPORTERS:
Ooh!

Nearly died.

- All good?

- Yeah.

- Right, see you later.

- All right, thanks, Ryan.

Yeah, he's all gone.

A bit naughty, really, asking

if I'm going to take over from the manager.

There was one right at the end

where he asked about us falling out.

But if you lose a game, then you're obviously

going to have to handle the stick

because you're not expected to lose games,

you're not expected to lose

so many games at Man United.

So... And the manager knows that,

and it's not a problem that.

You take that criticism all day long.

I honestly don't know if I'm going to

go into management or not.

I've prepared myself for it as best I can,

and that's all you can do, really.

The problem is, obviously these days,

that managers

don't last very long.

I mean, it is ridiculous, really.

You see managers changing all the time,

and still they come back for more,

and it's that buzz that they get

and they really miss it when they're away,

so it might be a case of you start managing,

or you become a manager

and you absolutely love it,

even if you're not a success,

and you want to come back for more

because, obviously like football,

you learn from your mistakes

and you get better and better.

Or it could be a case of

you go into management,

you don't do very well and that's it, finished.

You won't get a lot out of me tonight

because I am grumpy.

I didn't really get into the game.

I found myself, well, I think we all did,

defending for most of the night,

so obviously my main asset is when I get

on the ball, rather than defending.

I didn't really get a chance.

I was either too deep or...

Just didn't get the ball.

As a fan, this season obviously

hasn't went the way I was hoping it would.

I was fearing...

I thought there was always going to be

a little bit of a drop off from when Fergie left.

I didn't think it would be such a drop off,

where they're not going to

qualify for Champions League.

RYAN:
After going out against Bayern,

you've not got anything really to play for.

You're out of the Champions League.

It was always going to be tough

after that because that was the only thing

we were going for, really.

It'll be a nightmare for

the next few days, and then

gradually you just snap out of it,

because you wanna be involved,

you wanna play.

On top of all this, I'm on the treatment bed,

I'm getting iced and I get chosen for doping,

so that just tops it all off for tonight.

So I had to go and piss in a cup

when I don't really want to,

and that just tops my evening off, really.

You love me, don't you?

Don"[ you?

You're not moving, are you?

You're thinking about it.

Are you thinking about it?

Are you thinking about it?

Are you? Eh?

Ooh.

Is that nice?

Eh?

CAMERON:
Nailed it, absolute nailed it.

RYAN:
Well, we lost against Everton,

that was on the Sunday,

then Monday we had the day off,

so I was playing golf with my mate.

I was playing golf with Cameron.

Yeah, I'm losing now, after that shot.

What was that? Seven?

CAMERON:
I didn't hit it right.

RYAN:
And when you can hear

your phone going and texts,

and it was just off different people,

"What's going on?

"What's happening?

Have you heard anything?"

And I'm not on Twitter,

I'm not on social media of any kind.

I don't really read the papers.

I didn't know, "What do you mean?

"I don't know what's going on."

And, um, apparently that's

when all the rumours started

that the manager was going to leave.

(INAUDIBLE)

I knew that if they sacked David Moyes

that Ryan would take over for the period

to the end of the season as a minimum.

I don't think that came as a shock to anybody.

He was the natural person that was there,

an authority in the changing room,

respected by everybody in the club

and I was delighted that Ryan

was getting an opportunity

for the last four weeks of the season.

Oh, flipping heck, what a day.

Ed Woodward informed me

that they were letting the manager go,

which was obviously sad to hear

because you don't want anyone

ever to lose their job.

And then he went on to ask me

if I'd like to look after the team

for the remaining four games,

which, yeah, didn't hesitate

and was obviously happy to do

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