The Class of 92 Page #9

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, he did.

There was not one bit

of animosity 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 also there's still that competitive

tension, because we're in similar positions.

And going into the game,

I'll never forget walking out the tunnel,

and all I remember thinking was one, I

hope I play well, 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.

I didn't play in the '96 final.

In the final, we played Arsenal.

He came round to my room in the morning,

I could hear him coughing outside,

you know, that...

Came in and said he wasn't playing,

you know,

but you hear his cough outside the door

down the corridor.

If you knew you were getting dropped,

I just didn't answer the door.

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

Can he?

- Go missing.

- Yeah.

SCHOLES:
You did used to wait

for that knock though, didn't you?

- Yeah, used to wait for the knock.

- About 11-ish.

GARY:
I remember once

him coming up to me,

I think it was Thursday,

before a game on a Saturday.

And 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 the game for you." I was like,

"So I'm not playing for four games?"

"You make sure you prepare for that one.

"I need you in that game."

And I was like,

"Right, he needs 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'm needed for that?"

I couldn't work it out.

Do you remember Kiddo,

after you had been left out?

"I thought you were playing."

"Are you not... Are you not playing?"

"I'd have picked you."

"Tomorrow."

"I'll have a word With him."

'I thought you.

(MOUTHING) Are you not playing?"

(LAUGHING)

"Hey, Kiddo, I'm not, no.

No, I'm not, Kiddo."

"I can't believe it! You said I was..."

"How's your mam? How's your mam?"

- That's a bit strong, innit?

- A bit strong, yeah.

"How's your mum?"

(ALL LAUGHING)

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 go and they fly in a V,

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.

"Here's these geese, they're flying 4,000

miles to get to a better, a warmer climate.

"All I'm asking from you is to play

30 away games in a season."

There were some team talks he'd give

that'd make 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.

"Look at us there, we're

all over the place.

"Look at us. Get in an arrow!"

Alex Ferguson, in my view, could have been

a great leader in any walk of life.

If he'd gone into business,

he would have been a great business leader.

If he'd gone into politics, he would've 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.

He always made you feel special,

no matter how small a contribution

you may feel it was,

he always made you feel special

that your contribution was big.

And his management of people

was brilliant like that.

What I tried to get through to them

was 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

and 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 were actually true stories,

but always working on

the principal of work ethic.

I've heard them stories a million times,

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, Nani or Anderson,

and the manager's trying to describe

growing up in a Glasgow shipyard

in a broad Scottish accent,

and you can see Nani and Anderson

and all the foreign players

who could hardly speak English, going,

"What is he going on about?

I don't understand a word."

But they just...

They're trying to look interested.

And I used to sometimes just look round

the dressing room and go,

"They haven't got a clue what he's saying."

(LAUGHS)

What's the best excuse he gave you

for leaving you out?

- Too hot.

- Too hot?

- "Really, Scholesy, it's too hot."

- "Too hot for you."

"Sharpey 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

of Chelsea once because

they had some Combat 18

fanatics in the crowd,

and he thought I was a

bit too young for it.

Best one he gave me was,

"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 played one month a year, me,

one month a season.

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.

Sir Alex used to say,

"Butt, you're up to no good."

All the time.

Silly little childish things.

I did one once

with a teapot and Peter Schmeichel.

You know, big 6'8" man, giant.

SCHOLES:
You'd come in the dressing room

and there was a tray of sandwiches

and, you know, the big hot silver pots

with tea in or coffee.

Obviously we were just sat

in the dressing room, a freezing cold day.

Peter Schmeichel, obviously, he walks up

to get a sandwich and a cup of tea,

absolutely bollocko.

I put a steaming-hot kettle on the bed,

and I put it behind his arse, like that,

so I was sort of like that,

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