Former Manchester United striker Teddy Sheringham has opened up on how a discussion with Sir Alex Ferguson made him realise just how big a club United are, following his arrival at Old Trafford in 1997.
Teddy Sheringham said: “If all these managers wanted me I thought I must have something about me and I am going to enjoy this and take it on. I didn’t feel any sort of pressure, as in ‘I can’t handle that. You want to sign me for your football club? Bring it on. Let’s do it. I love it’. Fergie still said to me: ‘You won’t believe what it is like [to play for Man United]’ and I thought ‘I’ve played for England and I’ve been around the world with my club, Tottenham.’ But no, he said: ‘I’m telling you.’ He was right, without a shadow of a doubt. We went to Hong Kong with Tottenham and there was about three people at the airport. We went to Hong Kong with England and there was about ten people at the airport. We went to Hong Kong with United and there was f*****g thousands of them, all turned up with their autographs, asking for us to sign this and that and Becks [David Beckham] to give us that. Man United, anywhere in the world, is absolutely huge and that is the eye opener that he was trying to tell me. I was 31 then, so you take it on and you’re like: ‘Wow, this is a football club, by the way’. Even more so now since I have played for United. I think when you have played for United you’re up there. But when you have had success at United, which we did in winning the treble that people talk about and playing a part in that… that is what probably keeps me here today, on a podcast with you, talking about a momentous season.”
