4.6.04 - THE GAFFER TAPES: Half of Manchester United’s
FA Cup finalists grew up under the watchful eye of Eric
Harrison. The legendary United youth coach gives the
inside track on them all, from Ryan Giggs to the latest
find Darren Fletcher.
Eric Harrison has been at Old Trafford nurturing young
talent throughout the 18 incredible years of Sir Alex
Ferguson.
For half of United’s likely FA Cup Final squad, youth
team coach Harrison was the first gaffer they knew.
And although
he has cut down his workload at Old Trafford to two days
a week, Harrison is still working towards his ambition
of United lining up with 11 homegrown players in the
same match.
"I’m proud of all my players and the way they have
conducted themselves. Reaching Cardiff will have given
the whole club a real excitement. Wild horses wouldn’t
stop me going to The FA Cup Final," says Harrison, who
is also the Welsh No.2 under another of his former
protégées, Mark Hughes.
"I still see the likes of Gary and Paul Scholes at the
training ground. And if I need something from them for a
cancer of asthma research, they couldn’t be more
helpful.
"I still get a buzz going into United. I get changed
with the other coaches like Mike Phelan and catch up
with all the gossip, then help out finding the next
generation.
"It’s always been the culture at Manchester United to
give youth a chance. Sir Alex understands that – long
may it continue."
Harrison's Magnificent Seven
Darren Fletcher
He used to come down from Scotland during the school
holidays at about 14 or 15. The manager liked him
because he had a broad Scottish accent!
He has been playing a lot on the right this season but
in my opinion his best position is centre-midfield and
that’s where I think he will finish up.
He has been brought up a real Manchester United player –
confident but not arrogant.
Wes Brown
Always smiling. There are always practical jokers in
every dressing-room, with socks going missing and things
like that. Wes must be ideal for the wind-up merchants,
because he never seems to take offence. He ends up
laughing with everyone else.
As a professional though, he’s very single-minded. The
way he has come back from two cruciates and a broken
ankle proves that.
Anyone who knows about football realised it would take
him a bit of time to get back to his best, particularly
being thrown in the deep end with the Rio situation.
Those who criticised him don’t know about football.
England is well off for centre-halves with Rio, Sol
Campbell, John Terry and Jonathan Woodgate. But I am
sure he will get back in the international scene.
Paul Scholes
Was a striker when he started with us as a teenager. But
he would naturally drop off to get the ball because he
didn’t have the blistering pace of a Michael Owen to run
right through.
We tend to let
players go where they want in the early stages to see
naturally where their best position is.
Paul showed he had all the qualities to be a top-class
midfield player, he is terrific in the air and the power
in his right foot can tear the net apart. He won the
game for us against Arsenal on Saturday, even after all
these years teams can’t figure out a way to stop him.
Nicky Butt
There is a lot of talk about what will happen when Roy
Keane leaves. I personally think Nicky Butt could
develop into the leader that United will need.
He reminded me of Bryan Robson when he started out, he
was as hard as nails and could break forward to get a
lot of goals with his head.
He was the most powerful member of that famous Youth Cup
winning side of 1992, he was a man even as a teenager!
It’s been a difficult year for Nicky but there’s plenty
left to come.
Gary & Phil Neville
Mad United supporters. If Gary wasn’t playing for the
club, he would be on the Stretford End going bananas.
Phil was the more technically gifted player when they
started but Gary could read the game superbly.
And they’ve shown their toughness by overcoming all the
criticism they seemed to take for a couple of years. I
remember being at Wembley once and they were being
slaughtered by the crowd in the warm-up.
I nearly had to turn round to this guy, who was wearing
a suit by the way, and tell him to shut up.
Ryan Giggs
Alex Ferguson used to come and watch Ryan in our youth
games. The games started at 11am and then Alex would
have to leave at half-time to prepare for the first-team
match.
I knew Ryan would get his chance young – it’s in the
Manchester United way.
As soon as he broke into the team, there were
comparisons with George Best.
But the big love of Ryan’s life was always football, so
there wasn’t any chance of him throwing his career away.
I think Ryan will finish his career at United. I see him
a lot with Wales as well and he has never given me any
indication of wanting to leave.
source:
FA.com
