Manchester United legendary duo Rio Ferdinand and Paul Scholes participated in a two-touch football game prior to matches.
This apparently intimidated their fellow team-mates.
Speaking to ex-United youth player Robbie Savage on the Savage Social podcast via BBC Sounds, Ferdinand said (quotes from The Metro): “Scholesy was top man to be fair to him but I used to want my creative players to be going out on the pitch with full confidence.
“Before a game, we used to play two-touch every single game me and him. Our thighs would be red.
“We’d look for a spot outside the changing room in the tunnel or in the corridor, anywhere we could find, just blasting the ball at each other.
“The levels, Sav, you wouldn’t have been able to play!
“There would have been loads of players if you speak to them now who would say we couldn’t get up and compete.
“Tom Cleverley and Danny Welbeck used to watch and say ‘no, no’ the intimidation levels were too much.”
THE SAVAGE SOCIAL…episode 3
With @rioferdy5 ⚽️🔴
He sits down with @RobbieSavage8 to discuss his long, illustrious career, England’s golden generation…and that famous red card 😉
Download the podcast via @BBCSounds | https://t.co/X2ePwwcTa8 pic.twitter.com/7jIwpTBCgQ
— Robbie Savage (@RobbieSavage8) May 19, 2020
Ferdinand and Scholes were teammates at United for over a decade, so their bond obviously grew throughout the years. Together they epitomised United and the younger lads looked up to them as idols.
Why wouldn’t they? They’d won the lot at Old Trafford and every player coming through wants a taste of that. To this day they are missed in the dressing room.
Irreplaceable, you could say.
Rather interestingly, the two players Ferdinand mentioned in his interview with Savage are both playing for Watford now. Perhaps that tells a story that they weren’t good enough but Welbeck had his problems with injuries and Cleverley looked a real prospect when he first came into the first-team. It just didn’t work out.
If Project Restart gets the green light Watford find themselves in the middle of a relegation scrap.
Moreover, club captain Troy Deeney is refusing to return to training because he fears for his family’s health with COVID-19 cases still very high in the UK. The Premier League clubs returned to group training on Tuesday but it looks like Watford will have to see out the campaign without their talisman.
READ MORE: Nani names 3 United legends he initially thought disliked him
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