Patrice Evra claimed Sir Alex Ferguson refused to let his Manchester United players have a bigger dressing room – unless they achieved sporting immortality.
Fergie was reluctant to change the area of Old Trafford where he gave his legendary teamtalks simply because of the history within it.
And while the debate now rages on about whether to demolish the stadium entirely, the big talking point during Evra’s time there was about having a bigger space to get ready in before matches.
He gave the example on the Tea With Me podcast with comedian Shane Todd – and was talking about the younger generation being handed things in life without putting in the work.
And giving his own anecdote, he said: “I give you a crazy story. We had to win the Premier League and the Champions League to get a bigger dressing room.
(Image: Shane Todd)
“Our dressing room at Old Trafford was like maybe the size of this room. Sir Alex Ferguson never wanted to change the dressing room.
“We were like, ‘come on boss it is too small’. [But] this is the history, George Best, Bobby Charlton, Denis Law, this is why he doesn’t want to change the dressing room.
“But he said if you win the Premier League and the Champions League maybe you are going to have a dressing room.”
United did just that in 2008 when a penalty shootout win against Chelsea in Moscow capped off the unforgettable double.
Ferguson kept true to his word but Evra revealed the hilarious conversation they had about it.
The former French captain said: “He was like, ‘f*** sake, I’m going to have no money’. I was like, ‘it is not even your money boss’.
(Image: Manchester United via Getty Images)
(Image: Manchester United via Getty Images)
“I remember the first time we come in and we have like big TV screens, a speaker, and I was so happy, like Christmas, just because we got a bigger dressing room.
“But we had to win the Champions League and the Premier League to do that.”
On the same podcast, Evra, who made 273 appearances for the club between 2006 and 2014, also revealed the reason why French people actually “hate” Thierry Henry, the teammate who was overweight and loved McDonald’s while also giving an uncomfortable reply over whether he “showered with P Diddy” at United.