Yesterday, David Beckham found himself reminiscing about the moment that his former Man United manager kicked a football boot at his eye. There is no such brutalising from management at Old Trafford these days, as revealed in a report in today's Daily Mail.
The day after the breathless 3-1 victory against Arsenal at the beginning of this month, United organised a warm down session at their Carrington training complex. Paul Pogba, having been sent off in that game, failed to show up. Having not responded to a few desperate calls, United sent a couple of club officials around to his house, only to find him fast asleep.
More interesting, however, is some of the other detail in the Mail's report. It includes detail on the other lengths United go to mollycoddle their players, which includes property and office managers to facilitate dope tests, have also been sent out to buy toothpaste on behalf of some of the players.
It appears that not all of the players are happy with this regime. Michael Carrick, Zlatan Ibrahimovic, and Ashley Young are named as being exasperated by it all, and the report includes this unattributed quote:
Some of them look as if they're taking the mickey the way they're ordering things,' said a source. 'It makes you wonder what would happen if they ever ended up at Rochdale or Bury. They would be stuck in a room wondering what to do.
Pogba is back from suspension, and will be vitally important for United over the Congested Christmas Period ™ - a series of fixtures which the official United website has caviled is more difficult for them than any of their rivals.
