ERIC LAUDS FERGIE

Last updated : 09 November 2006 By Ed

"It is difficult enough to train for a game on a Saturday but when you are training for a game that is nine months away?

"I decided I'd had enough. But I have given up many times in my life for one day - then everything comes back. It's just that the people around me don't know that.

"But I also need people around me to have confidence in me. It is important for me to feel that. Of course the manager helped me in that respect because he showed me he wanted me to play for Manchester United.

"All the journalists and the media were against me, this time maybe they were right. But Sir Alex Ferguson and the club showed they had confidence in me."

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"Maybe I was the missing piece but I was no more important than anyone else. There were a lot of big players in that side and we all had a big impact. When we first won the league in 1993, it was like liberation. We won the double the year after but it was a great shame we could not play together in Europe."