SAF ON THE FAC

How difficult is it preparing your team for the FA Cup final when there are
so many distractions in Cup final week?

"We've taken the precaution of going to Cardiff on the Wednesday because of
our experience of Cup final weeks – it's a different week. People hunt for tickets, the phone goes, the press annoy you!"

Is the FA Cup still important to you?

"It's a trophy, and a very important one. The romance of the FA Cup has been
with Manchester United for a long, long time. We've won it more times than any
other side and we have been in more finals. It's been an important trophy to us. It doesn't figure in terms of disappointment if you win an FA Cup; you can't be
disappointed. At the start of the season, we always say we want to win a trophy. This is our chance to do that. Although it may not be the number one priority, it is still one of the three trophies that you want to win."

Everyone expects you to win comfortably against Millwall – how do you
avoid complacency setting in among the players?

"You hope it doesn't surface. I trust the players in that respect. I have to. If you
think about 90 per cent of the games we play in, we are playing underdogs. So, why should this be any different? You can never guarantee it because we have
lost to underdogs in the past in league games, and it's happened in the FA Cup.
We lost a final to Southampton in 1976 when they were in the old Second
Division, so we can't go into this game thinking that it won't happen. We've got to make sure it doesn't happen – and that means focus, attitude and ability."

How can you compare this game to other cup finals you have played in?

"In my first final here, in which none of the current players played in, was against a team of character: Crystal Palace. They had a few warriors in their team and they made it a bloody difficult day for us."

How do you cope with telling players that they are not playing in an FA Cup
final?

"That's an area which I cannot escape from. I've got to pick a team. In the 17
years I have had here I've had to pick teams in important situations. There is no easy way. If I thought I could play thirteen players without the referee countingthem and noticing at the start of the game then I'd be okay. But that isn't possible. I've got to pick eleven players and because of that I am going to
disappoint one or two players."

Many of the squad have taken part in the competition this season…

"In the Community Shield you have seven subs. To think that you could have a
player that scored a really important goal or had a really important game in the early rounds and I have to leave him out completely. Not picking a player is the worst part, but there is at least some consolation in picking that player on the
bench. A lot of the players have taken part in the FA Cup this season, and that is a big disappointment if you are not even on the bench. I still think there are
grounds, on big occasions like the World Cup games, for more subs. What's hard for players is sitting there with their suits on not taking and not even being on the bench."

Is it the worst part of the build-up to a final?

"Yes, I think so. In our last final, I didn't play Nicky Butt because I couldn't afford him to be injured without having Keane or Scholes in the European Cup final. So, I had a luxury of there being a European Cup final as a big consolation! Jesper Blomqvist also knew he was going to play in the European Cup final. I didn't use him against Newcastle and that kept him fresh. But I don't have that this time. I've got to pick the team that is going to win."

How do you go about telling somebody they are not playing in the final?

"The players understand the way I go about it. There is no easy way, but I tell
them. I don't put the team up on the notice board; I don't run away from it. I had experience myself as a player of being told at 2:10, as top goalscorer, I wouldn't be playing. You have to be told privately. By doing that, in some way, you are recognising the importance of the player. It's a very important part that. I could be wrong, I could pick the wrong team. I say that to the player, I say 'I may be wrong here', but I have to go with my instinct."

Have you ever picked the wrong team for a cup final?

"I've not lost many finals here. But I picked the wrong team when I was at
Aberdeen, in a league cup final replay against Dundee United. We lost 3-0. I
knew before the game that I had picked the wrong team. We had a problem. We had a young player who was taken ill. I had spent my time [in the build up to the final] with his family. I just couldn't get my head around working with the team. So, I went with the team that had played on the Saturday before. I knew they were going to change their team."

What did you do about it?

"I was sitting in the stand because I was banned from the touchline - I don't know why. I was looking around the directors' box and thinking 'who can I send down to the dug-out to change it. The old chairman at the time was about 82 at the time. And Dundee is a very difficult place because you have to go right down and around a track by the side of the pitch. It was a five-minute job. So I just suffered in silence. But, that's just what happens in finals – in any game. You've got a squad of players, you're talking about marginal things, a minor detail or reason why you are playing a player. Most of the time, form picks the team. Sometimes it's only a small detail."