“ They also taught me the correct way to address the manager of Manchester United. Almost the first time I came across Alex Ferguson in the corridors of the Cliff, he said to me, ‘All right, Andrei, how’s it going?’

I smiled at him and replied, ‘Fuck off, Scottish b**tard.’

Ferguson stopped dead in his tracks and then began to smile as he heard laughter echoing down the corridor, while I stood there bewildered.”