In 2006, Salford Star photographer, Steven Speed, gained access to the block at The Cliff that housed the manager’s office, personal bathroom, a small gym, a tiny canteen and elementary changing facilities. The place had hardly been touched since Alex Ferguson left for Carrington over six years earlier…
By today’s standards, facilities at The Cliff were frighteningly stark. A tiny gym with a few weights and bicycles, a canteen that would make a school dinner hall come on like the Ivy, a communal bath, leatherette covered treatment tables, red plastic chairs everywhere. The whole place, suffused within brutalist architecture, screams cheap early seventies chic…
…However, this was the place where football wizardry was honed…where some of the coolest soccer icons on the planet came to work, and is even claimed to be the inspiration behind the Class of ‘92s takeover at Salford City FC up the road.
Things to note on the photos…
On the photo of the whiteboard is written the Manchester United philosophy of the time. It states:
Remember…
1. Play Quick
2. Don’t get beat
3. Play with style
4. This is Manchester United
Note also the ‘space age’ pea green phone on Fergie’s desk and the very basic shower curtain in his bathroom. Meanwhile the gravel-level shot of the car park shows personalised spaces for Ryan Giggs (RG) and Roy Keane (RK).
Look out also for team names on the exercise scoreboard…Quinton Fortune beat Roy Keane, Teddy Sheringham and Nicky Butt on the bike, and also beat Roy Keane and Jesper Blomqvist rowing, but Keane came out top doing step…
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