I was sick of Man Utd and p***ed off at board.. I had to quit or I was going to blow, reveals Class of 92 legend
A MANCHESTER UNITED legend has revealed why he had to quit the club – TWICE!
This 48-year-old was part of the iconic Class of ‘92 alongside the Neville brothers, David Beckham and Paul Scholes.
He went on to win six Premier League titles, the Champions League and three FA Cups before joining Newcastle in 2004.
The former midfielder spent six years with the Magpies, which included a season-long loan at Birmingham, before finishing his playing career in Hong Kong with South China.
The 39-capped ex-England international returned to Old Trafford in 2012 as United’s reserve boss.
Four years later he was named the head of academy and, after briefly helping out interim manager Ryan Giggs with the seniors following David Moyes’ sacking, he was then tasked with being the head of first-team development in 2019.
However, following nine years as part of the coaching set-up, this icon left United again after over two decades of service in March 2021.
The man we are talking about, of course, is none other than Nicky Butt.
Now in an interview with the Daily Mail, he has revealed that interfering directors left him “p***ed off” so much that he had to leave.
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Butt said: “My vision and my philosophy and what I was brought up on at Man United didn’t go with the people running the club so it was time to leave.
“I am not saying I was right all the time but I knew if I didn’t leave I was gonna blow. And that wouldn’t be good.”
Having left his boyhood team twice, Butt is adamant that the second time was nowhere near as heartbreaking as the first.
He said: “Scholes and [Roy] Keane were better than me but I always played in the big games because we would play a three in midfield. So I was okay. Not always dead happy but okay.
“But I truly couldn’t stand players who were not as good as me playing instead of me. Kleberson, Djemba-Djemba. Just because they had been bought.
“I couldn’t have it so I left. But it was hard. The second time, two years back, wasn’t hard because I realised I couldn’t be there anymore.”
Butt is far from done with football though, and he has just recently been appointed as chief executive of League Two side Salford City – who he part-owns with former United team-mates Gary and Phil Neville, Scholes, Beckham and Ryan Giggs.
He added: “You don’t go through seven years of coaching badges to toss it off and not do it again. But I got to a fork in the road and I went the other way. I wasn’t happy at United so I left. I had a bit of a chip on my shoulder if I am honest.
“I was sick of people upstairs telling me about football. If I was to tell people in the boardroom how to run a football club they would just look at me wouldn’t they? But they have the right to talk about developing players? So I was p***ed off about it.
“Eventually I left but before that I went and did a CEO course. I didn’t ever want to be one. I just wanted to be more in tune with a chief exec, to be more empathetic.
“But then the world spins round and all of a sudden last year this job comes up and here I am. I’m enjoying it.”