The Football Insider with Mikael Silvestre: When Sir Alex bought me a turkey!

There has been a lot of questions from people asking what life was like in the Old Trafford dressing room under the management of the legendary Sir Alex Ferguson.

I will be dropping those memories in throughout the season but I thought looking back on my festive memories at Manchester United would give you an insight into some of the reasons we were so successful.

I had no idea when I signed for United what the festive football fixtures was like – and when I saw we were playing games on Boxing Day and pretty much every few days my jaw dropped!

But what was clear is that Sir Alex would treat us like adults and allow us to celebrate with family and friends at the right time. I remember that first year Andy Cole and Dwight Yorke coming round for dinner and that really helped me settle in.

The manager also made sure I got a lovely big turkey as a present to cook at Christmas which came as a big surprise when it was delivered to my house.

Team spirit at United was massive and with the games coming thick and fast in December we spent a lot of time together and it is that bonding that I think paid a major role in our success. Nobody was left out and we all looked out for each other.

The famous English football Christmas party was organised at United by Cole, Yorke and Gary Neville – and I don’t think there is anyone in football history who knows how to throw a party quite like Yorkie.

The Christmas Day training session wasn’t something I was looking forward to that first season but again the manager did the right thing and made it a lot of fun and light-hearted – taking the pressure off us at a vital time.

That was a key part of his man management in understanding that we all had a house full of relatives to keep happy as well as winning football matches.

At United we had a reputation of our best form coming in the second half of the season but I look back at those festive periods and think we won titles at that time by getting wins and nicking draws when we may have lost.

Sometimes the football is not that pretty but you get out there and get the job done.

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