‘He went ballistic at me!’: Danny Higginbotham reveals Peter Schmeichel raged at him for NOT sending Denis Irwin ‘flying’ during Manchester United training session
- Danny Higginbotham has recalled a feisty encounter with Peter Schmeichel
- Schmeichel raged at him after not going full-blooded into a tackle in training
- The never-say-die spirit was the recipe to United’s treble success back in 1999
- United won the Premier League, FA Cup and Champions League 20 years ago
Danny Higginbotham has fascinatingly revealed the time Peter Schmeichel raged at him for not taking out Denis Irwin during Manchester United training.
Higginbotham featured a handful of times for the first-team during a period of dominance for United, which saw them win the historic treble in 1999.
And during one of his first times training with Sir Alex Ferguson’s star-studded squad, the Englishman has recalled an intimidating encounter with former goalkeeper Schmeichel during training for not going full-blooded into a tackle.
Danny Higginbotham had a feisty encounter with Peter Schmeichel during Man United training
Higginbotham played a handful of games for English giants United during years of 1997-2000
Higginbotham, speaking on a special talkSPORT documentary about United’s famous treble-winning season, explained: ‘I remember one of the first times I trained with the first team, it was actually over Christmas, and we were training at The Cliff and it was only a day or so before a first-team game and I was playing left back while Denis Irwin was playing right back for the other team.
‘He’s running at me and he’s played a one-two and it was one of them situations where the pitch is quite icy and I’m thinking to myself, “I could dive in here, win the ball and send a player in Dennis Irwin flying” and he’s a very important player for United.
‘It’s not something you want to be doing a day before a game as a 17-year-old kid. So I didn’t. Schmeichel went ballistic at me. Oh yes – he went ballistic at me. It was a really quick learning curve to train how you play.’
Schmeichel raged at Higginbotham for not sending Denis Irwin ‘flying’ during training
The fully committed and never-say-die spirit was the recipe to United’s success 20 years ago under Ferguson.
United enjoyed their most successful ever season back in 1999, winning the Premier League, FA Cup and Champions League as they became the most feared team around.
Ferguson’s side remarkably won the Champions League against Bayern Munich, coming from 1-0 behind to win thanks to injury-time goals from Teddy Sheringham and Ole Gunnar Solskjaer.
United remarkably won the treble back in 1999 under the management of Sir Alex Ferguson
