Much was made of the speech that Wayne Rooney gave to his team mates ahead of the win against Tottenham Hotspur, at the start of our good run, which saw us also beat Liverpool and Manchester City.

Rooney has revealed what he discussed with the players during this time, and that he had asked Louis van Gaal not to be present.

“I’ve done a few throughout the season,” Rooney revealed. “I think a few of the players spoke about it, that one in particular. We’d got beaten in the FA Cup against Arsenal, and then we had Liverpool coming up, Man City coming up, so we knew we had some tough games. I just felt, as a reminder to the players, the football club we’re playing at, the standards you need to set. I asked the manager could I do it without any staff in the room. I just felt that would be easier for a few of the other players to speak up if they wanted to. They took it in and listened to it, and we went on a good run from then.”