Harrison: Wife said I was too harsh on Class of '92

Eric Harrison, the coach hailed for bringing through the brilliant Class of ’92, has explained to Gary Neville exactly what it entails to cut it at United. He also claimed that his wife told him that he was too harsh on the youngsters, claiming that he was a ‘disgrace’ for the way he spoke to them.

“The hunger has to be there,” he said. “If you don’t have the hunger you’ve got no chance. There were one or two in the group who weren’t hungry enough, they wouldn’t go that extra mile. That’s basically my job, to get them to do that. I have to give confidence to you guys. I know I used to slate you every now and again [but] you were successful. If I’d been namby-pamby with you, who knows? I had a job and it was to get players into the first team and make the team more successful than it was. I was hard. Occasionally I’d embarrass myself and I would apologise — occasionally. My wife came down to The Cliff [training ground] one Saturday morning with me — she doesn’t like football but we were going to the Trafford Centre in the afternoon — and heard me shouting and bawling. Back in the car, she said: ‘You’re a disgrace! You wouldn’t speak to your children like that, would you?'”