My anger was directed more at Lee than Ryan because there had been other signs of waywardness in Lee’s off-field behaviour. I may have contributed to such tendencies by allowing him to have his own house when he was far too young (at the time of the escapade he was still only twenty).
I look back on my dealings with Lee Sharpe as a disappointing episode in my years at United. My experiences with him trouble me more than those with Paul McGrath. Here was a boy who had a chance of making it big. He possessed just about everything a wide attacking player needs to be successful in top-flight football other than the ability to beat a man by dribbling. His pace, crossing, goalscoring and passing were all of a high standard and so were his physique and stamina. His rise in the game was swift but I soon concluded that his lifestyle was accelerating even more spectacularly. Little titbits about his conduct had been fed back to me from different sources.
When I challenged him he was quick with denials but they did not have much credibility once I had learned about the outing to Blackpool and then charged in on his party. I had tried to warn him about how fast living would slow him down. ‘Sharpie, to make it to the top in football you need to sacrifice,’ I told him. ‘If you lose that great speed of yours, you will end up an ordinary player. It is your biggest asset and it is mainly responsible for your success. But please don’t take it for granted.’ Lee is with Bradford now and I hope their promotion to the Premiership helps him to revive his career. I found him a lovely lad, with a wonderful smile, and his failure to make the best of his immense potential while he was with us filled me with sadness. He should have developed into a footballer of real significance at Old Trafford, instead of rather losing his way with us before being transferred to Leeds for £4.5 million in 1996.
Cases like his make me want to exert an influence on young players that goes far beyond their football. I have no desire to run their private lives but I am keen to educate them about the dangers they encounter as their careers progress, especially about how damaging a freewheeling attitude to drink can be. I believe that some day soon we will be able to test them each morning and if they have been drinking they will simply be sent home. Future contracts may be constructed to counter the kind of behaviour that reduces a player’s capacity to fulfil his obligations. There is too much money in football now for it to accommodate the laxity that prevailed in the past.