Inside Story of Andrei Kanchelskis visit to Carrington

Over a coffee, an espresso in Andrei’s case, we chatted generally about his career at United and football in general.

Admitting there had been a lot of nonsense rumoured and written about his shock exit in 1995, he was clearly still frustrated that injury had played the major role in his Old Trafford stint being cut annoyingly short. The fact he missed the 1995 FA Cup final against his soon-to-be-employers Everton still rankled and playing in pain and discomfort had been causing him issues in that 1994/95 season.

As one of three high-profile departures, alongside Paul Ince and Mark Hughes, it was a summer that rocked the fans and I was keen to reiterate just how fondly he is remembered here. And the sentiment was clearly reciprocated, with the ex-winger still enthralled by United and proud of his part in the success under Sir Alex (while Andrei Jnr supports Everton, Andrei’s daughter is a Red!)

He recalled how all teams would have star players back then, effortlessly reeling off a string of names of his peers and those he most respected, including Matt Le Tissier and Gianfranco Zola. Advocating the merits of playing with wingers, he also detailed how he would have to stay on after training to practice crossing, over and over again, as Ferguson looked to make his influence stick.

This was not a problem for Kanchelskis, who suggested the reason he settled so quickly, and seamlessly, into English football was because he was used to playing in the same system under legendary Russian boss Valery Lobanovsky.