My Idea Of Fun

Lee Sharpe

Lee Sharpe burst onto the scene at Old Trafford as a seventeen-year-old flying winger: fast, skilled, confident and clearly enjoying his football. The fans took him to heart as the first sign of the rebirth of the club under Alex Ferguson. At the start of the 1990s, with the Madchester scene in full swing, Sharpe enjoyed all the fruits of being young, good-looking and wealthy: he enjoyed a party and the company of women. After all, wasn't this what he'd worked so hard to get?

But increasingly his lifestyle came into conflict with Fergie's wishes and in the end, feeling his spirit being crushed, he decided to leave Old Trafford and moved to their rivals Leeds. It was only when he got there, and played under George Graham and David O'Leary that he began to realise just how good Fergie really was. It was the beginning of the end for him as a top-level player, and when he was sacked for having a drink five days before a game at Iceland's Grindavik, he decided enough was enough. Sharpe's story tells of a period when it was still just about possible to have fun and be a Premiership player, when a team would go out drinking together to celebrate. Sharpe tells it like it was, and you will wish you had been there with him.