Sir Alex Ferguson prevented one of his players from buying a house as he wanted the former Manchester United striker to have "the best start" possible to his young career.
Back in the early 2000s, a teenage Daniel Nardiello was looking to get on the property market. He'd just been offered a three-year contract at United after impressing with the youth side, and things were looking up.
Nardiello, who joined the club from Wolves in 1999 for around £200,000 in compensation, would soon ask Ferguson for permission to buy his own house – a request that was soon denied by the no-nonsense Scot.
The striker would go on to make his debut for the club in a League Cup clash against Arsenal and even featured in the Champions League, but for him, this was one of the standout moments of his United career.
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In short, Nardeillo wasn't allowed to buy a property until he could cook for himself.
Speaking to the Daily Star, he explained: “I had my first three years at United, I'd done quite well in the youth teams and reserve level and Sir Alex offered me a three-year contract, which I was obviously going to take.
"But with the new contract, and my time at the digs coming to an end, I wanted to buy my own property, my own house to live in.
“But youth players need to have permission, so I had to knock on the door to ask if I can buy my own property. He was like 'No, I'm not letting you buy your own property unless you've had three months of cooking lessons with the chef at Carrington."
Nardeillo added: “So for three months, a couple of times a week, I was out cooking all the food for the first team players. I was in a bit earlier than I would normally be to help the chef.
"Once the three months were up, I knocked on the gaffer's door again and he allowed me to pursue buying a home and moving in to my own house.
"But it goes to show the level of detail he went into. He wanted to make sure the club was run properly from top to bottom, wanted to look after his players, making sure they had the best start."
Nardiello later revealed that he is no longer a good cook. "My wife doesn't want my cooking," he said. "It's once in a blue moon I cook, but it did give me a good grounding.”
As for the rest of his career, Nardiello left United to join Barnsley in 2005. He would later play for QPR, Blackpool, Exeter, Rotherham, Bury and Bangor City. The Coventry-born forward also picked up three caps for Wales.
Topics: Sir Alex Ferguson, Man Utd, Premier League, Transfers
Jack Kenmare