Premier League: Manchester United Training Ground – Legendary manager Sir Alex Ferguson has revealed that Manchester United’s Carrington training complex could be turned into a potato field due to an extreme and unusual legal clause. In a recent interview with the United Podcast, Sir Alex revealed when his side moved from the cliff training ground to Carrington in 2000, the move included a number of extreme clauses that the club had to agree to in order to buy the land.
One of the clauses inserted in the paperwork included leaving areas untouched for Canadian geese and voles, as well as turning their training ground into a potato farm should a war breaks out. Although extremely unlikely, United could be legally bound to comply with the agreement if ever required.
Premier League: Sir Alex Ferguson reveals BIZARRE war clause that will turn Manchester United’s Carrington training ground into potato field
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The former United boss told the united podcast, “The cliff was great when I first came, but then the club grew. We had to put an extension in the indoor place for the boys to dress because we had no space in the actual building. So, then I started to wander around Manchester looking for a piece of ground that we could build a new training ground on. We were hunting everywhere, in North Manchester in particular.”
Premier League: “Former chief scout and academy director Les Kershaw came to me and his friend worked for Shell. He said ‘Shell are trying to sell some of their ground over at Carrington’… so we went to see,” Sir Alex Ferguson added.
“The size of the land we were getting, I think it was 28 acres or something, but there were restrictions which I can’t understand today.”
Premier League: Sir Alex Ferguson reveals BIZARRE war clause that will turn Manchester United’s Carrington training ground into potato field
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Premier League: Ferguson went on to explain these strange restrictions, as he revealed: “Part of the restrictions were, in the event of war we had to turn the ground into potato fields, and up at the very end, there had to be an acre or two acres for Canadian geese.
Premier League: Manchester United Carrington training ground clauses
- In case of a war, the ground has to be turned into a potato firm.
- One acre has to be reserved for Canadian geese.
- Voles and moats were already made the ground their home and United were not supposed to change much.
“There were moats and we couldn’t change them because voles were living in them. We couldn’t do anything really.”
However, despite Ferguson staying loyal to the terms of the agreement, he added that this had been completely ignored since his departure in 2012, as Louis van Gaal made his mark on the training ground after David Moyes was sacked.
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