DC United striker Wayne Rooney has revealed that a group of five players "controlled" the Manchester United dressing room during the Sir Alex Ferguson era, in order to allow the Scot to focus on other things.
Rooney is rightly considered a United legend, having scored 253 goals in 559 appearances for the club after joining from Everton as a precociously-talented teen, helping the 'Red Devils to five Premier League titles, one FA Cup, three League Cups and one Champions League.
Whilst United had a reputation for signing the best players available during that era, Rooney says that a select group in the dressing room ensured that any egos were quickly stripped away for the good of the group.
"That would never be allowed to happen," he told TV show 'Men In Blazers', which is due to be broadcast on US sports network NBCSN on Monday.
"The likes of Ryan Giggs, Gary Neville, Paul Scholes, Rio Ferdinand, myself - players who had Man United in them and wanted the best for that club - would never allow anyone to mess that up.
"We controlled the dressing room ourselves. Alex Ferguson didn't really need to control that. The players had the trust of the manager to do that themselves."
Meanwhile, Rooney also played down his generation's reputation as a buccaneering attacking side, saying: "People talk about our team - especially in relation to Manchester United now - and say it was attack, attack, attack. But we actually weren't.
"A lot of games we played on the counter attack, drew teams into us and then broke with pace. We did it to Arsenal.
"It wasn't all 'let's just go out and attack' it was a bit more calculated against certain opponents which brought the best out of myself.
"We had the team built to hit teams on the break and we were devastating at it."