Danny Higginbotham: Being sold by Manchester United to Derby was the best thing for my career
Timing is everything in football, especially in the transfer window for young players... and I knew I had to leave
IT WAS late June 2000, I was 21, living at home with mum and dad and had signed a four-year deal with Manchester United the summer before.
Everything was good. I was happy. Then the phone rang. I answered. It was Sir Alex Ferguson...
He asked how my summer had been, the usual. Then he said Derby had made an offer for me and United had accepted.
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Transfer windows are an uncertain time for clubs but they are too for players, especially young players. It’s easy to forget that. Whole careers hinge on decisions made — and often the player has little say.
Back in 2000, I was surprised. Sir Alex said I could stay if I wanted but he also said Phil Neville, Denis Irwin and Mikael Silvestre were ahead of me. Rightly so. They were brilliant, better than me.
Two things crossed my mind. One, I believed if Sir Alex wanted me to stay then he would not have told me about the offer. Or two, he would have told me but said we don’t want you to go. Instead, he gave me 24 hours to think about it.
I’d only known United. I had been there since I was ten. I’d played a few Premier League games the previous season. I could have stayed and fought for my place.
But I knew before I’d put the phone down that I would leave.
I wasn’t heartbroken. I supported United as a boy, I had been with them a long time — but I was a realist.
The squad was phenomenal. I wasn’t good enough. Simple as that.
I knew that at 21 I wasn’t about to break into that team. I didn’t want another season in the reserves or just playing cup games. I would have stagnated. This was my career.
It was great to be at a club like United but I was happy to go. It was sink or swim. I had to be brave.
I’d seen others playing reserve footie at 23 and I didn’t want to outstay my welcome. Your career can be over before it’s begun if you get caught like that. Each year that ticks by lessens your chances.
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Sir Alex was good at looking after youngsters and getting good moves for them. He struck while the iron was hot. Because I had played a bit the season before, I was on clubs’ radars. And it was another Premier League club in for me.
The next day I told United I would leave and the day after that I flew out to see Derby boss Jim Smith in Spain with my new agent — I’d had to hurriedly get one as I didn’t have one at United!
When I had signed my four-year deal at United, it was all done very quickly.
Sir Alex called me and Ronnie Wallwork into his office and said, ‘Listen lads, you’re progressing well. Here’s your offer. Go and have a think and come back and let me know what you want to do’.
Ronnie and I went to the canteen and grabbed a cuppa. I looked at him and said, ‘I’ll sign if you sign’. He said, ‘OK’.
So we did. We didn’t even read the terms. It was United! We weren’t going to turn it down, were we? Within five minutes we were back in Sir Alex’s office with signed contracts.
Anyway, going to Derby was an eye-opener. It was the right move for me but I’ll never forget my first training session. It was full-on running. It was unbelievably hard. Afterwards I spewed up everywhere.
I was lying on my back with the sun beating down, feeling awful, when a shadow loomed over me. I opened my eyes and it was coach Steve Round.
“You all right?” he asked. “No,” I said. “I feel terrible!”
“Get used to it,” he said. “You’ve come from a club that spends 80 per cent of the time with the ball to one that spends 80 per cent of the time chasing it.”
For the first six months it was a real shock. As a United full-back, it was all about attacking. Or at centre-back, it was about giving it to the midfielder. Now it was about defending.
I had to change my game and learn the art. I was in and out for the first six months until I’d got to grips with a new club. But it was the right move for my career. No doubt about it.
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