GC: When Jose left and Ole Gunnar Solskjaer took over, you stayed on along with Michael Carrick and I suppose that showed what the club’s thoughts were on the work you had been doing?
KMcK: Right through my few years at the club they have been very positive and been very supportive of my work. Obviously with Ole coming in it was a big change for everyone at the club and a new start and I can only say that he has been great to work with. I think any of the staff or players who work under him would say that he is a great guy to work for, a good human being, he treats people well, he supports people in their roles and he allows people to be the best they can be. It has been a change and a transition last year to work with him but it has been something that I have really enjoyed and hopefully it can continue in the future for a long time.
GC: You yourself worked with the youth at the club and Manchester United has always been a club that has been renowned for bring youth players through to the first team to complement the stars that they buy. You worked with the likes Williams, Greenwood and Chong, is it important that these players can see a pathway into the first team?
KMcK: I think all clubs want and like to have youth players come through but at United it is a necessity. Recently we passed 4000 games, going back to 1937, were there has always been an academy graduate in the first team match day squad. That record is pretty much unparalleled across the world and that is something the club and the supporters are massively proud of.You can see that connection with the crowd when there is a home grown player on the pitch. It is a huge part of the club and it is a credit to all the people who have helped to keep that run going. I think this year we have again had the most academy graduates of any club playing in the first team and, on a personal note, to have so many boys who I worked with when I was in the youth team set up who have now been getting that opportunity with the first team is a real positive. I think everyone at the club is determined to continue that.
GC: What advice would you have for the likes of Mason Greenwood and Brandon Williams if they are to continue progressing and become established Premier League players?
KMcK: Those two that you have mentioned have certainly made a good impact this year, they have played a lot of games and shown that they can operate at this level. The messages that we are continually giving them is that it is very, very early days in their career and they need to keep their feet on the floor and continue working hard in training, not take anything for granted and still appreciate day to day the privilege of the position that they are in. They have to keep pushing on and improving and eventually look to really establish themselves as first choice players in the team. We are lucky we have some good people around the club who have been there and seen it both in terms of the staff and some good senior pros in the team who set a good example and who keep on top of the young lads to make sure they keep doing everything right. The young players are certainly in a good place to continue that progression.
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