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Modern managers have a lot of demands on them, and many feel, with justification, that they do not have the time to commit to watching the junior sides.
Paul Scholes
I worked with many great assistants to Sir Alex Ferguson over the years. Yet sometimes a manager's second-in-command is more suited to that role than any other. You confide in them - you tell them things that you would not tell the manager - and they are that bridge between the boss and the players.
Sometimes fear can bring performances out from you.
To go and watch Manchester United, whether it's home or away, is entertainment; it's goals - whether you concede goals or whether you can score goals.
St James' Park was always, in the course of my career, a great place to play football, for the wildness of the crowd and the no-holds-barred football that both my team, Manchester United, and Newcastle would play.
There was no better manager at developing young players than Sir Alex. He knew just when to bring them in and take them out, and he believed in Paul Pogba. For once, in Paul's case, it did not work out. The timing was wrong, and the difference between expectation on the player's side and the manager's idea of his development did not match up.
Part of being a Manchester United player under Sir Alex Ferguson, perhaps the most important part of being one of United's attacking players was that when you were in possession, you had to take risks in order to create goal-scoring chances. It was not an option; it was an obligation.
Saturday afternoon is the hardest thing. I can go out and watch games, but I'm constantly on my phone looking at results: what score is this, what score is that. You have no real involvement, but you're obsessed with it.
There were players I shared a dressing room with who didn't like each other. You don't have to talk to each other. You just need to win matches.
The way a top team develops means that once you have won the league title, the natural step is to try to win the Champions League.
At United, we never used to change our style much away from home. The aim was always to score goals and dominate the match.
My view is that the signing of players should be a simple process. The chief scout identifies them, the manager decides who he wants, and the chief executive is dispatched to do the deal. It really is as simple as that.
At United, we like to have wingers who give the team width and pace.
People say that Rooney could have been like Lionel Messi, a more prolific goalscorer who dribbles past opponents more. But they are different characters. You will never see Messi snapping around the heels of an opponent to win the ball back deep in his own half. Wayne does that all the time, and sometimes that enthusiasm will count against him.
As players, we were paid to do a job we loved - in my case, at the club I supported. And nothing I did could be allowed to interfere with that. The manager would not have permitted it.
I never wanted to lose my place in the United team, much less my place at the club. What went on beyond the pitch was none of my business.
When you are playing for a top club, when the pressure is on, when scrutiny is everywhere, you need some privacy. You need a place away from public view where people can be open, and, at times, difficult conversations need to be had.
Messi is as famous as any footballer has ever been, and yet, when it comes down to it, we don't know much about him. I read that he is a family man and likes to walk his dogs, but beyond that, he's a mystery, really. I like that.
As a club, there was never any middle ground with Newcastle. They were as high as the sky or in a pit of despair.
As a player, I loved being tackled, whether it was in training or in a game. I took a full-blooded challenge as an invitation to do exactly the same thing to an opponent. I would wait for my opportunity and nine times out of 10, I would get him back.
I don't go looking for the post-match team pictures posted by players on Instagram, but usually, someone ends up showing them to me, or I notice them when they get printed in the newspapers.
OK, so I never had a transfer in my career, but I used to love deadline day: Dimitar Berbatov turning up at Manchester airport with hours to go, Robinho coming to Manchester City instead of Chelsea.
When I started as a pro at United, I played alongside Bryan Robson in the A-team and later in the senior side. With Bryan, it didn't matter what level we were playing or which one of his team-mates got kicked. Within five minutes, you could guarantee that the opponent in question would be in a heap on the floor, courtesy of Bryan.
In the periods of my career when I stopped passing the ball forward or when I stopped looking for the risky pass that might open up a defence, the consequences were the same. The manager stopped picking me. I got back into the team when I went back to doing it the way he wanted.
At first sight, Pogba was notable for his size and physicality, and when you got to know him, there was also a confidence about him.
Pirlo is a cool customer who does things in his own time. On the pitch, he just looks so relaxed, no matter what is going on around him. He is one of those greats who looks like he could run a midfield with a glass of red wine in one hand.
Peter Schmeichel could make the goal look much smaller when you glanced up to hit a shot.
I am always loath to assign goalkeepers too much importance, but you have to make an exception for the greats.
Let me tell you what it is like playing against Messi. You are up against a footballer who can take the ball either side of you, and you have no idea which side that might be from any hint about his body-shape.
I like to watch batsmen who will entertain and, as things stand, an opening spell from Jimmy Anderson is about as good as it gets.
It goes without saying that no one at United ever expected any help. We understood that decisions can go against you. We believed we were the better team, and therefore, if the referee got his decisions right, then we would win the vast majority of our games.
On my mum Marie's side, my nana was from the Republic of Ireland, and my granddad was from the north. Lots of families in Manchester have strong Irish connections, but it never occurred to me to play for anyone other than England.
We know Mourinho can win league titles - he is brilliant at it - but how long can he do it at one club?
As a young footballer at United, Steve Bruce was one of the senior pros I really admired.
The game changes so quickly, and you have to get yourself in a position mentally where you can deal with whatever is thrown at you.
The end of a career comes to us all, and there is not a lot you can do about that.
If you want a measure of how private a place the dressing room was when I was growing up at Manchester United, consider this: even Sir Alex Ferguson would knock before coming into the dressing room at the Cliff, the old training ground. The dressing room is for the players - and the players only.
I played for 20 years for Sir Alex Ferguson, and he could be a scary man.
At United, my United, we had been honed into a ruthless team who played great football but, ultimately, were there to win football matches and league titles. At Newcastle, they could certainly play on their day, and the crowd was formidable, but there was a weakness - a vulnerability that you could seek out.
You have to be careful when you time a move to one of the biggest clubs. Occasionally, these young players do not realise what a good thing they are on to when they know that they will be playing every week.
Let me be clear: I am sick of having to criticise the club which I gave my life to as a footballer.
United fans don't care if the team only has 40 per cent possession as long as they are watching an attacking team. My experience was that the supporters understood that even our best teams, even the teams with Peter Schmeichel or Edwin van der Sar in goal, were going to concede goals.
United's history was built on attacking football, which does not always mean that the team kept clean sheets or did not concede chances.
We played 63 games in the treble-winning season of 1999, and I cannot remember feeling tired once. We won the league title with the last game of the season, and along the way, we knew that in any game we could miss out on this chance of a lifetime to win all three. We had 22 players who were ready to be called on at any moment.
As a finisher, there are few players as composed as Messi. When you can score as many different kinds of goal as he can, you have every reason to be confident.
All good players need to be appreciated.
When I finally quit for the second time in the summer of 2013, I had accepted that this really was the end, and, having got over that, the move into retirement was a lot easier.
At some point, a young player has to grasp the opportunity and make himself undroppable.
If you go down the leagues, you have to understand what level you're working with, and if you get frustrated, then it's not going to ever happen for you. That's why a lot of managers don't succeed where they should do.
Our modern coaching culture is not to put too much pressure on any one performance, to let an individual flourish over time.
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