Andy Cole has revealed the most common recipient of a ‘yellow jersey’ – given to the ‘worst player’ in Manchester United training.
Cole spent six hugely successful years at Old Trafford, scoring over 100 goals for the Red Devils and helping the club win five Premier League titles, two FA Cups and the Champions League.
The legendary striker believes the ‘intensity’ of United’s training sessions helped the squad maintain a high level of performance in matches, claiming club training was more demanding than when he away with England.
To incentivise the squad during sessions, Cole revealed the ‘worst player’ in training would be handed a yellow jersey to wear for the following week.
Desperate to avoid the dreaded yellow jersey, the Manchester United players would be extra motivated to work hard in training and impress the coaches.
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‘The intensity in training was mad,’ Cole said on Rio Ferdinand’s YouTube channel. ‘It was more intense than England training.
‘The mentality of each player meant if you lost a training game you’d be vexed. We used to bring out the yellow jersey at the end of training for the worst player.
‘The worst player would get it and they had to wear it for the next week.’
Asked who often ended up with the yellow jersey, Cole said: ‘Pally. Pally used to get it a lot.’
Gary Pallister was a mainstay in the Manchester United team throughout the 1990s, lifting four Premier League trophies under Sir Alex Ferguson and being named in the PFA Team of the Year five times.
Responding to Cole’s reflections on the ‘yellow jersey’, Ferdinand said: ‘It would be a HR issue these days! Players would go saying they’re bullying me.
‘I remember before joining I asked Andy what it was like at Man United and the way he spoke about it used to half scare me a bit!
‘I would think, “is he lying?” He would talk about players crunching each other in training, he said the intensity in England training was nothing compared to United.
‘England training was hard too so I was thinking can I even go there?’
Cole insists the Manchester United squad ‘loved’ the intense training sessions, adding: ‘We loved it because you knew then that training had to be on it.
‘No one wanted to wear that jersey for the week. Players would get vexed about wearing it.
‘Imagine you’ve got to wear that yellow jersey for a week… people were getting upset. The intensity in training was always nuts.’
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