The two games that inspired Scott McTominay
Scott McTominay has picked out two of his favourite memories of attending Old Trafford when he was rising through the ranks with our Academy.
United return to Premier League action at the Theatre of Dreams against Nottingham Forest on Tuesday evening, almost two months since our last top-flight outing in M16.
With Christmas done and dusted but the fixture schedule about to go into overdrive – United will play at home at least nine times between now and the end of February – fans will be eager to see their heroes in regular action once again.
Scott was once in that position himself, as he told the Forest edition of United Review, our official matchday programme.
McTominay and his fellow youth-team players were always in attendance for senior games and he remembers being inspired by what he saw.
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“There are too many memories from when you’re a kid,” he began.
“Every game, the youth team used to go and watch the first team. We were up in the gods, in the highest tier you could possibly get at Old Trafford, but we loved it.
“Every two or three weeks, we’d go and watch the first team and it would give you the inspiration and the feeling that we wanted to get there one year and that we’d do everything in our power to get there.
“That’s what young kids should be doing when they come to watch the first team at Old Trafford. They should have the same mentality and want to go to the next level.”
Scott’s prime recollections come between 2010 and 2015, a span of time in which Sir Alex Ferguson won his final two league titles before retiring.
Our legendary former manager's final home game, a 2-1 win against Swansea City in May 2013, is high on the midfielder's list of matches he attended, as is an all-time peach of a strike from Wayne Rooney.
“I was at Sir Alex’s last game,” Scott added.
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“I was in the crowd, with all the red banners held up and stuff like that, which was an amazing atmosphere.
“But I would probably say Wayne Rooney’s overhead kick [against Manchester City in 2011] was something that I’ll never forget.
“I was sat with the now first-team kitman Ian Buckingham and it was just crazy. I’ll never forget that. It was special.”