Stepping into Sir Alex Ferguson's office during the height of his Manchester United powers was daunting enough as it was, doing so with the Old Trafford legend cradling a sword ratchets that up a notch.
Eddie Johnson went in seeking permission to move into his own place. A promising striker, the youngster was on the fringes of the first team and ready to move out of his digs.
"You had to go and ask him," recalls Johnson, during an anecdote-filled chat with the Manchester Evening News. "And he had a big long sword which I think Nelson Mandela gave to him. And sometimes he would just sit there holding it! Put it this way, I was guided where I could and couldn't go to live, I was told how much I should pay for my rent and I stuck to that."
It was an example of how Ferguson wielded power at Carrington and Old Trafford during a trophy-laden spell where United reigned supreme at home and in Europe. He knew everything and everyone and instilled a fear, respect and kindness that has forged thousands of careers and shaped the minds of plenty more who didn't make the grade.
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"It was all calculated," said Johnson, who spoke of the then-manager marching academy lads around the training ground if their cleaning and tidying jobs hadn't been completed to Brian McClair's standards. "He was teaching you standards and lessons. That fear needed to be there. But he was an incredible man.
"My stepdad and brother are huge Manchester United fans and they went to a book signing of his a few years ago and my mum went and he recognised her straight away. She probably hadn't seen him for 20 years but he asked after her, asked after me. The lessons you were being taught and what that football club brings, you needed to try and embrace."
It's easy with the benefit of age and experience but not necessarily a given for talented teenagers fuelled by hopes of becoming the next star off the United production line. The football requirements were one thing but meeting the people standards required and having the mindset to cope at the elite level meant there were tests aplenty.
"I didn't eat butter for a decade because of Gary Neville," laughs Johnson, of how the senior players policed the dressing room and shaped the youngsters coming through. "I struggled with body fat which was a big thing. He saw me putting butter on my toast at breakfast and he shouted across the canteen 'Eddie I am sure your body fat is too high.' And I froze. Even when I left the club I didn't eat butter!
"Sometimes I didn't want to see Gary Neville but when I left what I realised was that he was putting demands of what the first team expect from you. Some people recognise what is going on and I probably didn't but I have taken those lessons into everything I do now and so I owe the club a lot.
"Ryan Giggs was fantastic with the younger lads in terms of support and guidance. Roy Keane was the same. I had a conversation with Roy Keane about going out on loan to Coventry and whether I should stay at United and go on a pre-season tour (in 2004). He told me if I was going to be at Coventry all season, which I was, then he'd recommend going in there early in pre-season, working hard and gaining that respect at Coventry rather than going on a first-team tour with United and coming in late and upsetting the balance.
"Most of the senior lads were great. There were only three people at United I never really liked, (Fabien) Barthez, Laurent Blanc and Ruud (Van Nistelrooy). Laurent and Fabien wouldn't acknowledge you which was poor considering the rest of the first team were great. I didn't necessarily dislike Ruud but he made it tough for you. Gary Neville made it tough but never made you feel like you were below him, whereas Ruud was different. I felt he didn't like the young lads. He couldn't stand Ronaldo at first! He was making run after run and Ronaldo would take ages to pass the ball."
The introduction of Ronaldo prompts another anecdote, of a man so skilful he could almost literally tie players in knots.
"He did this move where he put it through a young lad's legs, he then went to close his leg and in trying crossed them over and just fell over. It was the most ridiculous skill I had ever seen," reflects Johnson, sipping a cold drink on a warm Cheshire day as we discuss his storied career.
In the end, it was the likes of Van Nistelrooy and Ronaldo and their world-class ability that hastened Johnson's decision to depart. He'd made one first-team appearance, off the bench in a League Cup win at Leeds United and impressed in loan spells at Royal Antwerp in Belgium, Coventry City in the Championship and former club Crewe.
But his path in Manchester was blocked by some of the best in the business and Johnson, perhaps displaying the maturity United had taught him, realised his career could only be kickstarted by moving on.
"Every time I did well either on loan or in training, the first team signed great players Ronaldo, Louis Saha, Rooney," he said. "I played Wayne with Under 18s at England and he stood out and was incredible. I knew I could play Championship football and I knew I had a career in the game and I had a bit of realism to know I maybe didn't have a top Premier League club in me. I didn't want to play reserve team football and wanted to kick on with my career. United could go and get the best players in the world so it was the right time for everyone."
Johnson, an FA Youth Cup winner with United in 2003, travelled with the first-team squad on numerous occasions including to Champions League games. His only appearance came in the cauldron of Elland Road on the night when United's former Leeds striker Alan Smith infamously chucked a water bottle into the home end. He only had eight minutes on the pitch but it was enough time to show what he could do, even if it earned a dressing down from Ferguson.
"The boss had been sent off and was serving a touchline ban," recalls Johnson of his debut. "Mick Phelan was on the sidelines and the boss was in the dressing room. I came on in extra time. A couple of my first passes I fired into Nicky Butt were a bit s*** and he let me know about it!
"I came on on the right of a three and I remember a ball got set back to me and Ian Harte was trying to close me down and I dinked it over his head. I had never done that before, haven't done it since! We were 3-2 up with a couple of minutes to play. Even though we won the boss ripped me a new one! But it was a great experience and one I'll never forget. It just gave me the bug."
That led to an English Football League career of more than 100 appearances including two strong seasons at Bradford. But financial pressure meant a reduced contract offer and a short spell at cash-strapped Chester - his hometown club - sucked the joy out of Johnson's game. An old mentor and a new challenge sparked a reinvention.
"Adrian Heath was over in the US (at second tier Austin Aztecs) and I spoke to him, he was assistant manager at Coventry when I was there and I always had a fantastic relationship with him. He said 'come out here for two weeks' so I asked Chester to cancel my contract and went out, trained and then I thought 'I could see myself being here'.
"For the first season, I had an injury and wasn't sure if I was going to go back, but went back the second year and scored 27 or 28 goals and was enjoying my football.
"It was a personal decision, going over there and I was embraced, got a level of respect for what I had done before which maybe I was missing a bit. I embraced the culture, the people."
That prompted a move to the MLS and the Portland Timbers, about to begin their first campaign as the latest franchise addition, but repeat head injuries meant the stay was shorter than hoped.
"In the space of a year I got three concussions in six months and was forced to retire," said Johnson, matter of factly. "I had two concussions in 10 days and the second was a bleed on the brain. I had six months off and then the first day back was the first day of pre-season, I had a clash with the goalkeeper in training and I woke up in hospital and I was told I couldn't keep risking it."
Johnson's final appearance had been against David Beckham's LA Galaxy - 'we got battered and he scored two' - and he is now a keen follower of the MLS from these shores. And the 38-year-old is in no doubt as to how much growth is still to come from a league that has secured the signing of Lionel Messi at Beckham's Inter Miami and will begin the 2025 season with 30 clubs, up from 19 a decade ago and three times the size of the original line-up in 1996.
"The MLS is a fantastic league," he said. "The travel and time zones are challenging but the players are athletic, the commitment is high, the professionalism is high. I've been gone eight years but it has gone from strength to strength with TV deals, players going out there, it will keep going and going. I think the next franchise is costing half a billion, it just shows the opportunity.
"I get so many players asking about going over to the MLS and it is not going over for the back end of my career and a pay day. Now players want to go with a bit more left in the tank.
"The stadiums are football-specific, the money has increased which helps attract better players. It is great to see it grow and one day I would like to go back there in some capacity. I know my partner would like that but we've got too many kids in school! It was a great part of a journey."
Johnson's journey has come almost full circle with a job working for the Premier League, helping assist clubs with academy football. It takes him back to Old Trafford on a regular basis.
"I can always go back in and get advice," he said. "If I was doing charity work I can go in. It still has that feel and soul even though the boss left a while ago.
"There's a weight difference to a United player, that tag sits with you. I still get introduced as Eddie who played for United. Sometimes it is uncomfortable and sometimes I get the benefits. But I am proud of it."
Fergie too, would be proud of the career and the character of one of his former players. He might even put the sword down.
