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."
