‘I look back at United and think, what if?’
Local boy Phil Bardsley left Old Trafford ‘goldfish bowl’ to forge a career in the top flight, writes Mike McGrath
Phil Bardsley butts in immediately when his age is mentioned: “I don’t look it, do I?” The Burnley full-back is 34, but at heart is just a Salford lad who hangs out with mates when not playing football.
For instance, the infamous footage five years ago of him boxing in Wayne Rooney’s kitchen and flooring his friend. “Yeah, we used to knock f--out of each other all the time,” Bardsley said. “Not necessarily me at his house but in terms of him sparring people, yeah – we’re just normal kids from an estate.
“We’re getting ready for when we retire. We’re just negotiating with Eddie Hearn. I want it at MGM in Vegas or New York.”
There are no plans for Bardsley to hang up his boots just yet. He is in the 17th year of a career that started at Manchester United, which he likened to a goldfish bowl given that he was the local boy made good.
It was at Sunderland where he grew up, helped by proper boxing training. During Steve Bruce’s time at the club, Bardsley trained at Moss Side Leisure Centre in the summers before heading back to the North-East. Along with another spell at Stoke City, it has been over a decade since Bardsley played a Championship game, making him ideally suited to Burnley’s push for survival, although not too old for the hairdryer treatment from Sir Alex Ferguson.
“I saw him 18 months ago and he still gave me a b------ing for not having a shave,” Bardsley said. “I was walking where we live across the road and a big, black Merc pulled out and reversed in.
“He stopped and rolled his window down. ‘What have I told you, son? Have a f------ shave’. I’m 33 at the time, stood there trying to cross the road, and I’ve just had a b------ing from the gaffer. I was only going to the wife’s shop to pick something up.”
There is a tinge of regret at what could have been at United. Ferguson pulled him into his office on occasion – and not because of his stubble.
“I do look back at my younger days at United and think what might have happened if I had made a few different choices,” Bardsley said. “Coming from Salford and playing for United meant I was always living in a goldfish bowl. “When you’re at home, hanging around with your mates, then maybe you start taking things a little bit for granted. Maybe I could have done better at United – or maybe Gary Neville was just too f------ good!”
It was as a youngster at United that the foundations were laid for Bardsley’s Premier League career. He was friends with players who were then stars of the Premier League, watching how they conducted themselves and getting
Roy Keane’s view on where he was going wrong.
“Roy was quite firm, with the youth team coming over, like youth team players not passing properly, this, that and the other,” Bardsley said.
“He used to give me a bit of stick. I used to spend a lot of time with the older players at United in preseason and things like that, not to be nosy, just to look at what they were eating.
“When Roy was firm with me, I remember chatting to Ole [Gunnar Solskjaer] in the gym and he turned round and said, ‘The day he stops doing that is the day to worry’.
He told me to go and think about it. Roy must have thought I was worth the trouble.”
Wherever Bardsley has been playing, his home has always been Salford. Tanya, his “missus”, stars in The Real Housewives of Cheshire on comfortable at the Lower Kersal Social Club, which is run by his parents.
“My mum and dad have still got the club. I used to help out behind the bar and collecting glasses every now and then,” he said. “That was instilled in me – work hard and stay grounded and focused.
“I know I can go in there – good times and bad times – because no one really cares who I am because they’ve all known me all my life.”
Bardsley says that Tanya gets spotted more when they are both out. He is happy in the background. At the moment, he is concentrating on keeping Burnley in the Premier League, starting with facing Leicester City today in a run of matches that also pits them against Manchester United and Arsenal next in the Premier League.
“It’s about rolling sleeves up, bouncing back, looking around the dressing room, grabbing each other and getting the best out of each other,” he said.
“That’s the only way you can do it. If you start moping about and sulking, there’s only one way you’re going to go and that’s down.”
Bardsley is keeping his options open for when he eventually retires but is not ruling out coaching, or a management partnership with his old sparring partner Rooney.
“So you never know, further down the line two fiery characters in one dressing room,” he said. “That could be dangerous.”