Wes Brown: The Truth About The Treble, Incredible Sir Alex Stories & Marking Lionel Messi!

Wes Brown joins Paul Scholes, Nicky Butt and Paddy McGuinness on The Good, The Bad & The Football for a brilliant trip through his time at Manchester United. Wes explains how one teammate being sick unexpectedly changed his career path and saw him move into defence at United, before reliving his early battles with a teenage Michael Owen and the moment Gary Pallister accidentally revealed he’d be making his debut. The lads debate whether Wes really deserved his reputation for being nasty in training and hear the unbelievable story of how a bust-up on a bus led to him being banned from public transport and asking Sir Alex for a pay rise. There are brilliant insights into contract negotiations at United, with Roy Keane stepping in to negotiate Wes’s deals, while Paul and Nicky recall how Fergie used Gary Neville and David Beckham as benchmarks to keep the dressing room in line. They also remember their first club cars, how Becks pimped his ride and Nev’s classicly sensible choice. Ahead of a huge week in the UEFA Champions League, the conversation turns to European nights, from the hostility of Galatasaray to the pressure of playing at the Bernabéu Stadium against Real Madrid. Wes relives marking legends like Ronaldo and Zinedine Zidane, facing a teenage Ronaldinho as a schoolboy and later going 1v1 with Lionel Messi. He also opens up about the incredible competition at centre-back for England during his era, why he eventually stepped away from international football, and how the gamers at United — including Wayne Rooney, Rio Ferdinand and Darren Fletcher — helped team morale. Elsewhere, Wes reveals how he ended up interviewing Cristiano Ronaldo during his return to United in 2021, shares a hilarious first conversation with Steve Bruce after joining Sunderland, and reflects on battling back from two devastating ACL injuries. Today’s episode is sponsored by Surfshark! Go to https://surfshark.com/gbf or use code GBF at checkout to get 4 extra months of Surfshark VPN! If you want to ask the guys anything about football email them at: questions@goodbadfootball.co.uk. Follow The Good, The Bad & The Football: YouTube: www.youtube.com/@goodbadfootballpod Instagram: @goodbadfootballpod X/Twitter: @goodbadftblpod TikTok: goodbadfootballpod Facebook: www.facebook.com/goodbadfootballpod 00:00 - Intro 00:45 - Man United’s Academy 14:30 - Wes’ debut 21:30 - Incredible Sir Alex Story! 35:00 - Dressing Room Stories! 44:50 - Toughest Stadiums To Play In 49:00 - Playing With Ronaldo 54:00 - England defenders 01:00:50 - Quickfire Questions Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices