Tottenham legend Darren Anderton missed out on a move to Man Utd because Alan Sugar LOCKED him in his mansion
DARREN ANDERTON claims he missed out on a move to Manchester United because Alan Sugar locked him in his mansion.
The former Tottenham star says United boss Sir Alex Ferguson came in for him after he had scored for England in a 3-3 draw with Sweden at Elland Road in the summer of 1995.
Anderton, who made 299 top flight appearances for Spurs from 1992-2004, told the Quickly Kevin, Will He Score Podcast?: “That was when United came in.
"After that game was when Pally - Gary Pallister - went, ‘Do you fancy coming to play for us?’ as we were all having a game of snooker back at the hotel.
“He just said, ‘Can I give the gaffer your number?’
“‘Yeah, why not?’
“It was a little bit daunting to be fair. Though it was more daunting for my brother, who answered the phone.”
Legendary United boss Fergie had heard Anderton - snapped up by Spurs from Portsmouth for £1.75m three years earlier - had a release clause in his contract.
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Anderton, 50, recalled: “The next day I went and saw the chairman Sir Alan Sugar and he didn’t let me leave his house without signing a new contract to get rid of that clause.
“It was a bit panic stations because Jurgen Klinsmann had said he wasn’t going to stay, Gheorgeh Popescu was going to Barcelona and Nicky Barmby wanted to leave.”
Anderton won 30 England caps and starred at Euro 96 when Terry Venables led the Three Lions to the semi-finals on home soil.
But the ex-winger - cruelly dubbed ‘Sicknote’ due to his bad luck with injuries - insists he was happy to stay at Tottenham, despite United’s interest.
He said:“I regret not winning all those trophies and playing in that team would’ve been amazing, but at the time I was so happy at Spurs.
“Euro 96 was coming, I didn’t want to go somewhere else and maybe have a bit of a struggle and not be part of that.
“That summer they did get rid of [Mark] Hughes, [Andrei] Kanchelskis and [Paul] Ince. I thought, ‘Well I’m in the right place here.’
“Spurs fans were really great with me when I first went and really struggled. I always remember that and this was two and a half, three years in and I wasn’t ready to jump ship.
“That was the summer Alan Hansen came out with, ‘You’ll never win anything with kids’, so no-one knew what was coming. Of course I’d have loved to have played in those teams. They were great teams.”
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