Former Manchester United and Leeds United defender Scott Wootton speaks to KEEPUP’s Sacha Pisani about his journey from Old Trafford to the A-Leagues as Wellington Phoenix prepare to return home to New Zealand for the first time in almost a year.
Only a select few have been fortunate enough to work with the legendary Sir Alex Ferguson.
Scott Wootton is one of them.
Now, the former Manchester United defender finds himself in the Isuzu UTE A-League, fuelling Wellington Phoenix’s charge to the finals.
Wootton decided to make a change in January, packing his bags for the Phoenix on a short-term contract until the end of the season. Since then, the 30-year-old has earned a three-year deal.
“I’ve loved it. I think it’s one of the best decisions I’ve ever made to come out here,” Wootton told KEEPUP, having arrived from Morecambe in the New Year.
The Manchester United academy product has established himself in Ufuk Talay’s starting XI, scoring in last week’s 4-1 demolition of second-placed Western United.
But even in his own words, it’s been a “bizarre” situation for Wootton, signing for a Wellington-based team without actually experiencing life in the city since relocating from the United Kingdom.
COVID-19 has wreaked havoc on the Phoenix. Wellington have been based in New South Wales, Australia for the entire A-League Men season (since November). They haven’t played in front of their home fans since May 30, 2021.
On that day, almost 23,000 fans watched on at Eden Park to see the Phoenix play out an entertaining 2-2 draw with Perth Glory in Auckland. Eight days earlier, more than 24,000 people attended the 3-0 win over Western at Sky Stadium in Wellington.
Wootton, however, will finally get his first taste of Wellington and football in front of a true home crowd when the fifth-placed Phoenix head back across to the ditch for the Easter Sunday showdown against Central Coast Mariners.
“I can’t wait,” he said. “Really looking forward to it. It happened similar last year, they went back and got 25,000 fans. The stadium was packed and I can’t wait to sample that and experience it. I’m sure it will be the same again this time around.
“I’m sure the fans will be dying to get back to the stadium and seeing the team play. It’s quite strange really I’ve signed for Wellington Phoenix but I’ve not actually been to Wellington yet.
“It’s a bit bizarre but I’m really looking forward to getting back to Wellington. All the lads speak so highly of it, and the club and fans. It’s something I’m really looking forward to.”
Lets go back to the start and that Scouse accent
Born in Birkenhead, it all started at local club Tranmere Rovers.
Tranmere, Liverpool and Everton were the three professional clubs within 30 minutes of each other in Merseyside.
There had been interest from Manchester United but Wootton ultimately made the move to Premier League rivals Liverpool at the age of 13. He did eventually land at the Red Devils two years later.
“I ended up going to Liverpool because I was still in school. The distance was too far to travel for some of us. Spent a few seasons there. But one of the options was actually Manchester United at the time but it was too far really for me being at school and where I lived,” said Wootton.
“But every year the scout keep be in touch. Then I got to 15 and I wasn’t happy with a few things going on in the youth system at Liverpool, and luckily enough United took me at 15. Again it was another decision I look back on and think it was a great choice, bold.
“Liverpool are a huge club as well but one I look back on with no regret whatsoever. I had an unbelievable upbringing there really. The coaches I had were superb but not just the coaching but the way of bringing on you as a person, the values they give you stay with you for life.”
Swapping Liverpool for north-west rivals United came with plenty of banter at Carrington.
Wootton’s accent even caught a United legend off guard.
“I can remember being 16-17 walking down the corridor and with my accent and walked past Gary Neville,” Wootton recalled. “He turned around and said ‘are you a Scouser?’.
“I was only 16 and thought I just had to answer him back. He just walked off shaking his head in disbelief. There was a bit of banter from the lads but after a week or so, you’re just one of them.”
Breaking into United’s first team
Wootton started his career at Tranmere and then Liverpool but it’s at United where he had his first taste of senior football after teaming up with Ole Gunnar Solskjaer to win the 2010 Reserve Premier League trophy alongside Ben Foster, Rafael, former Melbourne City defender Ritchie de Laet, Federico Macheda, Mame Biram Diouf, Gabriel Obertan and a baby-faced Paul Pogba.
Gary Neville’s testimonial game in May 2011 was the scene of Wootton’s first appearance in the senior squad.
Just days out from the 2011 Champions League final against Barcelona, which United lost, the likes of Ryan Giggs, David Beckham, Nicky Butt and Paul Scholes came together to honour former captain Neville at Old Trafford, where Alex Ferguson’s men lost to Juventus.
While all eyes were firmly on the looking showdown with Lionel Messi’s Barca, it was a special moment for Wootton.
“That [night] was incredible,” said Wootton. “I remember that Darren Gibson picked me up because I couldn’t drive at the time. He took me to the game.
“With it being a testimonial, it’s not a competitive fixture but it was sort of a first-team game. To be involved, David Beckham was there. There were other ex-players that you come in and see them in the dressing room, and you’re just like wow.
“It was a quite special moment to actually replace Gary Neville whose testimonial it was. I think they had the European Cup final coming up against Barcelona later on in the week so he was reshuffling all the players who were going to play.”
After loan spells at Tranmere and Nottingham Forest, Wootton made his competitive debut for United against Newcastle United in a League Cup clash at Old Trafford in September 2012.
A week later, Wootton debuted in the Champions League, coming off the bench as United beat CFR Cluj. He also started the 5-4 League Cup loss to Chelsea at the end of October.
Wootton ended 2012-13 with four appearances for a United team boasting Wayne Rooney, Robin van Persie, Rio Ferdinand, David de Gea, Nemanja Vidic and Ryan Giggs. It proved to be a memorable season for Ferguson and United as the Red Devils won the Premier League in his final season as manager. The club have not won the league since.
“Without being disrespectful to any other young player that’s played for United since then, but a special thing I always think… it was only four games… but it was all under Sir Alex Ferguson,” said Wootton.
“I take great pride in it. Again, that’s nothing against any other players or managers in [David] Moyes, [Louis] Van Gaal or whatever. It just holds a more special place that it was Alex Ferguson.
“Went on the pre-season tour and got a little bit of luck, there were a few injuries at the time but obviously done well enough to be involved for that season. Played a handful of games. Got on the bench in the Premier League a few times. It was amazing to be part of that team because the quality was incredible.”
Negotiating his own contract with the ‘Godfather’
Ferguson stands alone as the Premier League’s most successful manager.
He oversaw a period of dominance, guiding United to 13 Premier League titles between 1992 and 2013 before stepping away from football. United have since struggled to fill the void.
Fergie set high standards, preaching values that were felt throughout the entire club.
Wootton worked with Ferguson and even negotiated his own contract with the legendary Scotsman as he reflected on the pair’s meetings.
“He was the godfather figure of the club,” Wootton said. “His assistants and coaches would do a lot more of the coaching, and they’d talk to you. You’d have the odd conversation with him.
“I negotiated a couple of contracts with him, just me and him face-to-face in his office…. As you get older, every few months, every seasons, he knows you more, he starts calling you by your first name, he’d always say hello if you walked past him. He’d come over and watch the youth team once a month, the reserve team maybe a little bit more because it was closer.
“You could just feel his presence. He had that big grey coat and big woolly hat. You could spot him a mile away walking over. It didn’t half raise the tempo of training let me tell you. As I progressed and I started training more regularly with the first team, he’d speak to you fairly regularly. He’d make time to say hello and how are you.
“It was unbelievable to be at the club at that time.”
What stood out working with Ferguson?
Wootton said: “Just the trust he put in his staff and players. I didn’t see him take any coaching/training sessions. He put huge trust in [Current Socceroos assistant coach] Rene Meulensteen. He was a very good coach, top drawer.
“He put an awful lot of trust in sport scientists, he appreciated that was moving on and progressing. He kept up to date with that. Looking back now, the trust he put in. He was adapting with the times.
“I had many managers who were stuck in their ways and they couldn’t get players on side because things they did as a player 20 years ago just don’t work anymore. He was constantly adapting and that was a special trait you noticed.”
The Fergie ‘hairdryer‘
Much has been made about Ferguson’s ‘hairdryer treatment’.
The term rose to prominence during the peak of Ferguson’s United tenure, the iconic boss known for his no-nonsense approach. He clashed with a number of his players, most notably David Beckham.
Beckham was left with a wound over his eye after Ferguson kicked a boot in his direction following United’s FA Cup loss to Arsenal.
The infamous bust-up is still discussed all these years later.
While Wootton never experienced the ‘hairdryer’, he witnessed his own intense moment.
“Funnily, the maddest I seen him go I was on the bench when they played Arsenal and won 2-1,” Wootton said. “I think [Robin] Van Persie scored. He came in and went mad after the game.
“We got beat at Everton in the opening game of the season, I was on the bench when we lost to [Andre] Villas-Boas’ Tottenham team. He said very little after those defeats. Very, very little. I remember the Everton game. [Marouane] Fellaini scored from a corner and just said who’s picking him. He spoke with the goalkeeping coach very briefly because he wanted to know who’s marking Fellaini. Then he just said it’s not a great start. Said we can’t afford to play catch up to Manchester City so early on. There was no rant or rave ,or shouting.
“The Arsenal game, we actually won 2-1. There’s obviously an old-standing rivalry with [Arsene] Wenger and Arsenal, and he was going mad after the game. He said people all around the world will see that result and see Manchester United 2 and Arsenal 1. He said it should’ve been 6-0, never mind 2-1. He just went berserk.
“That just shows the standards and the levels, and the way he was of not letting any complacency in…. that was a bit of an eye-opener really.”
Chaos at Elland Road
After leaving Manchester United in 2013, Wootton ended up at rivals Leeds United.
It promised so much and while Wootton spent three years at Elland Road, it was a chaotic experience under Italian owner Massimo Cellino, who arrived in 2014.
Leeds went through eight managers during Cellino’s time in charge in the Championship. A far cry from Wootton’s time in Manchester.
Wootton said: “It was chaos. The first six or seven months when I joined it was fine. We had a pretty settled team, a good squad with a lot of experience. I think we were fifth in the league just after Christmas. Everything was going well, I was really enjoying it.
“Then as soon as the noise of Cellino coming in to take over the club, it went down so quick. That summer he took full control and it was absolute chaos.
“It just goes to show, going back to Manchester United, the people who call for the Glazers and the lack of direction from the top of the club, when that’s not right, it’s amazing how it influences and runs right through the club.
“That’s what we experienced with Leeds. Managers were getting six or seven matches and getting sacked. Players were coming in left, right and centre. Managers didn’t know who the players were.”
Now Wootton’s eyeing silverware in Wellington
Wootton’s career has taken him to clubs like Peterborough United, Rotherham United, MK Dons, Plymouth Argyle, Wigan Athletic and Morecambe, outside of his time with Manchester United and Leeds United.
He has, however, never won a senior piece of silverware and that is why he is in the A-Leagues after doing his “homework” on the competition.
“That’s my motivation coming over to this league.” said Wootton, who has scored twice in 12 ALM appearances – his best return in league football. “I haven’t come over for a holiday. I wanted to commit long term and I want to be successful as possible.
“We’ve had some awful luck and I could reel off an unbelievable list of problems or excuses but we have a no-excuse mentality within the group and that comes down from the manager. But our strongest team and how we were playing before the awful run of injuries and COVID cases, we were competing right at the top of the league.
“We can be that next best team [behind the top two]. We’ve had a few things that have gone against us. These aren’t excuses, just facts… I think the games in New Zealand will help us enormously. Hopefully with the fans getting behind us and creating a very good atmosphere. Hopefully that can push us into the top six and competing for silverware.
“I didn’t come here to just be at a team floating around the bottom of the league. You want to be getting consistently into the top six and competing for trophies.”
Wootton has joined a strong contingent of foreign players in the ALM after Jack Rodwell (Western Sydney Wanderers), Daniel Sturridge (Perth Glory) and Carl Jenkinson (Melbourne City) all arrived for the 2021-22 season.
But Wootton is no stranger to the competition.
“I played with David Ball eight or nine years ago at Peterborough on loan in the Championship,” Wootton said. “I got on well with Bally then and we kept in contact since throughout our careers.
“Also Callum McManaman who was at Melbourne Victory last season. He’s a good friend of mine. I haven’t actually played with him but we’re from not far and we have a lot of mutual friends. I spoke to him a few times about the A-Leagues.
“Also my reserve manager at Manchester United Warren Joyce coached Melbourne City a few years ago. So, I was well aware of the quality and the standard of the A-League. You look at the foreign players who’ve come over – [Jack] Rodwell, [Daniel] Sturridge and [Carl] Jenkinson have all played for England. That shows you the quality of the league and the attraction.
“I was desperate to come over here and secure my long-term future because of all those reasons. I done my research, l looked at players who’d come over, where they’d come from and what level they played at. I done my homework.”
