My
Idea Of Fun: The Autobiography, by Lee Sharpe (2005)
LEE Sharpe burst on to the scene at Old Trafford as a 17-year-old flying winger: fast, skilled, confident and clearly enjoying his football.
The fans took him to heart as the first sign of the rebirth of the club under Alex Ferguson. At the start of the 1990s, with the Madchester scene in full swing, Sharpe enjoyed all the fruits of being young, good-looking and wealthy: he enjoyed a party and the company of women.
But increasingly his lifestyle came into conflict with Fergie's wishes; like most managers, he wanted his players to live quietly. Sharpe decided to leave Old Trafford and moved to rivals Leeds. But once he got there, and suffered from injuries and the managerial merry-go-round, things were rarely quite the same. By the time he was 30, it was the beginning of the end for him as a top-level player, and when he was sacked for having a drink five days before a game at Iceland's Grindavik, he decided enough was enough.
Sharpe's story tells of a period when it was still just about possible to have fun and be a Premiership player, when a team would go out drinking together to celebrate. Already, in less than a decade, it seems a world that has gone for ever.