HOWARD IS AMAZED THAT HE HAS SIGNED FOR UNITED

Last updated : 29 April 2005 By editor

Tim Howard, "I thought I was pretty talented, but never in my wildest dreams did I think I was talented enough to play here. I don't know how to explain it - I don't even try to explain it. I got a call from the Manchester United goalkeeping coach [Tony Coton], who said 'We are interested in you. Don't call us, we'll call you - just letting you know that we've got our eye on you'.

"I hung up the phone and thought to myself 'I can live the rest of my life on that one phone call - I got a call from Manchester United'. United had three keepers when they first signed me and I thought that even if I had to fight for the number three job, that would be fine. Next thing I knew, I was playing. Roy Carroll was number two and Fabien Barthez wasn't even in the squad."

"I set the bar so high for myself last year that this season, in the beginning, didn't go so well as we would have liked. But it takes 11 players to win games and 11 players to lose.”