"'Gentlemen', he said when he opened the door, 'may I present to you our new centre-forward, Ruud van Nistelrooy'. They all stood and congratulated me. I shook hands with all of them, Sir Bobby Charlton last of all. When he said: 'Glad you're finally here, son', I got goose bumps all over my body."
"I drive down the A56 straight to Old Trafford. Between two church towers in the distance, I can already see the two biggest stands. When I close my eyes, I can recall that mental picture no matter where I am.
"I turn into Sir Matt Busby Way and cross the square full of fans. Whenever a player's car passes, the square bubbles with excitement. Through a crowd of thousands of people I make it to the players' car park. Every match the people are there again. And they were already there when George Best and Bobby Charlton were playing for the club.
"When I was younger, I tended to want to score beautiful goals, you know. The esthetics seemed more important than the result. A funny thing happened once. Ruud Gullit did his coaching apprenticeship at one of my former clubs, Heerenveen, when I was playing there. I remember lobbing a shot that hit the crossbar and proudly looked at Gullit: 'Nice one, eh?'
"All he said was: 'It certainly was nice, but it should have gone in.' Although it was simple, he was right - he was absolutely right.
"I never for a minute think things will happen naturally. Nothing comes naturally to me. I do not belong in that exceptional class of player that can operate occasionally at less than 100 per cent. I know I would not get away with that.
"I have that same drive every time. Giving less then 100 per cent is not really an option for me. As the years have gone by, I have started to take football more and more seriously.
"I try to do the maximum for every match. I work hard, I train hard and I prepare myself in detail for every game. I do everything to create the perfect circumstances to perform as well as possible."