'S— everywhere!' - Former Man Utd kitman recalls burst sewage pipe in Sunderland changing room

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'S— everywhere!' - Former Man Utd kitman recalls burst sewage pipe in Sunderland changing room image

Former Manchester United kitman Albert Morgan has recalled one of his more unusual jobs while with the Old Trafford club – shovelling sewage out of the Sunderland changing rooms ahead of a 2010 visit to the Black Cats.

Morgan spent 20 years with the Red Devils under the guidance of Sir Alex Ferguson, taking charge of strip duties from 1993 until 2013, but his most lasting memory of his time with the side isn’t exactly a pleasant one.

Ahead of a Premier League match in 2010, a burst pipe at the Stadium of Light meant that the game needed to be delayed, with excrement flooding the changing room.

“There was a ‘drip, drip, drip’ with a bucket underneath so we thought it was a leak in the ceiling,” Morgan told the Daily Mail. “The boys were getting ready, all walking around this bucket and went out on the pitch for the warm up.

“We'd been there for a few minutes and one of the security guards came and he said: ‘Albert, I think you better come in the dressing room, that bucket's getting a bit full.’ By the time we got back in the changing room the bucket had been changed to a bin.

“Well, we walked in and they had these ceiling tiles, before you could say ‘whip’, one of the ceiling tiles just burst out. S— everywhere! The gaffer just got out. It was all over the suits, the clothes, up the walls, up the ceiling. Dimitar Berbatov was going mad about his shoes, his shoes had just sunk in three inches.

“You couldn't save a thing. Everything was gone. Shoes, suits. The only thing we could do was go into the lads' socks and shoes to get the jewellery and watches. This is ten to three. The game kicks off at three. They had to put the game back half an hour.”

It was a case of all hands on deck, with even Sunderland boss Steve Bruce helping the clean-up effort.

“He comes in a door at the back of the dressing room. He had this brush, it must have been 14-foot wide. And there's big Brucie coming in at the back just shovelling this s— out of the dressing room. We just put the suits in black bags and destroyed the lot,” Morgan said.

The match ended in a scoreless draw.

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