Shaun Goater is still not entirely sure how he got to Manchester United, how a North Village kid could end up at one of the best clubs in the world.

But get there he did, and, once there, he was determined to make the most of it.

In his heart of hearts he knew there was some form of glass ceiling in operation at Old Trafford and whatever he did as a youth player or a reserve, he was never going to make that breakthrough into Alex Ferguson?s first team.

But life in the Manchester United stiffs is still a life spent among great players, with Lee Sharpe, Lee Martin, Ryan Giggs and Mark Bosnich all sharing a dressing room and a pitch with the Goat at either youth or reserve level.

Although his team-mates, Martin in particular, were given occasional run-outs in the first team, Goater knew he was not going to make it.

?It was great to be at that club at that time but there was something in me that made me think it just wasn?t going to work out for me there,? continued Goater, forced to cast his mind back to his teenage years ? no mean feat for a player with such a long and distinguished playing career.

?One of my biggest problems was that Mark Hughes and Brian McClair just never got injured! Those guys just played every week and that meant fewer opportunities for other strikers at the club.

?It was incredible being at a club like that, there was such an emphasis on skill and every player was comfortable on the ball, as a youngster I learned an enormous amount about the trade of a footballer.?

Goater?s dealings with Fergie were limited at that time, with the manager knowing who the Bermudian was only because of his team joker persona, but the fiery Scot was rarely on hand to watch either the training or the matches of the second and third string teams.

In fact, Fergie?s longest conversation with Goater didn?t come until years later, after a match in which Goater famously banged in two goals in the Manchester derby ? ?I should have sent you back a long time ago? was Fergie?s best attempt at a joke.

Another thing Goater learned at United was how to tell the real fans apart from the part-timers. To this day, he claims, he can spot the real United fans because they are the ones that saw him play for their club. The real fans, he says, are the fans that go to the reserve games as well.

But it wasn?t all that long before The Goat, as he hadn?t yet been nicknamed, moved on to Rotherham and began his career as a first-teamer and thus his ascent to Premiership football.

?I was determined to do well at Rotherham,? said Goater, who received a generous welcome there with Southend this season.

?The big thing for me was that I didn?t want to go back to Bermuda having not made it. Such a lot of people gave me support and were believing in me and I didn?t want to just return after a couple of years.

?I was determined to make it and in those days that meant one thing ? getting on television.

?Maybe it?s a bit different nowadays with the Internet and so on because people can just about follow what you?re doing regardless, but in those days is was all about being on television.

?If I was to succeed in English football in meant playing in matches that people could watch back home, and that wasn?t going to happen with Rotherham.

?It makes me proud to know that when I did make it up to the top level, people at home were in pubs or in their living rooms watching me play, that for me was the success I wanted.?

And the player Goater believes he is most similar to is another man to make it on television, arguably much more successfully so, Ruud Van Nistelroy.

?He is a poacher, that is his game and if you watch he very rarely scores from outside the box,? continued Goater.

?He plays a simple but effective game, it is all about being in the right areas at the right times. He scores with his head but he is not a great header of the ball but he is a clever finisher.

?Just watch him closely next time he?s on the box, just watch him. It?s just like watching me!?

Although he had to think about his Van Nistelroy answer, there was no hesitation in responding to ?who is the best player you have played with??

?Ali Benarbia,? bang, there you have it.

?Ali Benarbia was just an incredible, skilful player, amazing, really the best.?

Best opponent?

?I think it had to be Martin Keown, yeah, Martin Keown,? said Goater, with a hint of the fear that he perhaps used to feel when taking on the Arsenal rock.

?He was tough, he was always there, right up against you, pushing you, hassling you, never giving you any space. He was good in the air, he tackled well, he wasn?t a guy you liked to play against. And what made it worse was that he never kept the ball himself very long.

?If I was playing against someone and they were getting the better of me, I would start chasing them down, putting them under pressure, but you couldn?t do that with Martin. There was none of this Rio Ferdinand running out with the ball stuff, Martin wasn?t a ball player, he got it off you and then passed it on, there was never a chance to put him under pressure.?

As for favourite moments in the game, there were plenty of footballing ones, plenty of good times in Manchester, plenty of best goals and best friends, but there was one that stood out as a non-footballing moment ? and it wasn?t when the Queen asked him about his knee.

One of Goater?s fondest memories was of an event that took place at neither Maine Road nor Old Trafford and didn?t even see him in the sky blue uniform, but meant as much to him as anything else that took place in that city or beyond.

?The Commonwealth Games were amazing,? said Goater, a sparkle in his eye as he recounted a crowning moment of 2002, the same sparkle that is there for all events that come under the category ?things my life in football has allowed me to do or see?.

?To be part of that opening ceremony, to dress up in traditional costume, to represent Bermuda, all in that city was an incredible experience for me.

?It was bigger than a lot of the things I did in football, it was such a proud moment for me in a city that became my second home.

?It was the start of a good send-off.?