Former Manchester United starlet Daniel Nardiello has opened up on a “horrible” experience where he had to pretend to make love with a woman as part of his initiation at the club.
The former forward joined the Red Devils in the summer of 1999 from Wolves after the club claimed a historic treble. However, his move to Old Trafford did not quite work out as expected.
Nardiello made just a clutch of appearances for United and was sent out on three loan stints. He eventually brought his Red Devils stint to an end in 2005 as he sealed a switch to former loan club Barnsley.
One aspect that left an impression on him during his spell with United was his “horrible” initiation where he was forced to mock making love to a woman on a table in front of Red Devils icons Roy Keane and David Beckham.
Speaking to the Under The Cosh podcast, the 40-year-old recalled: "Mine was I had to make love to a [pretend] woman on the table. A few of us had to do that. You had to describe the girl. It was horrible. Is she blonde, brunette, is she busty, is she not? How are you doing it? What are you saying to her? [I was] bright red, it was horrible."
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Asked if it was "strictly missionary", a slightly embarrassed Nardiello responded: "100 per cent."
The ex-striker then continued to open up on his initiation and the type of response that it drew from some of the club’s most iconic players. Nardiello added: "These are the superstars as well, it was [Ryan] Giggs and David May the main guys in there but you can see Keane and Beckham there just lapping it all in and you're like, 'oh my God, I've got to make love to a girl in front of all these guys'."
Fortunately, not all of the initiations that the Red Devils’ young stars were subjected to were all as bad as Nardiello’s task. He revealed that one of his colleagues was forced to play “the spoon game” with defender David May.
Each player would put a spoon in their mouth and try to hit each other on the head as hard as they could. Each time that the youngster’s go came around to get hit, Giggs would sneakily intervene a sneaky whack with another spoon.
Nardiello would likely have been made to go through a number of initiations after somewhat of a journeyman career. After leaving Old Trafford, he had stints with the likes of Queens Park Rangers, Blackpool, Exeter City, Rotherham and Bury before finishing his career with Bangor City.
Nardiello also made three appearances for the Welsh national side, each of which came as a substitute.