Edwin van der Sar
You hope to bring your 'A Game' to any game, and of course you do in a final. You hope to bring experience, fitness, communication skills, motivational skills.Collection: Motivational
It's hard to put your faith in youngsters, but Ajax have always done that.Collection: Faith
When I see the kind of passion Sir Alex shows, it is hard to believe he is about to celebrate his 71st birthday.Collection: Birthday
As a goalkeeper, you always expect every team to give you nightmares.
Every flaw you have or lapse of concentration can cost you a goal, so you have to be on your toes every minute of the game.
I know I'm a good goalkeeper.
It's always best if you can leave with a good memory.
Running a marathon is unlike anything I have done. You can recall all those bad weights sessions or the work you had to do in pre-season, but marathon running is worse than any of it, probably the hardest thing I have had to do in my entire life.
When you see Sir Alex arguing with referees and linesmen, he is showing passion that has taken him to the very highest level of the game.
I'm just not very rock n' roll.
The Dutch league is not one of the strongest five leagues in the world, or even Europe, and that's why it is difficult to maintain.
Ajax has always been about homegrown players developed in a small country.
It's great to have people talking about the club again, to reinvent and get to know Ajax again.
I get great respect from the United fans and the directors and the people who are there still when you go there. It is a very warm club, very comparable to Ajax, only they have grown internationally amazingly.
You try and learn from clubs where you have been or actions clubs are taking to grow in certain markets, and that, for myself, is also important.
I went to Fulham for the project they explained to me - but it didn't really work out. I might have been playing at a high level for the national team, but I was starting to miss those European nights and challenging for titles.
At certain times, you start to - maybe not lose the faith - but just wonder how long it will take until someone picks me up. I was thinking, 'Is it just me? Do I think I'm better than any manager does?'
Diehards know what Ajax is about, but you always need a new following, and if you are not successful, it is difficult.
As a goalkeeper, I needed good players around me. I needed Nemanja Vidic, Cristiano Ronaldo, and Wayne Rooney. It's the same as a CEO.
You want to build your own team for the highest level, and that happens more with teams that stay together.
If you have a love for sport, everybody knows the success of Madrid in the '60s, Ajax in the '70s, Bayern Munich, and so on.
A lot of clubs have lost the perspective of what is a football club.
For us at Ajax, it is all about football.
Personally, I would never criticise a player in public.
I've never had the experience of 10 years at Unilever and five years at Coca Cola. But I'm not the marketing director who only wants 25 per cent a year on the revenues. In the old days, you sold something, and you would be happy. At Ajax, we thought we needed more from that than selling a seat and making five grand.
We accept that, in one way now, if you are 27, 28 and still playing for Ajax, you are probably not good enough for the top of Europe because players want to go to the top in Europe.
If I see something right, I say so.
I don't think there was a single United player from 2009 who could say he gave it everything and played well.
I signed for Ajax in 1989 when I was still at school.
A lot of the guys who played in the 1995 final for Ajax had been there since the age of 12 or 13. Patrick Kluivert and Edgar Davids had been there from age seven or eight, so I had a lot of catching up to do.
I was in two successive European finals early in my career, so initially, you think that sort of thing is going to happen regularly. Then suddenly, it dries up, and before you know it, 13 years have passed before you get your next chance.
Sometimes I miss European football.
Every time I hear that Champions League song, it reminds me of hearing it for the first time in the old Olympic Stadium in Amsterdam.
If you go to Juventus, you want to go for longer than two years, and you want to win titles.
I remember, when I was 24, I said 34 was going to be the limit I will play to. But as everyone says, the older you get, the longer you want to go on because it gives you so much satisfaction.
I accept that I didn't play very well in Italy for the two years. It was lower than my Ajax standard. I don't know why.
You know you're in for a tough time if you're trailing and the other teams are doing well.
If you win, everyone asks what's your secret, when most of the time you did exactly the same in the ones you lost.
Craven Cottage is a great stadium, really traditional, going through the rows of houses until a stadium suddenly appears.
I always said I wanted to finish my career back at Ajax, but I didn't think I was going to play for so long at such a high level, so that's not going to happen now.
Of course that's Ajax development, giving young players a chance.
I think every player gives a bit extra when he sees that his manager is fighting, too.
I remember that, often, Mike Phelan would just nip down to the touchline for a message to one or two players. It was usually just a tactical thing. But when Sir Alex comes to the touchline, all the players know that it's serious stuff.
It is almost impossible to orchestrate the farewell you desire. That is something only a few people manage to do.
Matthijs is very mature for his age: he has the physique of a 24-year-old. He is also strong with both feet, has an extremely good range of passing, can head the ball, scores goals, and is a real leader at the back already at the age of 18.
Off the field, Ronaldo was also focusing on everything extensively, such as resting up properly and strengthening his body. After training sessions, he would often work on his free-kicks and then come to me and say, 'Edwin, can you go in goal?'
Celtic and Ajax are great names in history. They both have great followings all over the world, not just in Holland and Scotland.
United is a special place.
The FA Cup is the oldest cup competition in the world. Players are keen and willing to play in these games.
I think England's always good at making something special.