It was genuinely scary playing for Man Utd – I thought the world wanted me to fail

Ben Foster has opened up about the immense pressure he felt during his time at Manchester United.

The 41-year-old, who hung up his gloves last year after a career spanning two decades, made 23 appearances for United between 2007 and 2010 - and constantly felt the fear of failure weighing heavy on his shoulders.

Despite a successful two-year loan spell at Watford and being named man of the match in United's 2009 League Cup final victory against Tottenham, Foster often found himself as the second or third choice under Sir Alex Ferguson.

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The anxiety of playing for such a high-profile team was so great that it still resonates with him, as he revealed on his podcast Fozcast. "I remember when I was there, it was scary, genuinely it was scary," Foster admitted.

"I was going into games thinking 'please just don't mess up, please don't mess up, I know I've got the watching world waiting for me to fail, they want me to fail'.

"Once you get into that Manchester United team, you're on the starting pitch, you're in that XI, mate, the effect it takes on you, the toll it takes on you is phenomenal."

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He also touched on the wider perception of the club, adding: "They all want you to fail, they want you to fail so badly in fact. Even now, the media world that we live, they want Man United to fail. That's good for business, isn't it, if Man United fail."

Reflecting upon the pressures of playing for United, Foster asserted that it's arguably the hardest club