Manchester United academy chief Nicky Butt reveals using circus skills and parkour runners to avoid injuries

Nicky Butt spent 12 years at Manchester United, making more than 250 appearances

Manchester United Head of Academy Nicky Butt has revealed the Red Devils have brought in the help of circus performers and parkour runners in their academy in order to help the young players avoid injuries and improve the body-mechanics. Butt feels that modern football has seen several young players pick injuries quickly as they mainly lack agility and physicality to overcame a tackle or fall. There has been a rise of injuries in recent times for younger players when compared to that of two decades ago.

Butt was one of the key players in the heart of the midfield during his time at Old Trafford when Sir Alex Ferguson was in charge at United. He gave his former teammate and Red Devils legend Ryan Giggs as an example and believes the help of circus performers and parkour runners will be beneficial for the academy players to fall in such a way that they do not pick up injuries.

"I see players in our academy and they can't move. Our lads don't know how to fall, roll, and you should see the amount of injuries we get from popped shoulders or their arms," Butt told The Times.

"I probably fell out of a tree 15 times and never hurt myself. Body mechanics lose so much when you're not climbing trees, not playing basketball, cricket, rugby. I played rugby, cricket, football and basketball.

"This might sound bizarre but we've had a guy come in from the circus, telling the kids how to do spinning plates, jumping through hoops, circus tricks to get their biomechanics working. We had a free runner, the 'parkour' lads who jump over buildings, set up a course.

"You look at Giggs, top players, they just flow with their movement, doing it with ease. Look at the athleticism."

Butt also went on to claim that the club provides academy players as to how they need to behave on social media platforms. He suggests the younger players are no longer street smart like they used to be before 20 years.

"All kids have iPads and PlayStations. Social media's a massive problem. We had a player who put his address on Facebook and gets a knock at the door from people asking why he's chatting up this girlfriend. We reiterate to them every six weeks about what to do and not do on social media," he said.

"They’re not streetwise. We're looking for leaders on the pitch, so when you're down, they fight back, somebody like Scholes who was playing football on the streets at 12 and knocking around the park at 15. They get a lot of street knowledge through that.

"If you're a 19-year-old going into United's first team, and you're not able to stand up to the bigger pros, be a man, respect them but tell them what you think is right, you have no chance of surviving."