The bright lights and quarterback debates will be there as always when the NFL Draft starts Thursday night. But something’s different this year, which will become more evident as the rounds turn and we get into Day 3 on Saturday.

Only 58 underclassmen have declared for this week’s draft — down from 130 players in 2021 and the smallest number of underclassmen since 2011. For those in NFL circles, the introduction of NIL money is a clear factor.

“It’s crazy to fathom that some of these guys made more money in college than they will in the NFL,” Green Bay Packers coach Matt LaFleur said.

Players started signing marketing deals after the Supreme Court’s 2021 ruling that collegiate athletes are entitled to payment for their “name, image and likeness.” The pandemic-shortened season in 2020 has also played a part in players staying in school, as they were granted an extra year of eligibility. And then the NCAA allowed players to transfer without sitting out a year.

NIL payments are not public figures, but most players who will be selected in the top three rounds this week have money in the bank now. USC quarterback Caleb Williams, the projected top pick to the Chicago Bears, has been estimated to have earned around $10 million while in school. He may be an outlier, but NFL coaches are noticing a difference in their interactions with draft prospects in the NIL era.

“You look for the guys that have that look in their eye,” Las Vegas Raiders coach Antonio Pierce said. “You can really feel it, and you can also see the guys that are entitled, that have NIL money, which is an issue because they come in privileged. They have money in the bank.

“When I came in the league, I was broke. These guys already got goddamn jewelry on and the Louis Vuitton rocking already.”

Las Vegas Raiders coach Antonio Pierce wants to see players enter the NFL with the same type of competitive edge that he possessed. (Steve Marcus / Getty Images)

Pierce wants players with an edge, and he feels that already having money in the bank from college might affect how hard they are willing to work to crack a starting lineup in the NFL. Compounding that problem, Minnesota Vikings coach Kevin O’Connell said it’s harder to know how players respond to adversity when so many hit the transfer portal at the drop of a hat.

“They already have money in their pocket, so you see some guys not going as hard in the pre-draft process,” agent Ron Slavin said. “And no one is eating those packs of ramen noodles anymore.”

The NFL minimum salary for a rookie in 2024 is $795,000. Players who are drafted sign standard four-year deals — contracts for first-round picks also include a fifth-year option — that are scaled based on the draft slot. The slotted deal for the No. 1 pick — presumably Williams — is $38.5 million over four years. By the start of the second round, the four-year value dips to under $10 million. From about the fourth round on, players make an average of roughly $1 million per season on their rookie deals.

And that’s where there appears to be a huge drop-off in player quality in this year’s draft.

“Clubs are saying that this is a really good draft through 150 picks, and then after that it falls off a cliff,” agent Steve Caric said.

New York Giants general manager Joe Schoen said Thursday that, according to the team’s assistant director of player personnel, Dennis Hickey, 170 players with draftable grades returned to school this year.

“Because of COVID partly and NIL, this whole draft landscape has changed,” Baltimore Ravens GM Eric DeCosta said. “There’s less draftable players, less underclassmen.”

“All those guys stayed in school for NIL money,” Senior Bowl executive director Jim Nagy said. “You’re going to see teams drafting players late that they usually sign as priority free agents.”

Vikings GM Kwesi Adofo-Mensah said players he has been scouting for years still are not in the draft.

“It’s a supply and demand issue,” he said. “Defensive line was apparently a big issue in college, and a lot of those guys got a lot of money to go back to college. And so that’s gonna affect our league and the depth of that position and different things.”

NFL teams will likely spend the run-up to the draft looking to package fifth-, sixth- and seventh-round picks and move up.

“We’ve talked about the idea of, (in) the later rounds of the draft, if there’s nobody there that you covet, potentially trading that pick for a better pick,” DeCosta said.

The feeling around the NFL is the quality of draft prospects drops after this year’s fourth round, in part because so many players elected to stay in school. (Michael Wade / Icon Sportswire via Getty Images)

Jason Belzer, the CEO and co-founder of Student Athlete NIL (SANIL), manages more than 30 booster collectives for some of the bigger Power 5 schools.

“I think the NIL has affected the NFL considerably, but for the better,” Belzer said. “You have more and more players that are choosing to stay in college football and develop and get paid, rather than go into the draft. There are multiple quarterbacks that made over a million dollars that are not going to get that kind of money because they’re going to be late-round picks. The NIL is the best thing that ever happened to the NFL when it comes to development.”

He estimates that 40 college players made more than the 2023 minimum NFL salary of $750,000, with a lot more making $500,000, including a tackle projected to go in the sixth round this week. Belzer said that roughly five players per Power 5 roster make more than $100,000.

For late-round picks who aren’t guaranteed to make the roster, the decision to return to school can be quite easy.

“Getting drafted is a significant honor no matter where you go — even the sixth or seventh round — but if you’re a seventh-round pick, you’re getting, like, a $90,000 signing bonus, and that’s the only guaranteed part of your contract,” agent Eugene Lee said. “Compare that to a school where you have a front-line starter at a P4 school and you say, ‘Hey, come back! We’ll give you $350,000.’ It’s just like, ‘OK.’ You take out a loss-of-value policy and there you go.”

The later-round prospects simply are taking advantage of a chance to have their cake and eat it too.

“A fourth-round pick, for example, has a chance to go back to school and get better, move his draft status up and then make more money next year,” Caric said. “And as insurance, he can make what he would make with a Day 3 signing bonus thanks to NIL and coming back to school.”

More collegiate experience can be a good thing, especially at the quarterback position. Jayden Daniels played in 55 games at Arizona State and LSU, almost double the number of games North Carolina’s Drake Maye played in (28).

“We don’t have a minor league, and those extra years is maybe a couple of minor-league years,” Adofo-Mensah said. “And that also depends on where they’re playing and the system, how relatable that is to our game.”

The Vikings, who hold picks Nos. 11 and 23 in the first round, could trade up to fill their quarterback need or just stay put and use their first pick on the best player available and the latter pick on someone like Oregon QB Bo Nix. Nix played a whopping 61 games at Auburn and Oregon and thinks his experience gives him an edge over the other potential first-round quarterbacks.

“Repetition is the mother of all skill, so the more you can do something, the better you become at it,” Nix said at the combine. “I was able to prove that as the years went on, getting better and better, learning new things, playing in different systems — five in five years is a lot, but that’s a lot of fun. And I wouldn’t trade it for the world.”

Nix is 24 years old, which could impact his perceived upside.

Bo Nix’s age (24) could work against him in the draft process, but he thinks his experience is a benefit. (Zac BonDurant / Icon Sportswire via Getty Images)

“I don’t think it’s a bad thing if you come out a little bit older — and maybe even a better thing,” Raiders GM Tom Telesco said. “You’ve got more experience under your belt, more maturity at that position. Other positions, it may or may not matter.

“Typically as a scouting staff, we always say we’d like a younger player because the guy has a chance to develop, maybe has a little bit more ceiling. Is that true or not? I’m not really sure. But I do know that we’re going to have some players coming in the league that have good experience and may be ready to play a little bit earlier than maybe in times past.”

Nix could have entered the draft last year but stayed for a chance to win a national championship and had the cushion NIL allows.

That experience edge might only hold for quarterbacks, though.

“I can’t tell you how many conversations I have had in the last couple of weeks where I ask a club about Player A or Player B; the older age is always a minus,” Caric said. “They obviously want to draft someone they’re going to have for more than one contract. When you come into the league at 24 years old with these super-senior years, that’s not as attractive as the 21-year-old.”

Alabama offensive tackle JC Latham was able to enjoy a different college lifestyle than previous players but said the extra money also helped him prepare for the NFL.

“It definitely has you grow up,” Latham said at the combine. “You gotta understand that you’re getting more money now, so there’s gonna be a bigger target on your back.”

It can also help players learn to manage their money before their first NFL rookie camp.

“If you want to create more wealth for yourself and your family, you gotta really understand how to maneuver it and manage it,” Latham said. “Definitely puts you in the mindset to really understand what’s going on around you and how (you can) create your wealth early.”

All these players staying in school have to come out at some point, so the number of draftable players will grow again next year.

𝙎𝘾𝙊𝙐𝙏𝙄𝙉𝙂 𝙉𝙀𝙒𝙎: Our @seniorbowl staff has been evaluating 2025 prospects since January and it’s crazy how drastically the extra Covid year & NIL have impacted draft eligible numbers.

So far, we’ve been grading 25+ prospects at most P5 (or is it P4 now?) schools.

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By… pic.twitter.com/GG1NiSCRXY

— Jim Nagy (@JimNagy_SB) April 11, 2024

And GMs and coaches still need to draft good players to keep their jobs — owners don’t want to hear an excuse about the NIL impact after another losing season.

“I do think — especially in the early rounds — it’s a very good draft,” Denver Broncos GM George Paton said.

And though the NFL can wring its hands a bit about NIL, it doesn’t change how it watches a player’s game tape and decides who to invest in.

“It hasn’t changed our preparation that much,” said first-year Seattle Seahawks coach Mike Macdonald, a former defensive coordinator at Michigan. “I was ready for it since we had it down back at Michigan.

“The only thing is that some of these players are going to have to take a pay cut to play in the league.”

— Staff writer Tashan Reed contributed to this report.

GO DEEPER

2024 NFL Draft rankings: Dane Brugler breaks down the top 300 prospects

(Top illustration: Dan Golfarb / The Athletic; top photos of Roger Goodell and Caleb Williams: Rich Graessle / Icon Sportswire via Getty Images and Michael Reaves / Getty Images)

Ryan Garcia spent the last three months leaving analysts and pundits far more concerned for his personal well-being than impressed with his boxing prowess.

With a handful of explosive left hooks, he reminded the boxing world why he’s “King Ryan,” defeating WBC super lightweight champ Devin Haney by majority decision on Saturday night in what may have already wrapped up the discussion of the best bout of 2024.

“Come on y’all, you really thought I was crazy?” Garcia yelled after the win.

Sweet Chin Music 🎶

Here are all 3 knockdowns @RyanGarcia delivered to @Realdevinhaney to secure the win.#HaneyGarcia pic.twitter.com/18obAwynEE

— DAZN Boxing (@DAZNBoxing) April 21, 2024

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Haney entered the night as the heavy favorite, the king of multiple weight classes and an untouched record. He exited the night with a dented legacy.

Garcia’s readiness showed immediately in the first minute of the first round, as he rocked Haney with a pair of explosive left hooks to wake the crowd up. He won the opening round with ease, landing nine power punches.

From there, Haney gained the upper hand with an adjustment to ramp up the pace and keep the pressure on Garcia. Haney’s peppering jabs kept Garcia on his back foot and it appeared the champion was on his way to a straightforward defense against the enigmatic powerhouse.

And then the seventh round came.

With a similar opening-round burst that he displayed in the first, Garcia’s power connected thunderously, this time wowing the crowd by flooring Haney with a hook, handing Haney the first knockdown of his career. A stunned Haney beat the count, but was caught again and again and again as Garcia unleashed the power that rose him to prominence.

But the round turned utterly chaotic soon after, as Garcia was deducted a point for punching on a break as Haney’s legs wobbled like jelly. After fielding months of concerns about his mental wellbeing, a midfight mental lapse was threatening to ruin his momentum.

Garcia bided his time in the eighth and ninth rounds before proving in the 10th that his bursts were far more than adrenaline dumps. “King Ryan” again knocked Haney down, swinging the bout entirely in his favor and making an impossibility suddenly seem realistic.

If that wasn’t enough, Garcia smashed a cherry on top in the 11th round with a third knockdown, drilling Haney with yet another left hook that put the champ back down on the mat and sent Barclays Center into pandemonium.

While Haney rose to his feet and beat the count for a third time, the night was clearly over for the stupefied champ, and Garcia closed the conclusive 12th round by jumping on the corner ropes to soak up the praise of a bewildered crowd after the fight of his life.

FEAR THE KING pic.twitter.com/pogoQxoxXb

— RYAN GARCIA (@RyanGarcia) April 21, 2024

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“I would love to rematch, I gave him a shot and I’ll take a shot right back,” Haney said after the loss.

After weighing in 3.2 pounds over the pair’s agreed-upon limit of 140 pounds, Garcia was ineligible to win Haney’s super lightweight title, but that strap may be the only piece of dignity Haney left Brooklyn with.

Garcia entered the night with simply a puncher’s chance, which was a far cry from his days of riding his explosive style into becoming a household name just a few years earlier.

The social media sensation looked like the in-ring real deal as he topped Luke Campbell to earn the WBC interim lightweight title in 2021 and had the potential to become the future face of the sport in the post-Mayweather era, but then saw that hype get snuffed out after losing his undefeated mark in a superfight with fellow phenom Gervonta “Tank” Davis in February 2023.

In that bout, Garcia was first knocked down in the second round, then was floored again by Davis in the seventh round by a brutal body shot. Garcia failed to beat the 10-count, resulting in his first career loss, and was later criticized for quitting, as he rose shortly after the bell rang.

He next took on Oscar Duarte in September and struggled initially with the inferior fighter, and was belted with boos from the Houston crowd before bouncing back with an eighth-round knockout. After fighting at 140 pounds in 2022, Garcia fell to Davis after agreeing to a catchweight of 136 pounds, then he struggled to beat Duarte — a career 135-pounder — at 143 pounds.

Those scales caused Garcia far more trouble against Haney. On Friday night, Garcia weighed in at 143.2 points and opted to strike a revised deal to keep the fight on rather than try to lose the extra weight. Under the revised deal, Garcia lost $600,000 of his purse and was ineligible to win the super lightweight title.

In a show of boisterous indifference, Garcia later Friday came out to the ceremonial weigh-in chugging a beer and yelling at Haney amid a heated faceoff.

On Thursday, Haney predicted Garcia would miss weight, and asked Garcia to pay him $500,000 per pound missed. A Golden Boy Promotions statement Friday said Garcia will “honor the handshake made at the final press conference yesterday.”

But Friday night’s debacle came as a scant surprise to anyone who has followed Garcia’s social media posts in the buildup to this fight, making Saturday night’s result even more bewildering.

In recent months, Garcia has claimed he was kidnapped by the Illuminati, accused Logan Paul of worshipping Satan, tossed out accusations about Haney’s father, said he was under spiritual attack, said he has proof of alien existence and called Elon Musk the Antichrist, among a slew of other concerning claims and allegations online and in podcast appearances.

Garcia also announced the birth of his second child and his divorce from his wife on the same day in January. In March, Garcia accused Haney of using banned substances, said he was going to bite Haney’s ears off, then later tweeted, “My intention is to Kill Devil Haney.”

All of those antics shrouded both his and Haney’s boxing ascension in the buildup to Saturday night.

With the loss, Haney is 32-1 and his case for being considered among the world’s best pound-for-pound boxers alongside with the likes of Terence Crawford and Canelo Alvarez is crushed.

In 2022, Haney defeated George Kambosos Jr. in a lightweight title unification match to become the first undisputed lightweight champion since Pernell Whitaker in 1990, and the first in the four-belt era. In December, Haney moved up to super lightweight to battle champion Regis Prograis, whom Haney dominated with a masterclass performance to become a two-division champ.

Prior to Saturday night’s stunner, a rematch bout between Haney and Vasiliy Lomachenko, whom Haney defeated in a thrilling fight last May to defend his lightweight title, was thought to be in the champion’s future, as Haney’s unanimous decision victory was disputed by many.

But now, a rematch bout with Garcia ought to be Haney’s next order of business as he attempts to get his career back on track. Saturday night’s defeat revealed plenty of holes in Haney’s game, and left the champion with serious questions about the fortitude of his chin and the legitimacy of his previously untarnished record.

In the hours after his win, Garcia was right back on social media, arguing that the ref should have stopped the bout in the seventh round and clowning Haney for losing to him.

“I know people are so mad,” Garcia posted on X with a pair of crying emojis. “Imagine just imagine a guy that trolled non stop Beats a p4p fighter and then is just chilling bruh that’s hilarious Muhhahahahahaha.”

In the co-main event, underdog Sean McComb was seemingly robbed by the judges as he fell by split decision to Arnold Barboza Jr., who remains undefeated. McComb appeared to dictate the pace of the bout with his slippery defense and unreachable length, while also outlanding Barboza, per the broadcast statistics.

Barboza put together enough momentum in the final frames to squeak out the victory, but wore the story of the bout on his bruised face. The first announced judging scorecard read 98-92 for McComb, but the next scorecard shockingly read 97-93 Barboza. The final scorecard gave Barboza the edge and the bout with a score of 96-94, but there wasn’t a peep of celebration from the favorite.

In the postfight interview, Barboza said he wasn’t surprised by the results, but the crowd voiced their dissenting opinion with a chorus of boos.

Barboza entered the night tabbed as the replacement fighter in the main event if Garcia didn’t show up and with an eye on a future headlining fight with Shakur Stevenson. Barboza may have exited with his perfect record intact, but also with bruised cheek and a blemished reputation.

Required reading

(Photo: Al Bello / Getty Images)

“It sounds stupid, but it was as if the stadium went quiet at that exact moment,” recalls former Manchester United defender David May.

“All you could hear was the snap of his leg — as if two shin pads had collided — then the scream.”

He is thinking back to April 8, 1996, the day Coventry City defender David Busst suffered a horrific leg-break at Old Trafford. For many, it remains the worst football injury captured on film.

With four games to go in the Premier League season, Manchester United were six points clear of Newcastle United having played a game more.

Coventry were a point adrift of safety, but they made a start which roused the few thousand away fans, winning a corner after just 86 seconds.

Ally Pickering’s delivery was met by Noel Whelan at the front post, but his header was palmed into the air by the diving Peter Schmeichel.

Busst raced “full blast” towards a rebound which was, at best, 40-60 against him to win.

He was 10 yards outside the back post but accelerated so powerfully that he got to the ball ahead of the two United players, Denis Irwin and Brian McClair, who had thrown their legs at the bouncing ball.

The collision meant the ball only trickled towards goal.

“Instinctively, I thought, ‘He should have scored there’,” says May.

“But then I saw his leg and, oh my God, it was horrible. You could see the pain David was in. I turned away. Just thinking about it sends shivers down my spine.”

Schmeichel was on the ground with the ball safely in his hands but, as he had been making the save, he seemed to witness Busst “sit on his own leg”.

When the Danish goalkeeper looked up, he was met with a sight that would ingrain itself into his brain forever.

Busst had suffered compound fractures to both his tibia and fibula, leaving his right leg hinged at a sickening angle.

“We had five set-piece drills with Ron Atkinson and Gordon Strachan back then and the number they called up was the one that we flick on at the near post and I come in at the back post. It went perfectly until I got challenged,” Busst, who now works for Coventry’s Sky Blues In The Community charity, tells The Athletic.

“I just froze. I had the feeling of knowing something wasn’t in the right place. I thought, ‘Don’t move and the pain will go away, but the pain didn’t go away’. I was scared to move as Dion Dublin had a sheer look of horror on his face.

“Irwin had been coming off the post towards me and caught me above the ankle, but McClair was coming from behind and his foot caught me higher up the shin bone. All three of us were going to win or block the ball, so I don’t blame anyone.

“If you’ve got two opposing forces hitting at that exact same split second, there is only one thing that can happen. It will probably never happen again.”

Manchester United and Coventry face each other in Sunday’s FA Cup semi-final in a fixture that has not been seen in the Premier League since 2001, but it will always be synonymous with the nine-minute stoppage that brought an end to Busst’s career.

“I knew something was really bad with the noise he made, but when I saw Bussty’s hand in the air that was it for me,” says Paul Williams, a Coventry team-mate who had travelled with close friend Busst to meet the team bus that morning.

“Everyone was in their own world when he was down. I don’t think two people spoke to each other on our team.

“I can’t remember one pass I made that day. I wouldn’t even be able to confirm the score to you.”

It ended 1-0 to United, with Eric Cantona scoring the only goal of the game two minutes after half-time.

The details remain a blur for those who shared the pitch that day, including Manchester United midfielder Lee Sharpe, who heard the “crack” from just outside the box.

“It was horrible playing on,” says Sharpe. “No one wanted to go near anybody. It was a weird atmosphere as I think everyone was in shock.

“I remember Pete (Schmeichel) throwing a bucket of water at the blood on the pitch and seeing it splash up red.”

In 1996, the rudimentary setup at football grounds meant both club doctors had to sit in the directors’ box and the paramedics had to stay in the tunnel at the Stretford End so were not allowed on the pitch to give treatment.

It was such an unprecedented incident that United’s players called for their physio, David Fevre, to help.

“Our lads called us on and said, ‘Dave, you need to sort this out’,” says Fevre.

“When I got there David was screaming in pain, so my first thought was, ‘I need two sensible players who can help me out here’. Dion Dublin and ‘Choccy’ (McClair) were talking to him to take the stress out of it for me and create a physical screen so he couldn’t see down.”

Busst’s bone had penetrated through the skin and created a pool of blood in the six-yard box by the time Fevre arrived.

His priority was to stop the bleeding and prevent Busst losing consciousness or any further complications arising. He tried to ensure any grass and dirt was washed away by squirting saline over the open wounds and then dressing them to absorb the blood.

Only then could he deal with the fracture itself.

“His leg was virtually at 90 degrees,” says Fevre.

“Because of the angle, I checked the distal pulses in the foot. If you lose that, you lose the blood supply to the leg and then I would have had an even bigger problem to deal with.

“I made the decision to keep the limb in that position as I didn’t want to lose those pulses. I held the top and bottom end of the fracture as we got him on the stretcher and I maintained that stability while we took him around the pitch into the tunnel where the paramedics could give him oxygen.”

Only the St John’s Ambulance service were allowed on in those days, meaning Fevre had to lead a complex response without much support.

He is one of the faculty tutors at the Football Association and Busst’s injury is one that comes up often.

“I don’t want to sound blase, but having worked in rugby league for 10 years, I got used to injuries like that,” says Fevre. “It hardens you up to deal with it.

“I just went back to my seat and got my mind switched on to covering the rest of the game as something else could happen in the next minute.”

There was such a mess left that referee Dermot Gallagher had to allow the groundsman to come on with a bucket of water and sand.

Gallagher still cannot allow his mind to linger on it 27 years later.

“It took me nigh on two years to go back to Old Trafford again,” he tells The Athletic.

“It was the worst day of my football life and haunts me to this day. I avoid talking about it like the plague.”

Busst was put to sleep as the doctors reset his leg and put it into a back slab, but that was only the beginning of his recovery during an initial six-week stay in hospital.

“I can remember the journey because the speed bumps outside Old Trafford were so massive it felt like I was breaking it over and over again,” Busst says.

“Most people thought it was a road traffic accident until they saw the football kit.

“When Big Ron came to see me, the first thing he said was, ‘Bussty, you should have scored!’. You don’t want someone being morbid as you want people to take the pressure off. No one was better at that.”

Busst needed light relief as he underwent 10 operations in the first 12 days in an attempt to clean out and sterilise areas where he had picked up tissue infections, including MRSA.

He also had a hematoma on the outside of his leg, which had caused so much inflammation that they had to cut it down to release the pressure that felt like one huge dead leg.

Infection then got to his tendons, which also had to be cut away, leaving only the one that connected his big toe.

Busst had a six-inch pin inserted in his leg to help connect the bones and wore an external fixator bolted onto either end of his shin in the hope the bones would calcify and connect in the middle.

He encountered more problems as the infection was trailing down the outside of the pin. That had to be removed via another operation three months later. Busst even required surgery to repair a hole on his left Achilles that had been created by overcompensating when limping.

“One of the big problems I had was there was no blood supply to where the break was. There was a real danger that it would have to be amputated from the knee down,” Busst says.

“They moved the skin off the calf muscle to cover the hole where the bone had come out. They then took a skin graft off my backside to go on the back of my calf, which is why it looks like it does now.

“One of the best operations I had two years later was repairing that so I could pull up my toe. That’s what stopped me playing, I was left with a drop foot. You can’t chip the ball. It took me three years to kick the ball again.”

Busst used to cut out the ends of his shoes so he could have a bit of normality, but he knew after three months he would never play again due to the variety of significant injuries.

“All he wanted to know that first night was if he would play again, but they couldn’t give him an answer. It was horrible,” says Williams, who now plays alongside Busst in an over-35s league.

“On my days off I’d take him up to Manchester for his treatment. I’d put the front seat of my car down and he’d sit in the back with his leg up and all the metal sticking out of it.

“He had come to professional football late and that’s all he wanted to be. To have that taken away from him was devastating, but he’s more resilient than I’d ever be.

“He was quick, honest and committed. That’s what he brought to the game that day and it’s what ultimately ended his career.”

Old Trafford was already significant to Busst in how he had come into professional football. He was a latecomer, having been with non-League club Moor Green in Birmingham until he was 24.

One of his trial games at Coventry had been at Old Trafford in 1991, but five years later, aged 28, he had 50 Premier League games under his belt.

Williams reckons he would have had years more to come, which begs the question: does he ever regret flying into the challenge as committed as he did that day in 1996?

“It’s just something I didn’t even think about,” says Busst. “I was an honest player, I wasn’t the most talented but I stuck my head and foot in where it hurt.

“You’re not looking around thinking who is potentially going to hurt me, you’re just going full-blast to the ball. I was always brought up to attack the ball. If I had thought about those things, I’d have been injured years ago.

“I can’t change anything, but I can see what good I can take from it. Opportunities opened up for me after that. You’re better being famous for something than not.”

David Busst never played professionally again but does play veterans’ football (Getty Images)

Busst has had calls with players and families who have suffered traumatic injuries and, now 57, also plays for Leamington Seniors.

“He still steals into tackles now on a Sunday,” says Williams.

“I remember playing a couple of games where I was fuming that people were tackling him as I didn’t want him to go through it again, but he’s the opposite of paranoid.

He just wants to win. He still gets mad when decisions don’t go his way!”

In Schmeichel’s autobiography, One, he recalls showing Scandinavian visitors around Old Trafford, years after the incident, when out stepped Busst from the tunnel.

He was now a youth coach and had taken a group of kids to Old Trafford.

“It was a small moment of closure. What happened to him has never left me,” Schmeichel writes.

“It was the worst thing I ever witnessed on a football pitch and so close up that it almost felt part of me, if that makes sense.

“It may seem odd to say, but it sort of bonded me with David Busst.”

(Top photo: Laurence Griffiths/EMPICS via Getty Images)