Sam hits sixty on Sunday and three points from Turf Moor will be his perfect early birthday present.

However, the whole sixty thing isn’t going down that well and he admitted when asked how it felt that it was “terrible” adding “There is plenty of life left in me, but I can’t believe I have got the number 60 next to my name. Where has it all gone?

He told London 24: “As everybody warns you, life goes quicker and quicker the older you get and that is certainly the case. I don’t feel 60 when I wake up in the morning and am getting ready for work, but everybody has been saying, ‘the big ‘six o’ is coming’ so now it is here I have to accept it.”

The question is of course how long will he go on and he admits he isn’t sure he’ll reach the Sir Alex Ferguson benchmark of 71 before calling it a day at Manchester United.

He said: “I don’t think so.I suppose when it comes to the crunch you judge every year as it goes on. You don’t want to overstay your welcome and sometimes I think you can fall into the trap of doing it for the sake of it. You have to have that internal drive and desire.”