Winning in team sports is nearly impossible. That’s why very few do it. You have to take a collection of egos and talent and get everybody on the same page at the same time – throughout the course of a season.

A real shining example of that came during the Chiefs’ Super Bowl win on Sunday, when Travis Kelce bumped into Andy Reid and screamed in his face.

The whole world said: ‘Oh my gosh, how could Kelce do that?’ But my first thought was: this is not what it looks like. On the surface, it appeared that Kelce was undermining Reid – and how dare a player yell at a coach like that?

But, in my experience, it was more about the bond and synergy between them. Sure, Kelce was aggressive, but his reaction was more: ‘Give me the damn ball. This is the big game. I’m the guy.’

I’ve done that to other players and other players have done that to me – I would scream at my centre backs, guys like Phil Jagielka at Everton who was a dear friend. It’s the opposite of undermining them. It’s a respect thing and it applies the other way around: someone trusts me enough to go at me in that way, knowing I can handle it.

Travis Kelce screamed in the face of Chiefs coach Andy Reid during the Super Bowl in Vegas

And I think it speaks volumes that Reid didn’t even bat an eye lid. He doesn’t even look back at Kelce, he doesn’t react, he just absorbs it. He knows exactly what it is. And he probably liked it: that’s the reaction I want from my biggest player in the biggest game.

It says everything about the leader Reid is, the winner he is and the culture that he creates. That’s why he’s a multiple-time champion. Any good leader needs humility and a real sense of balance – knowing when to be stern and pound your fist on the table, and when to absorb moments like that.

The way that both he and Kelce reacted told me: this wasn’t the first time. I would imagine they have had worse clashes than that. This was just the first time we were seeing it. It just happened to be in front of the world.

During my career, it was usually the other way round: I’ve been on the receiving end of some horrific talking-tos from both Sir Alex Ferguson and David Moyes and whether you think you’re right or wrong, a manager has to be able to have a pop at you and you have to be able to handle it. I often had every excuse in the book but they didn’t want to hear any of them.

Former Manchester United captain Roy Keane would have run-ins with Sir Alex Ferguson

Howard would often shout at his ‘dear friend’ and Everton teammate Phil Jagielka (pictured)

Nobody at Everton would ever go at David Moyes. Once, a player – who shall remain nameless and who had a lot to say – was adamant he wasn’t going to do the running after a game. Moyes got hold of that information and got hold of the player – he had him pinned up against the wall and I can assure you the player did the fitness!

At Manchester United, Roy Keane and Sir Alex Ferguson had some clashes – I remember once after a game at Bolton, they were going at each other in the locker room. Things were getting thrown, they were yelling back and forth while the rest of us were all in the corner hiding. It gets uncomfortable – no one’s going to interject! Everybody shut up. If you ever had the good fortune of being in a dressing room with two massive leaders like that, there is nothing you can say or do.

But, again, you can’t have those fiery conversations, those screaming matches without respect. Otherwise it boils over. It all stems from a foundation of respect.

THE SECRETS OF BUILDING A DYNASTY

The Chiefs’ win over the 49ers cemented Kansas City as a dynasty. I know from my time at Manchester United that teams who perpetually win have a certain culture. It’s set by the manager but is then lived out every day by the players: a strong mentality, holding each other accountable – which is very difficult to do, by the way. Because everybody wants to be liked. No one wants tough conversations.

But at championship winning teams, tough conversations are happening every day. Players are driving each other – not caring to be liked. One vision, one goal and they very rarely veer from that.

When they do, there’s enough characters to bring it back. And often, the coaches don’t have to do a lot – they’ve already planted those seeds, so the team take care of themselves.

Kelce has now helped the Kansas City Chiefs win three Super Bowls in the past five years

Championship pedigree is all about mentality. Performance, execution… that goes without saying. But to be resilient from the start of the season to the final whistle, it’s all about mentality.

You can coach that – but it’s rare. You have to identify good characters – people who can handle pressure, who are willing to put themselves in uncomfortable situations, who are willing to be vulnerable. And that has nothing to do with being a good player. It has everything to do with character.

At United, it was about the minute details. On a day-to-day basis, Fergie would create a training environment where winning mattered. It mattered that you won a small-sided game. Shooting drills mattered. And when your team lost players would be seething.

You started to understand that Monday through Friday, the standard became so high that you were so deathly afraid to let your teammates down. That then started to trickle into matchday. You are already hardened with that mentality.

The standards at Manchester United were set every day in training by the likes of Keane

Reid has built a winning culture in Kansas City that allows the team to overcome adversity

Every single day I was nervous to go to training – and that’s good. It wasn’t about just getting through the next hour and a half. But that standard is only really afforded to the best teams. And it applies off the field, too: not wearing a cap to games, shirts tucked in, showing up on time to meals, it all mattered. Best practice becomes a habit.

The 49ers admitted after the Super Bowl that they didn’t know the overtime rules. A massive mistake. Could you imagine the Chiefs doing that? No.

Yes, they weren’t brilliant this year. But it still felt inevitable that they were going to win the Super Bowl. That’s down to best practice: making sure there’s a consistency in performance, in how they go about their work, and in the things they say.

Sometimes I listen to what comes out of the Chiefs locker room and think: ‘This is so bland and so vanilla’. But it was the same with the Patriots of Bill Belichick and Tom Brady. They didn’t give you a whole lot. It was very much a workman mentality: hard hat, lunch pail and you just knew what you were going to get.

MAHOMES HAS QUALITIES YOU CAN’T TEACH

You can give somebody support. You can push them to be better. But if you could coach someone to perform in the most high-pressure moments, everybody would do it. And not everybody can.

Patrick Mahomes has something special. It’s innate. Before the playoffs, people were asking: can he do it away from home? Yes. Why? Because his mentality is so strong. He hasn’t had to because they’ve been so good but I don’t think anybody in their right mind ever doubted that he would perform on that level, away from home, in the cold. It didn’t matter.

Patrick Mahomes led the Chiefs on a winning drive during overtime against San Francisco

He had something in him from very early on that said: I can be a champion, I can be a leader. And we see that throughout time with special players.

Roy Keane never he never blinked in the face of adversity. If he ever felt any fear, he never showed it.

The biggest games were the ones he relished, those moments brought the best out of him.

And when you have a good leader, who always shows up, who never lets you down, you are deathly afraid to let them down.

So you keep your standards high because they’ve shown you what it takes. Are you playing for pride? Yes. Are you playing for yourself? Yes. Are you playing not to not lose, out of fear? Sure. But you’re also playing not to let your leader down.

MY SUPER BOWL WEEK IN VEGAS

Tim Howard in Las Vegas for Super Bowl week

I was in Las Vegas last week and it is such a special place because everything is so compact.

Often at the Super Bowl, all the parties and events and glitz are spread out. In Vegas that can’t happen. It’s one constant party.

I went to a Siegelman Stable event. I went to the LIV Golf party. I went to see the comedian Bill Burr. I gambled and I lost, which is normal. People who tell you they won – they’re full of it!

The city is becoming a sporting capital of the US and the Golden Knights have shown that Vegas supports franchises. So we have to see NBA there and we