A charming and inspirational guest

The stock image of Alex Ferguson, familiar around the world, is of someone who lives and breathes football, and gives it loads to referees. But there’s more to him than that, as Irish Examiner editor Tim Vaughan discovered

Everything was going nicely and according to plan. Getting the right speaker for the Irish Examiner’s Junior Sports Stars awards was, to paraphrase Churchill, a challenge wrapped in a headache inside a last-minute panic attack.

The speaker had to be high profile, but more importantly, had to be an inspirational speaker for the country’s most promising young sporting talent. Almost by definition, it would be somebody with a very packed and busy schedule and they would have to be certain of their availability for the specific day — and be willing to do the business for a fee that we generously described as “modest”.