It’s time to throw open gates once and for all

The same day Roy Keane adorned the front page of this paper by flying back into his hometown to launch the Liam Miller tribute match also happened to be the 25th anniversary of him joining Manchester United for a then record British transfer fee.

It’s long part of football folklore now, how the Corkman spurned Kenny Dalglish after being persuaded by an 11th-hour pitch Alex Ferguson made to him over a game of snooker.

The club’s true guv’nor from Govan had just ended their famine of going the previous 25 years without winning a league title and already he was eyeing further and bigger prizes.