‘Boss’ to maintain Irish links

Of the many tasks Alex Ferguson relished when taking the Manchester United job in 1986, addressing the chasm between the club and Ireland featured prominently.

Traditionalists could cite the presence of Paul McGrath, Kevin Moran, Frank Stapleton and Liam O’Brien in the squad he inherited from Ron Atkinson as evidence of the continued link with the Emerald Isle, yet the Scot felt much more was needed.

First-team players come and go, as proven with that quartet’s exit within three years, but Ferguson’s vision for developing United ‘the club’ — rather than just ‘the team’ — had Ireland at the forefront. If it’s a truism that Fergie’s fledglings saved his job with FA cup success in 1990, then the work he had carried out behind the scenes with such considerable zeal during the interim period helped underpin the empire that would gradually rise within the club.