Mike Phelan is telling the story of how, 10 years after signing for Manchester United as a player, he returned to the club as a coach at the request of Sir Alex Ferguson. It was 1999 and Phelan had just been dismissed by Stockport County, alongside manager Gary Megson.



“I always thank Stockport for sacking me, really,” Phelan chuckles. “After about five days of being out of work, I got a phone call off Sir Alex saying, ‘Why don’t you come over to the training ground? I’ll put you right on a couple of things.’ I go in and he offers me a job as a coach of the reserve team. I’d only gone in for a cup of tea!



“I asked him, ‘How do you want me to coach?’ He bit my head off, really. He said, ‘I’m employing you to be a coach — (so) you coach. I’m not telling you how. But what I will say is, gain the respect of the players and challenge them every day.’



“I took that...