Obviously, when you have a friend like that join the club you’re at, you try to help him settle in as much as possible. He came down with his wife Clare and a young family, he found a house to settle in and you’re doing all you can to make him at ease. I have to say, it wasn’t just me, though; the whole dressing room tried to help him settle because it was that type of place. Whether you knew players in the squad or not, all the lads made you feel welcome.



Liam always seemed very quiet initially when people met him, but once you got to know him, he was a great, funny lad and we all got to see that in time. It took him a little while to settle in Manchester, but that’s just the norm because of the challenge that he had to get into the team as well. It was such a tough task he had to get into that midfield.



There’s a perception that Liam was always a quiet lad, but he had the type of persona that people outside looking in wouldn’t have been able to understand. In the dressing room he was very lively, great fun to be around, whether with club or country. Remember, it’s always the quiet ones you have to watch. He was always up to something. He always seemed to be able to get away with it, too!



There’d have been some practical jokes going on in the dressing room and you’d be looking around to see who’d been behind it. You’d look at Liam and he’d just have that face that would make you think:



Ah, it’s definitely not Liam.



He should have been top of the list when you were looking for the culprit.



When the players went out as a group together, he had this incredible ability to just disappear when he’d had enough. He’d just vanish away. You’d try to get a message to him but then you’d realise he’d had enough and decided time was up. It’s quite a skill, that - I think he learnt it from Scholesy!



Off the field, Liam was a great lad, but we can’t forget that he was an extremely talented player, too. I’d seen his ability for years. It was tough for him to get into the United team at that time because the competition was so fierce. Sometimes he was playing out to the right-hand side when he would have preferred to be in the middle, but it was so hard to get in. He knew that competition existed when he came down from Celtic, but he was willing to take that challenge on because he had faith in his ability to make an impact and prove himself at United. He was a really exciting box-to-box midfielder and he could score great goals too - I remember one he scored for Ireland at home to Sweden; he turned, ran with the ball and just stuck it in the top corner from around 25 yards out. It was a very special goal.



He was a top professional, too. So energetic and unbelievably fit. In fitness tests, he’d smash the bleep test and be right up among the top results. His energy was incredible. That’s one of the reasons it’s so hard to comprehend what happened with his illness. It makes it even sadder because he had amazing fitness levels.