PAUL MCGRATH has revealed that Sir Alex Ferguson once offered him £100k to retire from football.
The legendary defender played for Man United between the years 1982 and 1989.
AlamyPaul McGrath was offered £100k to retire from football by Sir Alex Ferguson[/caption]
GettySir Alex was not impressed with his drinking[/caption]
Getty Images – GettyHe instead moved to Aston Villa, where he was often hailed as ‘God’[/caption]
But his manager Sir Alex was less than impressed with him and United striker Norman Whiteside’s drinking, which led to the offer of retirement.
McGrath told The Telegraph: “Sir Alex got me into the room and just said ‘we’d like you to stop playing football’.
“Simple as that. And he said they were willing to give me £100,000 to quit playing football altogether and just go back to Ireland.
“I was thinking about it because £100,000 back then was quite a lot of money.
“But I spoke to Kevin Moran and Bryan Robson, and I just said I wanted to play on because I thought I could still do something in football.
“So Gordon Taylor, who was at the PFA, went into Sir Alex and said ‘Paul’s playing on, you can fine him, you can do what you want but he’s going to play football – here or somewhere else’.
“It wasn’t a shock really because we were acting up a bit back then.
“We had a bit of fun but we overdid it, so then he just wanted me out of the club.
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“Then Bryan Robson was having a barbeque at his house and suddenly Graham Taylor was on the phone saying ‘can you come up to Aston Villa’ and I jumped at the chance.
“I thought ‘Jesus, I can play there every week’.”
McGrath’s move to Villa was a success as he became a legend at the club during his seven-year spell.
While playing at Villa Park, McGrath was often nicknamed “God” by his fans.
However, he did admit that he thought the “man upstairs would not be too pleased about that”.