Scanning the room full of smiles and staring eyes, I identified the mystery Scottish voice as the man who’d just become the first player to score more than 20 league goals for the club since George Best in the 1960s. I was still starstruck from seeing all these famous faces as my chauffeur for the day, Eric Harrison, pulled up in the car park at The Cliff a few minutes earlier. I ticked them all off in my head.
Thank fuck I was developing an ear for everyday Glaswegian because after a bit of piss-taking from the first-teamers about being a scouser, I found myself standing in an office at the end of a short and narrow corridor, shaking hands with another one. Just like Dalglish at Liverpool, Ferguson made me feel special. I’ve no idea how he knew about it, but he inquired about my trip with Liverpool to Wembley for the cup final.
Then he told me all about watching 20 minutes of me playing for Liverpool schoolboys against Salford after Eric Harrison had watched me a few times. After I told him how made up I was to be there, he ordered me to go out and enjoy myself. Which is exactly what happened.
The few dozen trialists all got split up and mixed in with the lads who had signed schoolboy forms already, all kitted out in gleaming Manchester United training kit. Brian Kidd told me I could keep the kit, which was sound. I already had my eye on it, so I didn’t need to risk making the wrong impression.
Although there were kids from all over the show – Brazil, Argentina, Ghana – I struck up an instant rapport with a lad from Scotland. Tommy Harrison is unforgettable. I think he was captain of Scotland schoolboys and came to United with a big reputation.
We got on like a house on fire, trading nicknames. I confused him at first by shouting “rock on, Tommy” every time I saw him. We worked out that his diet of Scottish telly left him in the dark about the catchphrases of TV comics Cannon and Ball.
Extract — continue reading at the source.
