The Bald Facts by Pat Symes

Author:Pat Symes
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Pitch Publishing (Brighton) Ltd
Published: 2005-03-26T16:00:00+00:00

9

Rejecting Manchester United

MANCHESTER UNITED were keen to sign me once I had decided to leave Middlesbrough but I chose Southampton instead. Today that would be regarded as a very strange decision, especially at the way United have gone on to become a major world super-power, winning all there was to be won under Sir Alex Ferguson while Southampton dipped for a year or two into League 1 after becoming embroiled in unsustainable money problems.

Ron Atkinson was manager of Manchester United at the time, the summer of 1981, and I never got as far as speaking to him or anyone at United but there was genuine interest. What I didn’t realise was that Middlesbrough were fast running out of money and the constant sales of key players, which had driven John Neal to resign, was only being used to satisfy debts. It was my turn to follow a string of top class players out of Ayresome Park. I am not sure why Middlesbrough were struggling to cope but once it became clear I wanted to go they didn’t make much of an effort to get me to change my mind. They needed the money I would fetch in the transfer market.

I understand Atkinson offered cash plus Mike Duxbury, a young defender who had made his debut the year before but was not yet established. Middlesbrough turned it down without giving it much thought. They wanted cash alone and weren’t bothered about any player makeweight. It is a shame for them because Duxbury later became an important member of the United team which won the FA Cup twice and went on to earn ten England caps. Had Middlesbrough accepted Atkinson’s offer they would have received money and a player they might have developed and sold on at a later date. But life is full of chances missed and taken and it simply never happened.

I should emphasise that in 1981 United were still coming back from some lean years in the 1970s, trying to recapture the golden era of Best, Law and Charlton. It is true United had been league runners-up a year or two before and Atkinson had brought in Bryan Robson and Mark Hughes but it was not until Ferguson came along that the club was restored to greatness. In contrast Lawrie McMenemy’s Southampton was a club on the way up. They had Keegan, twice European Player of the Year when at Hamburg, Channon, Ball and a collection of high class players supporting them and everyone wanted to play for them. I had no hesitation once the move was put in place and I have to say 30 or so years later that I have had no regrets about my decision. Southampton was right for me then and is still right for me now.

For a start, the weather is better but there was far more to it than that. I liked the club, the fans, other players, the manager, the countryside and even the rickety old Dell. Having said that about the south which is now home, I still love going back to the North-East.

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