A few weeks ago I was contacted by Martin Buchan, former captain of Manchester United, asking me if I had contact details for his former team-mate David McCreery. As it turned out, I did. “You won’t believe me, but it’s the club asking!” he told me.
With it being the fortieth anniversary of United’s FA Cup win over Liverpool in 1977, I did hope it would be some (in my mind, overdue) recognition for a great team. I was given that confirmation when the day after Martin contacted me, I was contacted by the club directly, inviting me to a museum exhibition unveiling event. The personal invite was apparently due to my writing of the club over that period and of course I considered that a great honour so was more than happy to attend.
The event was yesterday evening and quite a few players of the team attended; Martin gave a lovely speech beforehand speaking fondly of his team-mates, and paying special tribute to Brian Greenhoff; I found this words very nice indeed and I’m sure Brian’s sons, Paul, Brian Jr. and Pete (who were all in attendance, as well) did too.
The exhibition was great – shirts were there, the match programmes from the cup run, but it was scarves, jackets, things that transported you back into the day which really made the exhibition stand out. Decorating the walls were images of the players, including Brian in an iconic picture of him being comforted by manager Tommy Docherty after the loss against Southampton in 1976. The picture was accompanied by a quote and at the time I didn’t realise it, but, looking back at pictures last night I recognised Brian’s words a little more closely. I checked a copy of his autobiography and sure enough, there was the quote, taken from the book I wrote with him back in 2012.
Never could I have imagined that words from the first book I wrote (and don’t get me wrong, I’m aware these are Brian’s words much more than mine, but I am in the wave of immense pride so much that I had to share) would adorn the walls of the museum of the club I support. It turned out to be a much more special day than I’d anticipated and I feel so honoured to been included in more ways than one.
