Old Manchester United contract of Irish footballer shows how much the game has changed

Long, long ago, before Ed Woodward was around to negotiate lucrative sponsorship deals with American car companies and official noodle partners, Manchester United didn’t have quite as much money at their disposal as they do today.

As a result, the wage packets they handed out to their players were a far cry from the £300,000 they recently agreed fork out to Paul Pogba on a weekly basis.

Thanks to the emergence of the following letter – posted on Reddit on Sunday – we’ve now learned that in 1965 the club were able to tie down goalkeeper Pat Dunne to a two-year contract extension for just £35-a-week (equivalent to around £640 nowadays, says the Daily Mail).

Although most of us wouldn’t turn our noses up at that kind of pay packet, spare a thought for the Mino Raiolas of this world, whose reported 30% stake would only comes in at just £192. Good luck trying to buy Al Capone’s old Miami villa with that kind of cash, pal.

Dunne, who initially signed for United for a fee of £10,500 from Shamrock Rovers in 1964 a year before his contract extension – stayed at Old Trafford until 1967, playing his part in the club’s First Division win that year.

The Dubliner, who made five appearances for the Republic of Ireland, passed away last year age 72.

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