Not only was he a world class manager, but Alex Ferguson was also a talented agent when he gave it a go too.
Keith Gillespie was part of Fergie’s famous Class of ’92 side that featured the likes of David Beckham, Ryan Giggs, Paul Scholes and Gary Neville before he rose through the youth ranks and graduated into the first team squad.
However, once he lost his starting place on the wing to Andrei Kanchelskis, his tenure at the club began nearing its end. Eventually, he was shipped on to Newcastle in January, 1995.
Ferguson parted with the Northern Irishman in a part-exchange deal worth £7 million in order to lure Andy Cole away from St James’ Park.
The looming move left him in a predicament as he did not have an agent at the time. He was earning just £250 a week as a first-team player with the Red Devils, so Ferguson stepped in and played the part of the negotiator, as Gillespie explained to the Manchester Evening News.
“We went to meet Kevin Keegan and some directors in a hotel with Sir Alex – he acted as my agent.”
“I don’t know if he ever did it before; I don’t know if he ever did it again. He just rang my Mum and asked if it was OK if he looked after me. He looked after me, definitely!”
Ferguson managed to work out a hell of a deal with the Magpies by telling then Newcastle manager Kevin Keegan that Gillespie was earning £600-a-week at Old Trafford. The strategy to see Gillespie’s wages increased paid off as Newcastle ended up doubling this figure to £1,200-a-week.
As fate would have it, six months later, Kanchelskis left United after falling out with Fergie. He then reached out to Gillespie to see if he was interested in returning to the club, but the move never came off which gave David Beckham the opportunity to nail down that starting place.
The rest, as they say, is history.
Catch up with the latest episode of Football Friday Live:
