Fergie, Big Jack and life in the Beautiful Game

Long-standing Manchester United fans in Meath, who can hark back to Alex Ferguson’s time in charge, will appreciate how saying ‘no’ to the Scotsman during his time in charge of the Red Devils was not something many in the club would have even thought about doing.

Liam O’Brien was an exception to that rule. The Dubliner said ‘no thanks’ to a new contract Ferguson offered him in 1988.

The circumstances to how and why he turned down what many, at the time, would have regarded as a dream offer are outlined in O’Brien’s autobiography - Pass Master: Football, Fergie, Big Jack, King Kev and My Life in the Beautiful, Sometimes Brutal Game’.

The book was written, in collaboration with O’Brien, by Jimmy Geoghegan who has worked as a sports reporter for the Meath Chronicle for many years.

O’Brien, who grew up in Ringsend, had been part of a hugely successful Shamrock Rovers team in the 1980s managed by the great Jim McLaughlin but in October 1986 the skilful midfielder was signed by Ron Atkinson, the then Manchester United manager.

Aged 22 O’Brien was a relatively late entry to the ruthless, highly competitive world of professional football in England and within a month of his arrival at Old Trafford he was reminded of how life in that world can change, and change quickly.

Atkinson was sacked and replaced by Ferguson, who shortly afterwards gave O’Brien his United first team debut. O’Brien felt Ferguson liked the Irish.

Lining out alongside players like Bryan Robson, Paul McGrath, Kevin Moran, Frank Stapleton, Norman Whiteside, O’Brien was to play over 30 games for United over the next two years until ’88 when his initial two-year contract was up for renewal.

O’Brien, who was paid £250 Sterling a week, wanted £500 a week in the new arrangement, the same as some of the other squad members were receiving.

Ferguson, who wanted to keep O’Brien, was only prepared to pay him £400 plus add ons.

Life changed for O’Brien in the Autumn of 1988 when, out of the blue, Newcastle United, or the Magpies as they were also known as, offered him a much better contract than what was on the table at Old Trafford.

Part of the deal included O’Brien receiving £750 a week and a substantial signing on fee.

At a motorway café near Leeds, O’Brien met representatives from the Newcastle club. He signed straight away for the Magpies – and Ferguson wasn’t too happy with him for doing so. He didn’t speak to the Dubliner until a few years later.

O’Brien was to go on to spend happy years at Newcastle United despite many ups and downs. The Magpies were relegated from the English top flight in O’Brien’s first season with them but under manager Kevin Keegan, he later played a crucial role in helping them get back up into the newly-formed Premier League.

The Newcastle United fans still sing a song about O’Brien and a famous goal he scored from a free-kick against arch rivals Sunderland in their first season back in the top flight.

There were bleak times too for O’Brien during his days at St James’ Park including a leg break he sustained while on duty that seriously threatened his career.

Later O’Brien moved to Tranmere Rovers before he returned to the League of Ireland as a player and a coach.

Over nine months or so Geoghegan worked closely with O’Brien on the book which also outlines the Dubliner’s time playing for Ireland under Jack Charlton and later Mick McCarthy. O’Brien won 16 caps between 1986 and ’96 and was part of the squad that went to West Germany in 1988 for the European Championships.

Pass Master is a story about the occasional triumphs and many tribulations of a professional footballer and what such a life involved for one man and his family back in the 1980s before players were paid large fortunes for kicking a ball around a field.