‘Sir Alex Ferguson was the first person to read my book — twice!’
When Nicky Welsh was trying to establish whether his book about a life in love with Manchester United had enough heft and originality to capture the imagination of the masses, he was able to call on an exclusive pool for market research.
Sir Alex Ferguson was the first person to cast eyes on My United Road, which depicts Welsh’s journey as a diehard fan who signed for the club of his dreams before ultimately failing to make the grade. “Nobody can take away that he was the first one to read it, even if it doesn’t go on to do anything,” Welsh tells The Athletic.
Having been released as a player at United when Ron Atkinson was manager, Welsh got to know Ferguson through his son Jason, their bond strengthening during Sunday morning kids’ football at Hale Barns United. Years later, in May 2019, when Welsh was close to completing the first draft of his book, Ferguson indicated he would like a copy for his holiday. The trouble was all the words were only on Welsh’s laptop and the United legend planned to fly out in the next couple of days.
Welsh (right) on his first day of training with Manchester United, cleaning Bryan Robson’s boots.
Working in London that week, Welsh enlisted a printer’s in Kings Cross to help. Only for the brief to get lost in translation. “They printed it on A4, one side only — it was like the Argos catalogue,” Welsh laughs. “My missus was saying, ‘You can’t give him that! It will be over his baggage allowance’. It felt like it weighed 20kg. He couldn’t have that while he’s relaxing around the pool on his sunbed. I was gutted. I thought I’d lost my chance.
“The next morning when I got home to Manchester I looked online and saw there was this bookbinder behind Salford University. I rang up and said, ‘Is there any chance you can get a book done in the next 24 hours?’. He said, ‘No chance, I need two weeks’. I said, ‘Are you a United fan?’. He said, ‘Put it this way, my grandad played for Newton Heath Locos’. I went, ‘Oh I can’t believe that, this book is for Sir Alex Ferguson’. He said, ‘I’ll work round the clock’. He worked on it through the night.”
This version, a small hardback, was much more suitable for air travel, and Ferguson got it just in time. “The one copy cost me £240,” Welsh chuckles. It was worthwhile. Ferguson read it twice, particularly enjoying Welsh’s unvarnished experience of following United around the country in the 1970s and ‘80s.
“Fergie went, ‘It’s one for the fans’,” says Welsh, who was trained by Eric Harrison, United’s famous youth coach, and could call Norman Whiteside, Bryan Robson and Mark Hughes peers. “You’ve got on the stage with the main cast, but you’re sweeping up,” Welsh adds, when asked about the ethos of the book. “It is very humble.”
Welsh (second from left) with Eric Harrison and the United Youth Team 1983-84.
There is a poignant moment when Welsh describes how Atkinson told him, aged 19, that he was not good enough for United. “I said, ‘Gaffer, please. You don’t have to pay me, I’ll wash the cars, just give me seven weeks.’”
Christopher Eccleston, the Doctor Who actor and a fellow United fan, is currently recording the audiobook version but had to stop to collect his emotions in the studio when voicing that passage. “He was in tears,” says Welsh.
There is plenty of humour, however, particularly the chapter when Welsh, with his football career effectively over, signs for Cheq Point FC in Malaysia. Welsh tells how his father Barry, affectionately known as Baza, used Tipp-Ex on his United youth contract to doctor his academy earnings when photocopying through documents to owner Steven Sya to ensure an improved offer of £1,000 a week in the Far East materialised.
Welsh (front row, centre) with Ron Atkinson’s Manchester United during the pre-season of 1984.
By chance, he met Sir Matt Busby through a girlfriend and would go on to spend many Sunday lunches with the architect of the club he adores, enraptured at his tales. Welsh went to Busby’s funeral in 1994 and in the book recalls a conversation with Busby’s daughter, Sheena, that sheds new light on Harry Gregg’s actions in the immediate aftermath of the Munich air disaster.
“I’ve broken my bastard back, leave me be and go check for others in that plane,” Busby told Gregg, making a very rare exception to his stance on swearing.
There are other revelations, such as Jason Ferguson passing on information to his dad about Dennis Bergkamp’s penalty-taking preferences ahead of the epic 1999 FA Cup semi-final replay against Arsenal. “At the time he was working for Sky Sports as their senior match director,” Welsh writes. “This gave Jason invaluable access to Arsenal footage.”
Bryan Robson with a copy of My United Road.
Welsh was at Villa Park as a supporter that night and he describes his favourite games with an authenticity that matchgoers will recognise, even if his journey back from the 2008 Champions League final in Moscow to a crucial work meeting at 8am the next day in London is at the more incredible end of the spectrum.
There are a couple of excellent Sir Alex Ferguson anecdotes from their days spent watching kids’ football together — including fresh detail on the afternoon United clinched the 2007 Premier League title. Hale Barnes United also won their championship that day, with Ferguson supporting his grandson on the touchline rather than keeping abreast of the scores that would bring the main trophy back to Old Trafford for the first time in four years.
That sense of family permeates Welsh’s book, and there is an especially touching chapter on his father who passed away in October after suffering from Alzheimer’s. A portion of the proceeds from My United Road will be donated to Alzheimer’s research charities.
Gripped by the condition in 2017, Baza mistook Ferguson for Busby at an 18th birthday party at the Mere Golf Club in Cheshire, draping his arm around and asking about training the next day.
“Yes, Barry — 10am at the Cliff, Broughton,” replied Ferguson, understanding the situation.
The journey home afterwards, Welsh writes, saw his dad the happiest he’d been in years.
First featured in The Athletic, March 2021 https://theathletic.com/2454790/2021/03/17/manchester-united-sir-alex-ferguson-was-the-first-person-to-read-my-book-twice/?source=emp_shared_article.