Paul McGrath has revealed how close he came to quitting the game of football in 1989, after an offer from Alex Ferguson at Manchester United.
McGrath's drinking became a notorious problem for Ferguson in his early years, the hard-drinking embodied by McGrath and others proving an impediment to cultural change.
McGrath himself spoke of the fortifying effect he felt alcohol had on his game.
"I always played on Saturday and, I swear to Christ, I always did my best for the team," McGrath told BT Sport.
"While I was drinking alcohol, I would genuinely tend to try that iota to stop everything - if I was in a tackle or something - to try and stop that person an iota more simply because I was drunk."
Paul McGrath on Ferguson
McGrath revealed how close he came to retiring after an offer from United in 1989.
"I knew that I was not going to be at Manchester United much longer. I was told that they'd give me £100,000 if I quit football. That was the first offer from Sir Alex. Gordon Taylor had actually come into the negotiations, he was the PFA representative. I had already agreed to this.
"When I was walking out of the office, Gordon came up to me and said 'Paul, seriously, what do you want to do?' I said: 'To be honest, I still want to play football. I know I can, and I just want to play football.
"Gordon says 'If you want to keep playing football, you don't have to accept this.' So Gordon turned straight around and says 'no matter what you do, he's still playing football.'
"I thank god he was in the room."
Forgiveness
McGrath decided to stay in the game following discussions with Kevin Moran, Norman Whiteside, and Bryan Robson.
McGrath spoke of the Coca-Cola Cup final in 1994, which saw his new side Aston Villa come out on top over Ferguson's United.
"I owed the Villa fans big time, so to get that cup was just enormous, and to do it against your old club is fabulous.
"Sir Alex came in and we ended that stupidity that had been going on. He just said 'Well done, big man' and he gave me an awful whack in the chest, to be honest! Then he shook hands.
"But I took that as love. It turns out he was a decent man and five years were wasted of my life disliking him."
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