My Playing Days: Jim Ryan

The Reds' retiring youth-football director Jim Ryan recently spoke to Inside United about his time as a player...

My transfer
When I was 17, playing for a team called Cowie Hearts, I was approached after a game by a Scottish scout who asked me to come down to United for a trial, originally for two weeks, but that ended up being a month. I didn’t think I played very well in my first trial game, but I did pretty well in the second game and obviously did enough! [Jim joined United in 1963.]

My debut
It was at West Brom [May 1966, 3-3 draw]. I didn’t think I played particularly brilliantly. Still, it was one of those days where your head’s in a whirl. I had been playing really well in the Reserves and some of the lads had predicted that I would get a first-team game soon, so I anticipated it but I was still incredibly nervous.

Favourite game
I think it was my home debut against Aston Villa [five days after his first-team debut, in a 6-1 win]. I scored with my left foot, which was a collector’s piece in itself. I clipped it nicely – just enough to get it over the line!

Favourite goal
That goal against Villa was my favourite of those that I scored, but I always remember being involved in the build-up to a very important goal against Gornik Zabrze, in that my shot was back-heeled in by Brian Kidd [February 1968, European Cup quarter-final, United won 2-0]. That turned out to be a crucial goal because we lost the second leg and that goal got us through.

Best player I played with
Everybody says Best, Law and Charlton, so I sometimes think Nobby Stiles must be invisible! He was also a World Cup winner, a European Cup winner and a league champion, seems to be overlooked. But Best, Law and Charlton always get the limelight, and they were all named European Footballer of the Year while at United, which says a lot. I did have a special affinity with Denis, not least because he was Scottish!

My best United memory
Firstly, there’s the day Matt Busby called me in and told me he wanted to sign me – it was the realisation of a dream. Then there’s the 1968 European Cup final because it was a very exciting experience but also very moving. It was the completion of something, coming 10 years after the crash.

I left United when…
I wasn’t in the first team very often, I made 27 appearances and I needed to get on with my career. It was still a big wrench, of course. Luton came in for myself and Don Givens, who had also played in the Reserves a lot, and we went down to see them. We both liked it and signed on together in 1970.

I returned to United when…
I left Luton in 1975 to play in America with Dallas. I stayed in America for eight years; when I came back, I took the Reserve team manager’s job at Luton Town. I had six very good years there and was promoted to manager in 1990. Like all managers, I got the sack after a couple of years! Out of the blue, maybe a month later [in 1991], I got a call from Sir Alex asking if I’d like to be interviewed for the Reserve team coach’s job at United.

Best players I’ve worked with
I’ve always liked the way Paul Scholes plays. There have been so many – David Beckham is a very skilful player, Nicky Butt was under-rated, but I like the Scholes type of footballer. It’s his brain that’s working, much more than his body.

What United means to me
In my village, a group of us all joined the Boys’ Brigade to play for the football team and we had a whip-round to buy new strips. Everyone else wanted Rangers strips, but the shop had run out and only had one in our price range and that was United’s. I was elated because I thought we’d be playing the kind of football the Busby Babes were famous for! Maybe it was a signal, because I spent almost seven years here as a player and now 20 years as a coach, so it’s a massive part of my life. I’m very lucky because they’ve always won trophies during my time here, and I’ve been to every European Cup final the club has played in! It completely envelops your life.

Jim Ryan's United carerer:
1965/66: 4 apps, 1 gl
1966/67: 5 (1) apps, 0 gls
1967/68: 8 (1) apps, 2 gls
1968/69: 7 apps, 0 gls
1969/70: 0 (1) apps, 0 gls