🇾🇪 Before Beckham, There Was Sharpey 🧵
There's a version of Lee Sharpe's story that gets told in shorthand, the corner flag, the hat-trick, the backheel. And those moments deserve every word written about them. But the real story of Sharpe is something richer, and sadder, and more human than the highlights ever capture.
He arrived at Old Trafford in June 1988, signed from Torquay United for £200,000, a record fee at the time for a YTS player. He was 17. The move came as a shock to him. United were playing on a Friday night.
He went home, and was woken around 1am by his manager Cyril Knowles, who told him Alex Ferguson and Archie Knox had driven round and wanted his signature in the morning. By the end of that same season, he had made 22 league appearances. Not many teenagers walk into a club like Manchester United and simply belong, but Sharpe did.
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@wearetherace@XPBImages Interesting take on f2,3, and academy, too. Maybe put an event on with just the 3 categories and see how tickets and sponsorship goes?
@autosport Needed to watch the old clip of Eddie Irvine on @JeremyClarkson chat show in the 90/00s. Used a lovely analogy about how when you go fishing you’d much rather catch a great white shark than a load of goldfish…or words to that effect. Sums this current situation up lovely.
@wearetherace The whole thing is a massive mess. A mess that has been obvious to all stakeholders for 3 years. Shambles. So pissed off with what we have been left with.