Ferguson invited the pop legend to join in training (Picture: AFP via Getty Images)
Sir Alex Ferguson once invited pop legend Mick Hucknall to train with Manchester United – with the Simply Red star bringing his Miss World girlfriend along with him.
Hucknall, a huge United fan, has been pictured sitting alongside the legendary United manager watching games at Old Trafford over the years.
But the 80s legend once joined the first-team squad in training on the eve of a huge Champions League clash against Barcelona in 1994.
Former United midfielders Paul Scholes and Nicky Butt, part of the side that was thrashed 4-0 at the Camp Nou, recalled how Hucknall rocked up on the training pitch ahead of the game – blasted by Roy Keane for putting in a poor performance.
Speaking on the Football’s Greatest podcast, Scholes said: ‘I don’t know if you remember, years and years before when we played Barcelona, even Bobby Charlton trained with us one night. Remember Mick Hucknall trained with us too? We got beat 4-1 that night.’
Butt joked: ‘Mick Hucknall should have played actually because we were all crap! He was awful. He didn’t look like a footballer, he had no co-ordination.
‘He could sing really well maybe he should have stuck to that one. I remember Keano giving him a b******ing because he kept giving the ball away.’
Hucknall is often spotted alongside Ferguson at Old Trafford (Picture: Getty Images)
Butt also revealed how Hucknall had arrived with Miss World on his arm earlier that day.
‘I don’t know what her name was, but she was a good looking girl. She came to the pre-match, he brought her in,’ Butt said.
‘I don’t think the manager was too happy about that. Everyone’s attention went from the game.’
Scholes hilariously added: ‘No wonder we got beat.’
Ferguson and Hucknall first met in the late 80s with the two forging a close friendship.
‘Mick was probably the first pop star I met,’ Ferguson once recalled. ‘It was about 1987, when he played at the Old Trafford cricket ground, and he invited my wife and I backstage after the gig.
‘He was more interested in Manchester United than I was in the gig – he kept asking about the team; you could see he was a fanatic.’
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