“But United put in a bid on 6 June which was accepted by Oldham, otherwise it would have gone to a [transfer] tribunal. We could have waited another three weeks but I obviously agreed to sign straight away. I’d had four great years at Oldham and just felt it was the right time to move up to a higher level.”
Latics boss Joe Royle had no intention of standing in the way of a dream transfer for his player.
“Alex told me he’d had the lad watched more than 20 times before he made his bid and never had a bad report,” recalled Royle. “That’s the reality of Denis Irwin – he never lets you down.”
The deal was done for £650,000 with Oldham banking a considerable profit on a player acquired on a free transfer from Leeds United, four years earlier.
Nonetheless, he turned out to be an incredible bargain for the Reds.
