The treble busters!

Manchester United legends Lou Macari and Sammy McIlroy famously helped deny Liverpool in1977 and are desperate to see City stopped in their tracks at Wembley

SAMMY McILROY gives his old teammate a nudge and Lou Macari is off again. Back to the Seventies and the top of a hotel ‘80 stories high’ on a Manchester United pre-season tour. Old times. Good times.

‘Wasn’t there another one when Tommy Docherty was waiting for us on the bus outside to go somewhere?’ prompts McIlroy.

Macari takes up the story between fits of giggles, describing how he locked Gerry Daly and Paddy Roche in their hotel room from the outside having smuggled their phone out into the corridor.

‘I was on the other side of the door,’ recalls Macari barely able to contain his laughter.

‘I could hear Gerry saying: “Hey, Paddy, that little **** has just nicked the phone!” Paddy told him: “Gerry, ring down to reception and tell them to come up and open the door”. And Gerry says, “Paddy, there’s no f ****** phone!” The Doc went mental.’

That’s the beauty of occasions like these: old pals getting together again to share memories of a lifetime in football.

Macari, now 73, and McIlroy, 68, are in the bar of a golf and country club in Cheshire regaling us with the story of Docherty knocking the toilet door on the team bus off its hinges and punching David McCreery for locking him in. And the time he threw Daly off the coach for refusing to sing Simon and Garfunkel over the microphone.

‘“Right, stop the bus. Off”. We were in the middle of Leeds,’ recalls McIlroy, who also remembers Docherty spiking his beer with gin during a pre-season tournament in Switzerland.

They laugh about the manager addressing chairman Louis Edwards as Big Chop Suey and the day they sent Gordon Hill off into the middle of nowhere to do a bogus interview with the BBC.

Then there’s the sweetest memory of all. May 21, 1977. The pinnacle of Docherty’s Old Trafford reign. The day United beat Liverpool 2-1 in the FA Cup final to deny their rivals a chance of the Treble four days before the English champions won their first

European Cup. That image of the manager on the pitch at Wembley with the lid of the cup on his head.

For 46 years, Docherty’s side have basked in the glow of one of the club’s most famous triumphs. The only English team to win the Treble is United under Sir Alex

Ferguson in 1999. It’s a source of much pride at Old Trafford and one that is now under threat from Manchester City.

Once again, United are standing in the way as we prepare for the first all-Manchester FA Cup final on Saturday. So do they still enjoy their reputation as Treble-busters? ‘Yeah, it’s lovely,’ says Macari. ‘It’s something that our players have got to realise is massive — not just the result but the history of Trebles and what comes with it.

‘You can’t hide the fact their job is to go out there and stop City achieving that. Not to mention what’s at stake would be wrong.

‘Unfortunately, I don’t see Inter Milan being a problem for City (in the Champions League final). For me, preserving that Treble status hinges on the game at Wembley.

‘I’m not so sure the players realise how well that will be received if they do manage to do it.’

McIlroy is reminded of it most times he speaks in the matchday lounges at Old Trafford.

‘Even now, supporters cheer that if you mention we stopped Liverpool winning the Treble. They roar in the room. They love it,’ says the Northern Irishman. ‘My God, if

City won the Treble, it’s a blow for United fans. A first all-Manchester final is one to cherish.

‘If United stop City, that will be the talking point. No doubt about it. We’ll probably be pushed into the background — or right out of it completely!’

Macari could have been a Liverpool player had things worked out differently. He fell out with Jock Stein and the Celtic manager banished him to England in a taxi, having given the driver strict instructions not to tell the little Scot which club he was joining.

‘I’m sat in the back of this car saying to him: “For f*** sake, give us a clue where we’re going!”,’ recalls Macari. Liverpool was the destination. It was matchday at Anfield but, by chance, Macari encountered Docherty’s assistant Paddy Crerand who offered him the chance to join United instead. Four

‘My God, if City won the Treble it’s a blow for United fans’

years later, he was lining up against Liverpool at Wembley.

A United team that had recovered from the nightmare of relegation under the charismatic Docherty were looking to atone for a shock defeat to Second Division Southampton in the Cup final 12 months earlier. Hot favourites Liverpool were looking for the second piece of the Treble.

‘By the time the day arrived, you were well aware this was the biggest sporting event in the world,’ says Macari, who remembers the excitement of the adidas rep turning up at the team hotel to whiten the three stripes on the players’ boots in return for £100. Bob Paisley had decided to leave Ian Callaghan on the bench, but the United players didn’t know because Docherty wouldn’t tell them.

Macari explains: ‘Tommy would come back with the opposition team sheet. Every week he used to do the same thing and we laughed. He’d look at it and go: “They’re f ****** rubbish”, crumple it up and boot it in the bin.

‘Can you imagine that nowadays? The first time we would have known about Callaghan was when we saw Liverpool on the pitch!’

All three goals came within a five-minute period in the second half. Stuart Pearson fired United ahead, Jimmy Case equalised and then Macari’s effort deflected off Jimmy Greenhoff and over the line.

‘I didn’t know it had hit Jimmy on the chest until after the game when he came in with the golden boot,’ admits Macari, who ended up throwing the FA Cup around in Hyde Park in the early hours with friends having charged their drinks bill to club secretary Les Olive during a celebration party.

We’ll never know what Docherty could have gone on to achieve at United. Just weeks later, he was sacked over an affair with Mary Brown, the wife of the club physio.

‘We hadn’t got a clue,’ admits McIlroy. ‘To lose a manager in those circumstances, it was a total bombshell.’ ‘It was a bigger shock than losing to Southampton,’ adds Macari. ‘I think most people assumed it was just a fling. But Tommy has just died and they were still together.’

Docherty’s memory lives on and now it falls to Erik ten Hag to try and thwart United’s rivals.

‘I think there’s more pressure on City than United because everyone expects a Treble now, don’t they?’ says McIlroy. ‘But it’s a one-off game at Wembley and anything can happen.’ Macari agrees. ‘Everybody’s telling me there’s no point United turning up because they can’t beat them.

‘Well, they can if City don’t play well and United get a break — and maybe a goal off someone’s chest.’