Irish Manchester United fans pay tribute to Ferguson

Tens of thousands of Manchester United fans in Ireland are coming to terms with the end of an era for the club and have paid tribute to outgoing manager Alex Ferguson.

There are 36 Manchester United supporters clubs in Ireland with several hundred members each and 13 affiliated clubs, but in reality there are tens if not hundreds of thousands of Irish fans of the famous club.

One of Manchester United's highest profile fans in Ireland is former taoiseach Bertie Ahern who was a regular visitor to Old Trafford.

Another is celebrity solicitor Gerard Kean. He has acted as a legal representative for former Manchester United players Paul McGrath and Gordon Strachan.

The announcement came as a surprise to him this morning, but he points that Manchester United have become very good at keeping secrets over the years.

"I read the notes in the Chelsea programme. There was no sign of him retiring, it was implicit that he was going to go for the next few years," he said.

“I have met him many times socially over the years. We weren’t friends, but he was very impressive, a terribly nice man, very warm and kind, but you could tell he was a strong character.

“The impression I got from the players I know is that he was a fair man. If you had a problem you could go to him. He was a very astute and intelligent individual.”

Broadcaster and journalist Seamus Duke said "he was a brilliant manager who was able to play along with what was happening at the time".

Duke, a Manchester United fan since childhood, told RTÉ's Liveline programme that Ferguson "ran the whole show from top to bottom" and would be hard to replace. "I would hate to be David Moyes looking over my shoulder up into the director's box".

He maintained Ferguson’s retirement was a good distraction from all the misery that was going on.

“There are an awful lot more important things going on in the world. For the last five years we have had austerity, cutbacks, job losses and emigration. Sport is an escape for people under pressure. We can talk about these things one day in a year. Let’s go back to the health service and what’s happening to people tomorrow.”