Mike Phelan

Phelan began his career at Burnley, signing as an associated schoolboy in July 1979, as an apprentice two years later and as a professional in July 1980. He made his league debut in January 1981 against Chesterfield and whilst at Turf Moor, gained England Youth caps and a Third Division champions medal in 1982. But in 1985, Burnley were relegated to the Fourth Division, and Phelan moved to Norwich City for £60,000 on 13 July 1985. Norwich won the Second Division title in his first season at the club. He became club captain when Steve Bruce joined Manchester United in December 1987, captaining them to fourth place in the First Division and a place in the FA Cup semi-finals in his first full season as captain. He was called into the England squad for the Rous Cup games against Chile and Scotland but did not play due to a hamstring injury. His success drew the attention of larger clubs and he followed Steve Bruce to Manchester United for £750,000 on 1 July 1989. While at United, he won his first international cap (against Italy in 1989) and an FA Cup winner's medal in his first season. This was followed by the FA Charity Shield in 1990, European Cup Winners' Cup in 1991 and the League Cup in 1992. Phelan was often deployed at right-back during his first season at Manchester United, but following the arrival of Denis Irwin in 1990 he mostly played on the right or in the centre of midfield. He had played on the right side of midfield before Irwin's arrival, most notably in the FA…

He returned to Carrow Road in December 1995, as an assistant manager to Gary Megson (another former Norwich player) and managed the club's reserve team. When Megson was fired and joined Blackpool, Phelan followed him to take a similar role, returning to his native North-West. A year later, he followed Megson to Stockport County. Following Megson's sacking as Stockport County boss on 25 June 1999, Andy Kilner took over as manager. Phelan moved on shortly afterwards, taking up a role at Manchester United's Centre of Excellence. Following Steve McClaren's departure to Middlesbrough in the summer of 2001, Phelan was promoted to first-team coach. He was appointed assistant manager of United on 3 September 2008, replacing Carlos Queiroz who had left to manage the Portugal national football team. For many years, Phelan conducted interviews for BBC programmes such as Match of the Day, due to United manager Alex Ferguson refusing to speak with the BBC following corruption allegations made in 2004 by the BBC's Panorama programme towards one of Ferguson's sons, football agent Jason Ferguson. Ferguson finally agreed to BBC interviews once more in August 2011. In January 2010, Phelan was linked with a return to his first club Burnley as manager following the departure of Owen Coyle to Bolton Wanderers. He was Ferguson's right-hand man for three Premier League titles, a FIFA Club World Cup, two League Cups, and two runs to the final of the UEFA Champions League. He departed the club…

Player

Burnley

Football League Third Division: 1981–82 Norwich City

Football League Second Division: 1985–86 Manchester United

Premier League: 1992–93 FA Cup: 1989–90 Football League Cup: 1991–92 FA Charity Shield: 1990 (shared) European Cup Winners Cup: 1990–91

Manager

Individual

Premier League Manager of the Month: August 2016