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Sir Alex Ferguson has offered former Manchester United defender Paul McGrath £100,000 to retire.

McGrath, who was just 29 at the time, revealed that his former manager offered him the job in an effort to combat the drinking culture at Old Trafford in the late 1980s, of which the defender was part.

Despite the lucrative transfer fee, the Republic of Ireland international turned down the offer and went on to join Aston Villa where he enjoyed huge success, earning the nickname “God” during his time in the West Midlands.

McGrath told reporters that while Ferguson's actions may have been extreme telegraph He and others often “underperformed.”

He said: “Sir Alex brought me into the room and just said 'we want you to stop playing football.

“It's that simple. He said they would give me £100,000 to quit football completely and come back to Ireland.

“I was thinking about it because £100,000 was a lot of money at the time. But I spoke to (team-mates) Kevin Moran and Bryan Robson and I just said I wanted to keep playing because I Thought I could still do something in football.

“So the PFA's Gordon Taylor said to Sir Alex, 'Paul's still playing, you can fine him, you can do what you want, but he's going to play here or somewhere else' .”

The defender left United that summer (1989) and joined Taylor at Villa Park, where he made over 250 appearances for the club, admitting he was not surprised to leave the Red Devils.

“It's not shocking because we were acting a little out of character,” he said.

“We were having a great time but we took it too far so he just wanted me to leave the club. Then Bryan Robson was having a barbecue at his house and suddenly Graham Taylor hit The call came and said 'can you come to Aston Villa' and I jumped at the chance. I thought 'Oh my God, I could play there every week'.”

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