Liverpool tried to 'smuggle' Lou Macari but legend was dead set on Man Utd move

Manchester United legend Lou Macari tells of how he was"smuggled" to Liverpool and it was only a chance meeting at Anfield that led him instead to move to Old Trafford.

Macari signed for United from Celtic in 1973 where he went on to play more than 300 games and win the FA Cup.

But he has told how his career could have taken a very different path after he handed in a transfer request to the then Celtic manager Jock Stein who was not prepared to offer him a pay rise.

He was taken down in a car from Glasgow to Liverpool without being told where he was going until he arrived at Anfield, and then it all became clear to him - Stein and the Liverpool boss Bill Shankly were close friends and had agreed a deal between them.

Macari though said that by chance he bumped into the former United player and assistant manager Pat Crerand who had come to Anfield to watch a game, and ended up signing for the Red Devils.

Macari said: "Every other seat was full, but right on kickoff, Pat Crerand came in, who was an ex Celtic player, and at the time, assistant manager at Manchester United. So he come in, took his seat, seen me, and said, 'What are you doing here?

"I said, 'I'm signing for Liverpool'. So he said, 'well, we never knew, we haven't been informed of it. We didn't know you were available'. And of course, it's all starting to drop into place with me now. Yeah, they wouldn't know I was available because I'd never seen anything in the papers about me being available.

"Jock had sorted it out with Bill (Shankly). I'd be smuggled down. I'd go in there and sign. I had no idea, I had no idea what level of footballer people thought I was. So I never... I never seen myself ending up at Liverpool."

He continued: "I had no idea when I said I would leave, I had no idea where I could get a new job. Let's call it a job, because it was at the time, it was your job, where I could get a new job, I knew where I could get more money, which was England.

"So I end up at Anfield. He's (Shankly) told me I'm getting £180 a week. And at the time he told me something I wasn't aware of that when you when you get transferred the player gets 5% the transfer fee that was just that was your little perk or bonus if you want to call it a bonus.

"So I plucked up the courage to say Mr. Shankly Do you know how much I'm getting transferred through if I join you? What is he transfer fee and he said yeah, it's £200,000 son, and I hope it's money well spent.

"So I'm counting exactly 5% which is £10,000. I could buy a house. Next day I could go and buy a house. £10,000 would have bought you a house in Scotland. So I'm thinking this is dreamland, this is all happening so quickly."

But with interest from United, Macari said there was no doubt in his mind that he wanted to go to OId Trafford where George Best, Denis Law and Bobby Charlton were still playing.

Macari told Under the Undr The Cosh Podcast: "So Paddy Crennan says, 'Don't sign, we'll sign you' at Man United. He was assistant manager. I said, 'Pat, you're not the manager'. He said, 'But the manager will sign you, because he's picking for Scotland. He thinks you're a great player', so that's Tommy Docherty now.

"And, right, I've got a problem. I've got 90 minutes of football to watch, and then I'm gonna go and tell Bill Shankly, I'm not signing for you, because as soon as he mentioned Man Utd to me, I knew Denis was there, who I played with, with Scotland, I knew George Best was there, I knew Bobby Charlton was there.

"And I knew the team was poor at the time. And weighing all that up in my head, especially the three players I'm talking about, Best, Law and Charlton, I'm heading for Old Trafford."