How United came together to give a timely reminder of the club’s heart and soul, writes CHRIS WHEELER as Fergie and Jonny Evans lead tributes at funeral of beloved receptionist Kath Phipps

As Sir Alex Ferguson stood up, a little unsteady having turned 83 on New Year’s Eve, he sought out Ruben Amorim and his players in Manchester Cathedral and nodded in their direction.

“Good result yesterday by the way,” Ferguson smiled, impressed like the rest with a 2-2 draw at Anfield on Sunday. “Kath would be happy.”

Even on this day of all days, Kath Phipps’ funeral, Manchester United came first. She dedicated her life to the club, so why should yesterday be any different?

As Ferguson spoke, his words echoed around this spectacular Gothic cathedral. It was here that United paid tribute to George Best and Sir Bobby Charlton, which gives an indication of how much Kath is held in esteem. The receptionist cannot describe the role she played at the heart of this football club.

Reflecting on his arrival in November 1986, Ferguson said: ‘It made you realize that Manchester United was run by one girl.’

To appreciate United’s love for the 85-year-old who died in early December after working for the club for 56 years, all you had to do was look around the cathedral yesterday.

Ferguson arrived with his former equipment man Albert Morgan. David Beckham, who flew into the country to spend a few hours with Kath in her final days and posted a poignant photo of his tattooed hand in hers, walked in with his mother Sandra.

Other members of the Class of 92 – Gary Neville, Paul Scholes, Nicky Butt and Ryan Giggs – sat together. Dotted around the ground were other members of Ferguson’s Treble-winning team, Roy Keane, Peter Schmeichel and Ole Gunnar Solskjaer, who brought her bars of chocolate back from Norway.

Brian Kidd was there from the 1960s, Lou Macari from the 1970s, Bryan Robson and Mark Hughes from the 1980s, Gary Pallister, Paul Parker and Denis Irwin from the 1990s. Only a film commitment kept Eric Cantona away.

In addition to the current squad who traveled to the city on the team bus, there were members of the academy; the newest generation growing up under Kath’s wings at United.

Sir Dave Brailsford, representing co-owners Ineos, arrived with Chief Operating Officer Collette Roche and worked with former club doctor Steve McNally, chef Mike Donnelly and club directors going back decades.

The staff, including some who have lost their jobs recently, showed up in droves to show their love. Many of them helped Kath through the pandemic and were there again when she became terminally ill, organizing a rota to arrange 24-hour visits and care. Ferguson’s driver Steve Webb brought her beloved West Highland Terrier Maisie to her and has now adopted the dog.

Manchester United may be one of the biggest sports brands in the world, but many people don’t realize that at its core it has always been a family club. A big family, but a family nonetheless, and that was never more clear than yesterday.

Unfortunately, the sense of unity has felt threatened at times over the past year, as Ineos have worked meticulously – some would say ruthlessly – to steady a ship that was rocking after the Glazer years of overspending and underperformance. Jobs are being cut, donations to charities are being withdrawn, a struggle to meet profit and sustainability regulations, a team struggling on the field, a stadium in disrepair.

The success and solidarity that Kath enjoyed at United for much of her life after starting work there in the aftermath of the 1968 European Cup win feels like it belongs to a bygone era.

But at least for one day, the problems were all forgotten. The United family came together again to celebrate Kath Phipps and everything that is great about this club. Actually it is one and the same.

The stories told yesterday were a tribute to her big heart, her professionalism for more than half a century, and her sense of fun.

Ferguson is understood to have been baffled by the way the bottles of Bacardi in his Old Trafford office continued to decline at an alarming rate until he realized it was Kath’s favorite drink, and that she had been sneaking through it while hosting at the director’s box. on match days.

When he visited her at home in Irlam in her final days, he found her in bed, sipping ‘what I didn’t know then was Bacardi and Coke’.

“Have you talked to the doctor about that?” he asked her. “No, I never asked him that,” was the answer. “I thought that was fantastic,” Ferguson added. ‘And she was happy. She was satisfied. She was sitting there enjoying a small Bacardi and Coke and everyone was around her.”

Sir Alex recalled how she visited his wife Cathy in hospital in her own time, shortly after the Fergusons moved to Manchester from Aberdeen, and said: ‘She was a real sweetheart. She loved everyone, she loved people.

“When the training ground moved to Carrington, if anyone came up to me as soon as they walked in, she said, ‘Alex is expecting you, sit down and I’ll get you a cup of tea.’ She’s done that all her life. It was extraordinary, wonderful.

“What we see here today is a representation and honor of a very special person.”

United defender Jonny Evans, now in a second spell with his boyhood club, spoke on behalf of the players. The Northern Irishman recalled how he had heard of Kath before joining United because he read a Q&A in a football magazine in which Beckham claimed she was his first kiss.

“We all got a kiss from Kath,” Evans said. ‘Every matchday at Old Trafford the players not taking part in the game would make the short trip to the directors’ box and Kath was always there to greet us along the way. No player has ever gotten past Kath. Dressed in a club suit, arms spread wide, a loving hug and kiss on the cheek. As Darren Fletcher reminded me, ‘That’s my boy,’ she said.”

Evans smiled as he recalled Kath giving Jaap Stam advice on how to mark a particular opponent, and how he had offered her a lift home from Carrington shortly after she returned to work last year.

“I took her hand and helped her into the car and I felt like I was driving like royalty,” Evans said. “With calm authority, she told me not to stop for autographs as she waved to the fans outside.

“A few months earlier in the spring, I stopped by the front desk when I went to the gym to check on her, like most of the players did. She was dealing with an ear infection that was affecting her hearing and we had joked the day before about her not understanding my accent.

“When I asked if she was okay, she held her arms out to me as she normally would. She wrapped them around me, but this time instead of kissing me, she laid her head on my chest and tears rolled down her cheeks.

‘I asked her what was wrong and she said, ‘I can’t hear people very well, I keep getting things mixed up and I don’t want people to think I’m not good at my job.’ I couldn’t help but be amazed at the dedication of this incredible woman.

“Wes Brown summed her up for me when he said she was the best on a good day and the best on a bad day. We all loved her so much.”

They really did. When they left the cathedral yesterday into the cold afternoon air, the snow had melted and there was a blue sky above them. The great and good of Manchester United gathered to commemorate one of their own.

Jason Leach, another long-serving employee who has held various roles, has borrowed a quote from Sir Matt Busby that hangs on the wall in the Salford Suite at Old Trafford and paid his own tribute. “Manchester is people, Salford is people, United is people,” he said.

‘Maybe the big man had Kath in mind when he came up with that. She embodies everything that is beautiful about this football club.’