Update: My Manchester United career was ended in one chat – but it changed my life forever News

Sean McAuley now coaches in America, but his time at Man United under Sir Alex Ferguson shaped him.

Sean McAuley lets out a little chuckle as the memory comes back to him.

He was at Manchester United trying to make the grade with Sir Alex Ferguson. He’d arrived as an energetic midfielder but quickly converted himself to a full back. Two years in the youth system yielded a professional deal and two further years on and he is a reserve team regular.

But the pathway is littered with talent. It’s 1992 and United are beginning to transition from a cup team to a dominant force. McAuley knows the chances of breaking into the first team are slim.

“You are close to it but probably also a million miles away,” he reflects.

And then the call came from Fergie. A meeting in his office. McAuley knew what was coming – but he didn’t know everything.

“I knew I was going,” he said of anticipating his exit. “But the boss was brilliant. He said to me ‘you’re leaving and I have got you a good deal’. And he had, to be fair.

“He called me into his office and said ‘there is someone on the phone who wants to speak to you, it is St Johnstone, it is a great club, I played there. This is the deal you are going to get, I have got you this, this and this. Good luck, get on the plane’.

“The contract was signed and done that night. I remember ringing home to say I’d moved to Scotland!

“I had no hesitation, as soon as he (Ferguson) said something you would do it! I trusted he would do the best for me.”

That trust, and indeed the Scottish link, had already been borne out earlier that year when Ferguson contacted Andy Roxburgh and recommended McAuley for a Scotland Under-21 call-up.

“He had everybody’s best interests at heart, that was at the forefront of what he did,” reflects McAuley, whose United career was now over but his journey was just beginning.

Just 19, he was set on a path north of the border that saw him play three seasons in a Scottish Premiership littered with talent. His stay at United had also fostered early ambitions of coaching, something that accelerated during his playing career.

“I recognised I wanted to be a coach really early,” he said, speaking to the Manchester Evening News. “I got my full badges at 22. I got into coaching in academies, I enjoyed it and realised when I got a bit older that I was a better coach than a player!”

And McAuley is in no doubt that being in and around the first team and the set-up at United, where there were leaders everywhere you looked, shaped his desire. Ferguson’s decision to let him go cemented the focus.

“You couldn’t ask for a better upbringing with the people that were there,” he said of coming through the ranks at Old Trafford. “Obviously tough to get into the team. I played a lot of reserve games but it was difficult to break in. I always wished I could get a chance but I obviously wasn’t good enough to play at that level.

“It was a different back then, I was in and around the first team for training sessions and you think you might get on the bench but there was only two subs. You are close to it but probably also a million miles away. I played at left back and if the left back couldn’t play, they moved Clayton Blackmore back, then they moved Lee Martin, then Lee Sharpe. There were a lot of players who could play in more positions, including my position! So I wasn’t sure I was going to get an opportunity.”

McAuley had been spotted playing in his home city of Sheffield. His career after United took him to Scotland and then back into the Football League with Hartlepool United, Scunthorpe and Rochdale. Then the opportunity to move across the Atlantic arrived. A spell at Portland Timbers laid the foundations for his coaching career in the States.

After six seasons coaching at Sheffield Wednesday, including two short spells as caretaker manager, he returned to Portland as assistant manager at the MLS club. Spells on the staff at Orlando City and Minnesota United followed and he is now in charge of Indy Eleven in the United States Championship, the level below MLS.

He has seen first hand the rise of football in the country, sparked by David Beckham – who was on the radar at Old Trafford when McAuley was at United – and continuing with the addition of Lionel Messi and a World Cup next year.

“The MLS has improved incredibly,” he said. “Beckham changed things a little bit, but that wasn’t enough. Over the years they have now got to a position that everybody understands how investment in the club and teams and the league (works). People are prepared to put a lot of money in because they realise that brings a better product and business.

“The players on the field have improved, players moving abroad now – 15/20 years ago it would be really surprising to see Americans play in Serie A, Bundesliga and Premier League. Now they are being taken at a young age and clubs want these young players who offer value for money.”

McAuley is overseeing improvement in Indianapolis. He led the club to the play-offs last season alongside a history-making run in the Open Cup where they reached the semi-finals, knocking out MLS side Atlanta United en route. The 52-year-old is happy at home and at work in the States as he seeks to shape Indy into a side that can consistently challenge at the top of the table.

“I came here with an open mind for another stage in my coaching career and I have found really good people, the supporters are excellent, the people who work here are excellent and it is a really lovely place to live,” he said.

“We want to change the narrative, we have been in the play-offs two years in a row and we need to make it three years. Once you get that consistency, then the expectations should rise.

“The players and staff have been receptive to raising the bar and standards but within our means.

“Overall it has been really good for me because I have been able to try and help everybody and move expectations. There is not a lot of experience here and for a lot of people it is their first job in football. And that probably applies to the front office as well. So we are trying to change the mindset. I am left to make decisions without too much interference – you would find it hard coming up with too many clubs that do that.”

And even more than 30 years on, McAuley is still shaped by his period at United. The lessons learned and the mentality instilled.

“100 per cent it shaped me,” he said. “You just have to look at the people who there were. Not just Fergie, Eric Harrison, Nobby Stiles. The players who were there, the likes of Bryan Robson, they were unbelievable and you just fall into modelling yourself around top class footballers.

“It wasn’t just ability either, it was all the other stuff. You need to be disciplined, however you input that into your lifestyle. Pro sport there is a lot of adversity to battle through. United was the greatest education for that.”