Manchester United’s Misfit Hero

Ralph Milne

Born and grown in Dun­dee, Ralph Milne ini­ti­ated his career with local side Dun­dee United before he was sold to Charlton Ath­letic at the end of the 1986–87 cam­paign. After a short spell with The Addicks, Milne moved to Third Divi­sion Bris­tol City where the player notched up six goals in 30 league appear­ances for the club before Manchester United gaf­fer Alex Fer­guson brought him to Old Traf­ford for a fee of £150,000 in the autumn of 1988.

Unfor­tu­nately, Ralph Milne was not liv­ing up to expect­a­tions and he man­aged to score just three goals in 23 league appear­ances dur­ing his time at Manchester United. The for­ward was even­tu­ally forced out of the first team and was sub­sequently loaned out to West Ham United before he finally was given a free trans­fer by Manchester United at the end of the 1990–91 sea­son. Hav­ing ser­i­ous prob­lems with alco­hol­ism and gambling addic­tion, the strug­gling striker would most prob­ably have had a far greater suc­cess in his career were it not for his per­sonal troubles. Quite why Old Traf­ford man­ager Sir Alex Fer­guson bought Ralph Milne remains one the lar­ger mys­ter­ies in Manchester United history.

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