Burnley lad Liam Grimshaw lived the dream of every schoolboy footballer after being signed as a kid by Manchester United

He had witnessed a number of his team-mates, lads he had known for years, friends of his, have their dreams crushed in an instant – and now it was his turn to learn his fate.

“Mr Ferguson will see you now,” came the call from the Manchester United manager’s secretary.

A part of the Red Devils’ youth set-up since the age of eight, Grimshaw’s footballing potential had been promising enough to earn a two-year apprenticeship at Old Trafford.

But at the tender age of 18, the Burnley-born footballer was about to discover whether he had reached the end of the line with the 20-time English champions.

A professional deal was the Holy Grail but was he about to join a long list of players forced to seek a future away from arguably the biggest club in the world?

"My year was the last batch of players which Sir Alex Ferguson signed as professionals before he retired,” recalled Grimshaw.

"I remember going to see him in his office – we were all sat around waiting.

"It was a really mad time because a lot of the lads who I played alongside from the age of nine were all getting told whether they were getting a contract or not.

"A few were getting told they weren’t getting one.

"I remember I was one of the last ones to get called to go and see him.

"You had to go and knock on his door, I walked in and he was there sat behind his desk.

"I remember thinking to myself, ‘Oh bloody hell’.

"He just had that presence about him, but he was a brilliant guy.

"He was the same with everybody whether it was the cleaning staff, the kitchen staff, the kitmen to the people at the top, the top players – he was just a down to earth bloke. He treat everybody with respect.

"People say he had that temper on him and I am sure he did because he will have needed it to keep hold of the dressing room with such big names.

"But I went in to see him, we had a five minute chat and he told me that I was getting a two-year deal.”

Having that audience with the great man left an indelible mark on the Simonstone lad and the words Ferguson uttered to him has helped guide him in the ensuing years since.

"That chat I had with him is one of my biggest memories,” he added. “He focused on my attitude and told me that I had a fantastic attitude and if it was anything different he would tell me.

"He said I was doing great and that he had watched plenty of me.

"To hear that from him, someone of that presence. I had never been around someone like that before.”

It was that attitude which saw Grimshaw graduate to become the captain of the Under-21s at United and he had also earlier appeared twice for England Under-18s.

Although the former St Augustine’s High School and Worsthorne Primary School pupil would ultimately never go on to make a first-team appearance at United, he rubbed shoulders with some of the best players in the world on a daily basis.

"I’d already captained the Under-18s at United and also played for England during that season,” said Grimshaw, who has gone on to play for Chesterfield, Preston, Motherwell, Morton and Dundee United.

"Then I went on to captain the Under-21s, it’s like the reserve team because you play alongside the first team lads who are coming back from injury. It was a great honour to captain a team like that at a club like United.

"I played with Michael Carrick, Ander Herrera, Robin van Persie – we would usually have two or three of the first-teamers playing with us every week.

"It was brilliant to play with people like that – you’re talking world class players.

"Even just training with them – I remember when Paul Scholes came out of retirement.

"He’d retired hadn’t he? Then he came back to play. He was training with us to begin with. He was just a different level, a completely different stratosphere and that was when he was at the end of his career.

“Then you had players like Wayne Rooney, Ryan Giggs. I played with Paul Pogba – he was a couple of years older than me.

"There were a lot of players who have gone on to have great careers – Marcus Rashford, Jesse Lingard.

"I think one of the biggest things I look back at my time at United is that I must have gone on a dozen trips around the world representing the club.

"I think my first trip was to Andorra when I was nine-years-old, but I have been to Portugal, Spain three times, Germany twice, Switzerland, Dallas in the USA, Singapore, Ireland, Ukraine, Holland – I have literally been all around the world.”

Grimshaw – who welcomed his first child, a daughter Luna Rose with wife Courtney last month – enjoyed kickabouts at home with his younger brother Kieren as a kid. He went on to play junior football for Barrowford Celtic and Huncoat before graduating to United.

Remarkably, Grimshaw and his brother would both go on to be signed by United as youngsters, although Kieren was released but then went on forge a career in cricket. He is currently the club professional for Rishton in the Lancashire League.

"I think I got signed by United when I was about eight and that meant a lot of hard yards for my mum and dad, Christine and Dave. I have a lot to thank them for. It was a lot of sacrifice for them taking myself and my brother training three, four, five-times per week.

"It got that ridiculous that Kieren would be training at one place and I would be training at another place on the same night.

"It was a lot of sacrifice on their part though they say they wouldn’t have changed it.”

NEXT WEEK: In part two of the Liam Grimshaw story, he talks about his long stint playing in Scotland, his love for Burnley FC and a potential future career in writing