Sir Alex Ferguson made a promise to play a Manchester United flop in arguably the club's biggest game and stuck to it, it has been revealed.
During his 26 years as United boss, 13-time Premier League winner Ferguson got plenty right in the transfer market and deals for icons like Eric Cantona and Cristiano Ronaldo at £1.2 million and £12.5 million respectively are examples of his shrewdness.
The £650,000 capture of Denis Irwin from Oldham Athletic, is viewed by Ferguson as his best ever business given the Irishman's contributions.
But he did get it wrong on occasion and infamously admitted it was a “mistake” to pay £7.4 million for Portuguese player Bebe without having watched him play.
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Another disappointing addition who didn't quite produce was £4.4 million signing Jesper Blomqvist, who was capped 30 times by Sweden in his career.
Blomqvist had been tracked by Ferguson and United for quite some time and was signed from Parma in 1998.
The winger was brought in as a back-up to Ryan Giggs and scored just one goal in 38 appearances - all of which came in his first season.
However he was part of the iconic treble-winning side, receiving medals for the Premier League, FA Cup and Champions League triumphs.
Remarkably, he was actually handed a start for the Champions League final against Bayern Munich in 1999. According to Steve McClaren, Ferguson's former assistant, the Swede was picked in the lineup because of a promise the United boss had made to him after he was an unused substitute in the FA Cup final.
"He had promised Blomqvist to play in the European Cup final," McLaren revealed in an appearance on The Managers podcast with Mick McCarthy and Tony Pulis.
"'Well you can keep Johnsen in and you can play Beckham, you can keep Giggs on the left' and he said, 'You can't keep Giggsy on the left, I promised Blomqvist a game'.
"'Yeah but it's the biggest game in Man United's history, can't you just say to Jesper that things have changed? He said, 'Can't do that, promised him a game'.
"All the stuff were like [shocked]. People always say, 'What makes them the top, top ones?' - they've got bigger balls than anybody else. They make the massive decisions, they take risk and they're gamblers.
"And they can take the consequences or make excuses."
Ferguson delivered on his promise, selecting Blomqvist from the start at the Camp Nou. His call was made slightly easier due to suspensions ruling out both Roy Keane and Paul Scholes, leading to David Beckham starting in central midfield.
Blomqvist played 67 minutes before being replaced by Teddy Sheringham, who scored the all-important equaliser for United before Ole Gunnar Solskjaer popped up with a dramatic stoppage time winner.
A serious knee injury meant it was Blomqvist's final game for United and he did not play again in the next two seasons.
After a period of working for the club's MUTV channel, he later had brief spells with Everton and Charlton.
Topics: Sir Alex Ferguson, Manchester United
Josh Lawless