This is Adrian Doherty, who would have turned 50 today, described by Sir Alex Ferguson as “the boy with the most amazing football skill, but happiest with his books, poems and guitar.”

And by one of his ex #MUFC youth-team-mates as “Bob Dylan in a No 7 shirt”

#adriandoherty I first stumbled on Adrian’s story in 2011 when researching a feature on Ryan Giggs. I asked @TheRealBozza and @Alan_Tonge whether Giggs stuck out a mile in #MUFC youth team, expecting to hear "Yes of course he did."

Instead, both replied: “Have you heard of Adrian Doherty?”

When @TheAthleticUK launched a year ago, I was watching from afar, nervous to see how it all went. Answer: amazingly. A year on, I'm going to plug a handful of my favourite articles by my colleagues.
1) @AdamCrafton_ on the tragedy of Emiliano Sala theathletic.com/1127774/2019/0… 2) Sticking with the Argentinian theme, absolutely loved this @PhilHay_ piece on Marcelo Bielsa and his love affair with #LUFC. Phil is one of our 27 (I think) club correspondents, bringing you the best and most dedicated coverage of your club theathletic.com/1901739/2020/0…

Starting on July 28 on @TheAthleticUK @TheAthletic, it's ... The Premier League 60, counting down the greatest players of the Premier League era.
The project is explained here, along with a few disclaimers before we start ... theathletic.com/1938977/ @TheAthleticUK @TheAthletic We start with @GeorgeCaulkin on Les Ferdinand theathletic.com/1947390/2020/0…
"Ferdinand had everything you'd want in a centre-forward. But what set him apart was the hang time, the way he took to the air and then stayed up there, as if the world had stopped turning, just for him" #PL60

“Is this the start of a title-winning dynasty, Carlo/Roberto/Manuel/Jose/Antonio/Pep/Jürgen?”
#LFC have quality, hunger and a manager with a long-term outlook others lacked.
But domination of the type they enjoyed in 70/80s and #MUFC in 90s/00s? Unlikely theathletic.com/1884388/2020/0… One thing that struck me is that Mancini, Mourinho & Conte blamed poor title defences on failure to strengthen in transfer market. #LFC could easily have gone that way after winning CL last year (bought two back-up GKs). But Klopp & players didn’t allow it theathletic.com/1884388/2020/0…

I know live football is back now, but there are some anniversaries that demand nostalgia.
Ten years today since England 0 Algeria 0 in Cape Town -- one of the worst matches I've EVER seen. Relive England's 2010 World Cup fiasco in gruesome detail here 😃 theathletic.com/1687794/ "The worst England game I was ever involved with,” said @PhysioGaryLewin, who was the team's physio for 18 years
theathletic.com/1687794/
(He had moved on before the Iceland debacle at Euro 2016 😱😱😱)

The only serious obstacle to ”Project Restart” should be health & safety, but the PL’s bottom six raise a new issues at every turn. We shouldn’t be surprised. English football’s crazy financial model breeds brazen self-interest. It dominates this argument theathletic.com/1806000/2020/0… e.g. this idea that there should be no promotion/relegation if Championship can't restart. It's not a crazy argument -- many agree -- but there's no way e.g. Norwich/Villa would have gone along with that a year ago, or Bournemouth/Watford in 2015 (contd) theathletic.com/1806000/

40 yrs ago today, Arsenal beat Juventus 1-0 to reach European Cup Winners' Cup final.
Paul Vaessen, 18, scored the dramatic late winner in Turin.
In @TheAthleticUK, Paul's mother, friends and former team-mates tell the tragic story of what happened next theathletic.com/1687482/2020/0… @TheAthleticUK "Things were never the same again after that,” his mother says. “Things went downhill very quickly.”

The tragic story of Paul Vaessen, Arsenal's teenage match-winner away to Juventus 40 years ago

theathletic.com/1687482/2020/0…

Excellent piece by @mjshrimper for @TheAthleticUK on the troubling state of Premier League club finances. If you doubted why the clubs are so keen to get this season finished and fulfil their broadcast obligations, this gives a very clear picture theathletic.co.uk/1729003/2020/0… And as for the Championship, ...

https://twitter.com/KieranMaguire/status/1247778318432079874

https://t.co/vQDYPwOcun

Wigan manager Paul Cook has urged players to volunteer for NHS or find other ways to help their communities in this crisis. A lot of selfishness in the football industry, he admits, but this is an opportunity to reassess priorities and do some good theathletic.com/1713064/2020/0… #wafc “It was disgusting that Bury were allowed to go under. Now we’re hearing about clubs who worry they can’t survive 3 or 4 weeks without a home game. If clubs can’t survive for 3 or 4 weeks with no income, something is going seriously wrong with football.” theathletic.com/1713064/2020/0…

For our club-by-club “greatest goals” series, here’s the first Manchester City entry: @OfficialPDickov dramatic equaliser in the Second Division play-off final in 1999. Less about the quality of the goal (deflection?) than the moment. What a moment theathletic.com/1673930/2020/0… #MCFC @OfficialPDickov Here's that @OfficialPDickov goal. That noise -- bloody hell. That wasn't the sound of joy or ecstasy. It was raw emotion, like a valve had been released theathletic.com/1673930/2020/0… @TheAthleticUK #MCFC