Ralph Milne
| Personal information | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Full name | Ralph Milne | ||
| Height | 5ft 8in (1.72m) | ||
| Position(s) | Midfielder (Retired) | ||
Ralph Milne (born 13 May 1961) was a Scottish professional footballer who played for Dundee United, Charlton Athletic, Bristol City and Manchester United.
Career
"If I had an outstanding failure then it was Ralph Milne. He should have been playing in World Cups. He should have won a bundle of Scotland international honours. It was a tragedy that that boy was not playing for his country all the time. He had tremendous talent - and I failed with him. He did not have the right attitude to the game and I could not instil that into him."[1]
Milne is Dundee United's all-time top scorer in Europe with an impressive tally of 15 in the two competitions - the UEFA and European Cups. Whilst the latter stages of the player's career were perhaps hampered by off-field activities, no Dundee United supporter will forget Ralph Milne's contribution to early 1980s successes both in Europe and on the domestic front.
In November 1988, he signed for Manchester United in a £150,000 deal. He arrived at Old Trafford two years after the appointment of Alex Ferguson as manager, and was fielded as a left winger. However, he was not successful in this position, and in the autumn of 1989, he lost his place in the team to new signing Danny Wallace. The emergence of Lee Sharpe as an even finer player in this position made Milne's first team chances even more limited. Indeed, 1989-90 was the final season in which Milne played a first team game for United, although he remained on the club's payroll throughout the 1990-91 season until being given a free transfer in June 1991. He never played senior football again.
After retiring, Milne took over a pub in Bristol and ran it for ten years, returning to Dundee in 2005. Staying out of football, Milne worked in a number of low-paid jobs. In November 2008, Milne spoke of his battle with alcohol, revealing he drank up to twenty pints at a time. Denying a rumour that he was living in a homeless hostel, Milne was arrested for alleged drink driving.[2]
References
- ^ McLean, Jim (1987). Jousting with Giants. Billing and Sons. pp. 162–163. ISBN 1 85158 088 3 (cloth).
{{cite book}}: Check|isbn=value: invalid character (help) - ^ Moncur, James (2008-11-05). "Former Dundee United star Ralph Milne reveals his battle with the booze". Daily Record. Retrieved 2008-11-15.
External links
- Profile at MUFCInfo.com