One by one, they arrived at her house to sit by her bedside, hold her hand and chat about the good times.
David Beckham, flying in from the U.S., was one of the former Manchester United players who made it his business to visit Kath Phipps. Beckham was only in the country a few hours but knew he had to be there, whatever else was in his diary. He had never forgotten how Kath, the club’s legendary receptionist, had looked after him as a young boy.
Now, though, she was in deteriorating health, with only a few weeks to live. Sir Alex Ferguson drove round or spoke to her most days. Ryan Giggs visited. Jonny Evans spent time with her. Many other current and former players, too. Juan Mata connected on FaceTime from Australia. Mary Earps did the same from Paris. Every day, it was someone new.
By the end, there were so many people knocking on Kath’s front door in Irlam, Salford, the nurses commented that they had never known anyone with no direct family to have so many visitors.
An unofficial rota was set up by the people who regard themselves as “her Manchester United family”. They made her a picture book filled with her favourite photos with various United players and staff. She kept it beside her bed. And right to the end, she never lost the sense of humour that was such a big part of her character.
(Photo: Manchester United)
“Don’t forget — I got you out of trouble that time,” she reminded Beckham.
Kath was so fond of Beckham during his time at United that when he was late to training one day she made up a white lie to cover up for him and pretend it was her fault. When Ferguson found out recently, the former manager had to laugh. “Should have fined you instead,” he told her.
Her death was announced on Thursday, aged 85, and the number of heartfelt tributes over the last couple of days says everything about how she was regarded within the home of the 20-time league champions.
Her friends and former colleagues, meanwhile, have been trying to work out if any other member of staff in the history of the club had worked there longer. And the answer was, no, there was no one — not Sir Matt Busby, not Ferguson, nobody.
In loving memory of Kath Phipps: friend, confidant and treasured colleague.
United will never be the same. pic.twitter.com/CHJCIcohz2
— Manchester United (@ManUtd) December 5, 2024
“Kath joined the club in 1968,” says Martin Edwards, United’s honorary life president and former chairman. “I joined the board in 1970, so she beat me by two years. She beat everyone. All the players thought the world of her, going all the way back to the Denis Law, Bobby Charlton and George Best days. She was everybody’s friend.”
It has become the stuff of legend how Ferguson, on his good days, would tease her, serenade her (Fergie always thought he could sing) and even invite her for the occasional waltz in the reception area of United’s training ground.
Over time, however, you learned that everyone had a story about Kath, her love of Mr Kipling cakes, the heater she used to keep under her desk for winter, her “hot dates” and how, on match days, she used to nip into Ferguson’s office to get herself a Bacardi and coke from the bar. It was her favourite tipple. Even in her final days, when she was weak and struggling, she requested one as a treat.
Kath was so popular at Old Trafford that when her husband, Richard, died some years ago, Ferguson and all the players were at the funeral.
She could not drive and it worried her how she would get to the training ground in Carrington. But those were the days, perhaps, when the people at the top of the club had a greater understanding about how to look after their own. Ken Merrett, then United’s secretary, arranged a taxi to collect her every morning, then take her back at the end of the day, and to send the bill to the club.
“Everyone loved her, which is why we made sure she remained involved after her husband died,” says David Gill, United’s former chief executive. “She was so lovely. But she didn’t take any nonsense from the players, from Sir Alex, from me or anyone else.”
What United got in return was a front-of-house stalwart who was so devoted to the club that, despite her affection for Beckham (including a framed picture of the two in her lounge), she had to turn down the invitation to his 2023 film premiere because it clashed with a Champions League tie at home to Galatasaray – and, though she felt terrible, “I never miss a game”.
Kath was particularly fond of Beckham, who made sure to visit her in her final days (Shaun Botterill/Allsport/Getty Images)
Can a receptionist be legendary? Well, yes, in this case, especially when the person in question had been there 56 years and went far beyond what might ordinarily be expected of the role.
“She represented everything that Manchester United stood for,” says Ole Gunnar Solskjaer, one of several ex-players and managers who have spoken to The Athletic about their memories. “She’s been like family to all of us. Her beaming smile and hugs were the first and last thing we saw and felt every day at work. She’s sorely missed. I smile every time I think about her.”
Erik ten Hag remembers her as “the face of Manchester United, the first person you met when entering Carrington … she always had a warm welcome for new people, always a kind hello for the people she saw every day, always positive and resilient.”
Or just consider Ruud van Nistelrooy’s account of being appointed to Ten Hag’s coaching staff in the summer, having left Old Trafford as a player in 2006. “So this year was 18 years on,” says the Dutchman, “and when you see her again, it’s the kindness, her passion for the club and her interest in you as a person, asking about your family.
“She knows the name of my wife, knows the names of the kids. I was wondering, ‘Wow, how do you remember all that?’ But it’s a real interest in another human being. And that was on a daily basis. I’ve never seen her in a bad mood or grumpy; always happy.”
She could hold her own, though. Kath had an old-fashioned Mancunian spirit and on her 55th anniversary she laughed about how she and Ferguson would “argue like brother and sister at times, he’d shout at me and I’d shout at him … but it was all in good humour”.
Peter Schmeichel tells a story in his autobiography about how, long before joining the club, he came to Manchester to play for Denmark Under-21s against England Under-21s at Maine Road and, having grown up as a United fan, made it his business to visit the stadium he had heard being described as the Theatre of Dreams.
When the goalkeeper arrived at Old Trafford, he felt “like a Catholic at the Vatican … wide-eyed, tingles”. But the bespectacled woman behind reception made him welcome straight away. It was Kath. She listened to why he was there and could see how much it meant to him. She put in a call to the groundsman’s office and, within a few minutes, Schmeichel was being shown the pitch.
“It always struck me, from that day, the incredible capacity Kath possesses for tapping into what is important to other people,” Schmeichel wrote.
(Ben Radford/Allsport UK/Getty Images)
In future years, Kath would help Schmeichel reply to his fan mail, just as she did with Beckham, Giggs, Eric Cantona, Cristiano Ronaldo and some of the club’s other A-listers, many of whom kept in contact long after leaving Manchester.
Not that it spared her some occasional leg-pulling. “Kath, are you still here?” Schmeichel used to tease when he returned to Carrington as a club ambassador. “You must be about 200 years old now.” And she would hoot with laughter, leaning over from her desk to take a pretend swipe.
Kath had formed close bonds ever since the years when Busby’s cigar smoke used to waft into her old office at Old Trafford. Busby or his assistant, Jimmy Murphy, used to give her a boiled sweet every morning. She came to think of Law, Best and Charlton — the three players immortalised in the Holy Trinity statue outside Old Trafford — as friends.
“Kath was always there with a smile and a cheery hello and a hug … she loved a hug,” says Diana Law, daughter of Denis, recalling her own years in United’s media department. “She’d tell me stories about her early days at the club and when Dad would arrive on match days at Old Trafford and, yes, give her a hug.”
Giggs, the club’s record appearance-maker, had known her since the age of 16. “Kath would buzz me in at reception on my way to collect my wages as an apprentice on a Thursday afternoon. She would then collar me to ask when my grandad was picking up my fan mail because it was clogging up reception.
“She was always kind, chatty and welcoming and that had a big impact on a kid in the daunting surroundings of Old Trafford. I went to her house three weeks ago, Kath was as alert and sharp as ever. She was an amazing person who touched so many people’s hearts.”
The players will wear black armbands for today’s game against Nottingham Forest. Plus there will be tributes at the women’s fixture against Liverpool on Sunday. “Kath was what Manchester United is all about,” says Ella Toone, the United and England player. “She was kind, caring and looked after everyone who came through the reception doors. She greeted everyone with a smile and made you feel at ease.”
(Photo: Manchester United)
Over the years, that included prime ministers, pop stars and royalty, as well as numerous celebrities. Kath had started at United, aged 29, on the switchboard but her people skills made her the perfect person to meet and greet new visitors.
“I remember her being so kind when welcoming a young boy with terminal illness who was there to visit David Beckham,” says Paddy Harverson, the club’s former director of communications.
“I remember her being as normal with Prince William as she was with an eight-year-old or a world-class footballer.
“Sir Alex built a family community and it always struck me how, as big a club as it was, it could still feel like a north-west football club from the 1950s. In that setting, Kath was ‘the local lass’ on the front desk. She’d greet you with a kiss, a hug and a big smile. It is almost impossible to replicate that post-war generation, so rooted in community.”
That, perhaps, is one of the saddest things at a time when Cantona, remembering Kath as “like a mother for us all”, included another line in his tribute that “it feels like the club we know has gone forever today”.
Kath was not just a long-standing employee or, in Schmeichel’s words, one of “the people who made Manchester United special”. She also had an acute understanding that, at the heart of everything, a football club should represent its community.
Kath with, from left to right, Phil Neville, Gary Neville, Paul Scholes and Sir Alex Ferguson (Photo: Manchester United)
When the club commissioned a staff video last year to welcome new employees, she was the obvious choice to be interviewed and the first name on the list. The truth was, she did not really like doing media work. But she agreed anyway because she understood the need to pass on what she knew and help to uphold the club’s traditions and values.
She was loyal to the core and it pained her, in her final weeks and months, that so many longer-serving members of staff were being moved out for cost-cutting reasons. They were, to Kath, friends as well as colleagues — all part of the United family.
“I knew her as a club legend,” says Zarah Connolly, the MUTV presenter and assistant producer. “When I first walked into Carrington, seeing Kath at reception, I was starstruck.
“She said hello straight away, asked my name and what department I worked in. She knew everyone and, if there was any new face, she wanted to know exactly who you were, to make sure you were part of the family. She never forgot. It was like her superhero power, remembering every name.
“You’d assume it was the players who were treated like kings, but Kath treated everyone like royalty. She was royalty herself.”
(Additional contributors: Andy Mitten, Oliver Kay, Adam Crafton, Rob Tanner, Charlotte Harpur)
(Photos: Manchester United/Design: Eamonn Dalton)
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