'I tricked Alex Ferguson into playing me' before St Mirren captaincy- Tony Fitzpatrick

Tony Fitzpatrick has revealed how he tricked Sir Alex Ferguson into playing him while recovering from pleurisy before making him St Mirren captain.

Ferguson was in charge of the Paisley side for four years from 1974.

Fitzpatrick's father posed as a doctor and his mother as his secretary to assure the team boss their son was fit.

"He doesn't know this by the way," Fitzpatrick told BBC Scotland. "I played in the game and look what happened - I was made captain."

Ferguson, who was previously in charge of East Stirlingshire, had only recently taken over when he wondered whether the teenage midfielder was able to play in a reserve game.

"He called me into the office and said 'I want you to play in this game as I want to see you play, but I know you've been ill'," the 62-year-old St Mirren chief executive told Sportsound.

"He asked if I was OK and I said yes, but I wasn't. He said 'give me your doctor's number' and I said I was going to the doctor's right now.

"He said 'get the doctor to phone me'. So I went home and told my mum and dad."

'Mr Ferguson, I've got Doctor McClure on the line'

Fitzpatrick said his father came up with a plan.

"There was only one person in the street - Jenny Little - who had a phone," he said. "So me, my mum and my dad went into Jenny Little's and gave her money to use the phone.

"On the old red phones, you could press it and there was a noise, so my mum kidded-on she was the doctor's secretary and got through to Alex and said 'Mr Ferguson, I've got Doctor McClure on the line for you just now' and then my dad went on and spoke away.

"I could hear the conversation and my dad said 'he's fine now, he'll be able to play in the game'.

"If my mum and dad hadn't done that, who knows?"

'He changed my life completely'

Ferguson managed St Mirren for four years before moving on to Aberdeen

How the 19-year-old was chosen to be St Mirren captain is a more well-known tale that is also related in former Buddies manager Fitzpatrick's forthcoming autobiography.

"He was only in a matter of six weeks," he said of Ferguson. "He said he was going to speak to everybody on a Tuesday night and let them know who is going to stay and who is going to go.

"We were in the dressing room, all scared with Sir Alex up the stair and I was first to go up.

"I'd been told in my career I was too small to be a professional footballer, so I expected Fergie to turn round and tell me I was not good enough and too small.

"But he changed my life completely because he stared at me and said 'Tony, I've been watching you very carefully and you've got great potential'.

"In five years' time, not only will we be challenging Celtic and Rangers but we'll be above Celtic and Rangers, and I want you to be the captain."