Steve Coppell holds Man Utd record for consecutive league appearances

The key to Coppell’s ability to stay fit was, he believes, simple: he hardly trained.

“I did my finals and then, as far as I was concerned, I was turning full-time professional,” he told BBC Radio in 2019.

“Quite regularly, we would play on a Saturday, we’d win, and The Doc would say, ‘oh terrific boys, great result, you put a lot into that game, we’ll see you Thursday.’ And I’d go, ‘Thursday?’ And he’d say ‘yeah, yeah, see you Thursday, you need to recover.’

“We’d go in Thursday and we’d play five-a-side for half-an-hour, or until The Doc’s team won. Then he would say, ‘Right boys, you’ve done enough, get yourselves home and rest’. We’d come in on Friday and The Doc would say, ‘Right boys, you’ve had a busy week, just have a bath and go home.’

“So I was a full-time professional and I was training for about 20-odd minutes a week! You couldn’t get burnt out because you weren’t pounding it every day, you weren’t flat-out every session. It was very much about peaking for the match.”