Former Newcastle United winger Keith Gillespie has revealed Manchester United tried to buy him back.

Gillespie left in part exchange for Andy Cole in 1995.

He recalled to manutd.com: “Yeah, I think when I did leave they had the European rule and, at that time, being from Northern Ireland I was classified as a foreigner, and you could only play two foreigners and three 'assimilated' players at the time.

"So when I did leave - it pretty much came out of the blue - but it was because they needed to get an English striker and Andy Cole fitted the bill. As you say, I had Andrei (Kanchelskis) in front of me. I left in the January and at the end of that season he left.

"I did get a call from Sir Alex asking would I come back and they did put in a bid six months later, but Newcastle turned that down - things could have been different. David Beckham played on the right side then he was more of a central midfielder. That's how it happened at that time."