Seeing Dave Sexton

I was sitting on the Heathrow Express (don't know if it was called that back then) at about lunchtime Monday 10 September 1979. I was very excited - it was not long after my 21st birthday and that very morning I'd managed to get a standby BA ticket to New York - my first ever visit - my first ever flight. I was relaxing into the idea that I was at last going to meet my family in America. My rucksack was too heavy - as I relaxed I realised someone must have added stuff. I began to open up the bag and search, reaching down deep where I detected unfamiliar lumpy shapes that I'd been ignoring all day. I pulled out a thick bendy book about Manchester United - like an oversize fanzine - I showed it to my friend who was travelling to America with me and her brother who like my own brother was a massive Man Utd fan. Her brother had met us, on his return journey from Europe and was escorting us to Heathrow to see us off on the big adventure. We laughed at my brother's joke - he wanted to sneak items over to America for our cousins. I began rifling through the book - there was a profile of the then manager, Dave Sexton. I began to read it. My friend's brother nudged me. He nudged me again. I looked at him. he discreetly nodded his head at the seat opposite and sitting there was Dave Sexton.