Kath Phipps
Kath Phipps was hired by Man Utd in 1968
Her social media handle was simple and direct: “@KathonReception ” it read. But Kath Phipps, who has died at the age of 85, was a lot more than simply the first face anyone saw when they arrived at Manchester United’s Carrington training centre. The club’s longest serving employee, with more than 55 years service, as she sat behind the desk just by the front door, greeting everyone with a kindly smile, she provided the living bridge across the eras. This was the woman who had seen it all.
A born and bred United fan from Irlam, she was in her twenties when she applied for a job at Old Trafford in September 1968, months after Sir Matt Busby’s side had won the European Cup. Les Olive, the club secretary, immediately warmed to her and offered her a job as a telephonist. Her friendly switchboard manner was quickly noted and she was soon reckoned the ideal person to act as receptionist at the stadium’s main entrance. Best, Law, Charlton: hers was the first face they saw when they turned up to work, a smiling picture of welcome, putting everyone at ease with her universally friendly manner.
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
When Sir Alex Ferguson was appointed manager in 1986, he recognised in her a figure of continuity, of history. More than that, he understood that her cheerful, informal demeanour offered an unstuffy, open, welcoming image of an institution that was growing ever more substantial by the day. She kept the place rooted.
So he thought she would be the perfect presence when the new training facility at Carrington opened in 2000. And for the next 24 years, she was there, sitting on reception, watching and smiling as football’s superstars came and went, calming the nerves of young academy graduates hoping for their first contract, joshing with the members of the media as they turned up for press conferences.
Kath Phipps moved to work at Carrington in 2000 at the request of Sir Alex Ferguson
Kath Phipps moved to work at Carrington in 2000 at the request of Sir Alex Ferguson
“Haven’t you been banned yet, love?” she’d invariably grin, noting Ferguson’s habit of issuing prohibition to those writers who had crossed him. For her, everyone was addressed as “love”.
First a motherly, then later a grandmotherly presence, so important was Kath to the family image Ferguson wanted to project of the club, that when her husband Richard died and she informed him that – as she couldn’t drive – she would have to stop coming into work, he arranged for her to be taken by taxi from her home and back again every day. At the club’s expense.
He also rallied the entire first team squad to attend Mr Phipps’s funeral. He recommended, too, that she be the recipient of the League Managers’ Association Services to Football award in 2021-22. Few could argue: hers was a lifetime of service to the game.
And still, long after Sir Alex retired, she was there, asking visitors to the training base if they “would like a brew” while they waited, nervously, for appointments. David Beckham, as he showed when he featured her on his recent documentary series, was among the hundreds who benefited from her unforced kindness, noting how she acted as an informal therapist for all those beset with anxiety when they first stepped through the door.
Kath Phipps with David Beckham
Kath Phipps bridged several generations at Man Utd
So significant a figure was she around the club, that when Sir Jim Ratcliffe made his first tour after buying into the club last year, his PR minders ensured hers was the first hand he was photographed shaking. It was a way of showing, no matter who might pull the financial levers of a multi-billion pound business, he recognised that even at United there are some people who are more important than money.
Sir Jim Ratcliffe of INEOS meets long-serving receptionist Kath Phipps of Manchester United
Sir Jim Ratcliffe shakes hands with Kath Phipps at Carrington in January 2024
“I just get up every morning as a happy person. I come here and I just love seeing them all,” she said, when she picked up her LMA award, of still doing her job well into her eighties. “I’ll miss them one day, when I’m not here, but I don’t want to give it up just yet.”
Now she has gone, it is no exaggeration to say the place will never be the same.