Alex Ferguson has been revealed as the Ryder Cup's not so secret weapon, with the former Manchester United manager to address Paul McGinley's players at the Gleneagles Hotel on Tuesday evening.

McGinley, the European captain, had previously suggested he would turn to the services of a high-profile guest speaker in a bid to help preparations in Perthshire. Ferguson’s name was widely speculated upon but it remained only that until the Scot appeared on the Centenary Course on Tuesday morning.

“He’s a guy that I played with in the JP McManus Pro-Am about 15 years ago, and he’s a guy that I’ve seen now and again over that time, and when I became captain, for a number of reasons, I asked him,” said McGinley of Ferguson. “Of course he was more than willing to help.

“There’s a number of reasons. Although I’m not a Man United fan, as everybody knows, I’m a West Ham fan, but I’ve always loved the way his teams played. And there’s a number of things that he’s dealing with that he was particularly good at that I think he’ll be a particularly strong fit. There’s a lot of similarities, and I’ve met him a number of times over the last few months. The more I’ve met him, the more there was just such a natural fit.” Ironically the Hammers visit Ferguson’s former United charges on Saturday.

On the specifics of Ferguson’s role, McGinley added: “This is not about him being a headmaster and coming in and preaching to them. This is about fun – the areas that I’ll be talking to the players about, him relating it to football and getting some football stories. So I very much like to think that we’re both coming from the same direction and he’s talking along the lines that I’ll be talking this week.”

McGinley did not seem overly amused by Ferguson’s arrival becoming so public. “The one thing he asked me to do was keep it really quiet,” said the Irishman.

“I’ve asked everybody to keep it as quiet as we can, because it’s been my wish and his wish to keep things quiet. We want a bit of surprise for the players. But I guess it’s not a surprise. A lot of people have said it to me this morning.”

The 72-year-old Ferguson retired last summer after a highly decorated spell at Old Trafford. He has since been a regular at United fixtures but has also taken up a position at Harvard University. A key member of the European team, Rory McIlroy, is a well-known United supporter.

“He (Ferguson) has asked me a lot of questions and I’ve given him some interest, and I know he’s very keen and looking forward to tonight,” explained McGinley. “He’s a big fan of golf, as we know. He knows Rory very well.

“He knew a lot about the players, and he’d watched them and observed a lot of them and was very keen on getting to meet the ones he had not met. And of course the players are mad about football, every one of them.”

European captains in the past have used a similar tactic to McGinley. At Celtic Manor four years ago, the Welsh rugby legend Gareth Edwards addressed the home players before the Ryder Cup formally began.

Guardian Service