Who are the greatest players in Manchester United’s history? The Athletic gave Andy Mitten the task of compiling his top 25 and we will be counting them down over the coming weeks, in reverse order. He explains his thought process here.Sir Alex Ferguson said left-back Denis Irwin was the only player guaranteed to make his best Manchester United XI, describing him as an “out-and-out winner”. Ferguson also praised his drive and said in his 1999 autobiography: “Nowhere in football is there a more popular player than the unassuming Irishman, the ultimate professional, one of those quiet, under-praised heroes who constitute the bedrock of all great teams.”“I went in and got about my job,” Irwin told me when I asked in 2020 why he thought he was held in such high esteem. “I wasn’t a star player, but he (Ferguson) still appreciated me. I didn’t cause him too much stress — I am what I am. I gave it everything and he appreciated that. I worked my socks off, trained hard, tried to learn from my mistakes. My peers appreciated what I did.“Maybe to the fan in the street I didn’t make headlines — I wasn’t a star player and didn’t want the limelight. I just wanted to go about my job. Full-backs were pawns on a chessboard when I played. We had ‘Giggsy’ (Ryan Giggs) or ‘Becks’ (David Beckham) in front of the full-backs to cross the ball. They’re more important now in the game.”Irwin, from Cork, the same Irish city as his team-mate Roy Keane, was let go by Leeds United aged 20 and described it as a major turning point in his life. The rejection motivated him and he had a couple of fine years under Joe Royle for an Oldham Athletic side who would rise to England’s top flight while playing epic cup ties, including against Manchester United in two 1990 FA Cup semi-final games.