How proud Jimmy swapped Wembley for the warehouse

"Hey Greenhoff! You're not playing in the f*****g FA Cup Final now, are you?"

Happily for Jimmy Greenhoff — veteran of two FA Cup finals — the moment never came. But it was close. "I lost everything 12 years ago," former Manchester United forward Greenhoff told Sportsmail this week. "My business, my house and almost my health. I worked in a warehouse for a while and the taunts were pretty bad. I hated it. It was rubbish, brutal.

"And yes I could have sold the medals. I thought about it. It would have helped. But how could I? My son would not have forgiven me. He loves that winner's medal even more than I do. And what would the fans have thought?

"That medal belongs to them, too. They supported me and United all the way. Paid good money to help us win the FA Cup. How could I flog it?"

Many have cashed in, of course. Some have had good reason, others have not. But from a career that spanned 20 years and seven English clubs, Greenhoff treasures his FA Cup finals the most.

In 1977 Greenhoff was credited with the winning goal after Lou Macari's shot flew in off his chest to enable United to beat Liverpool 2-1 and derail an Anfield treble bid. Two years later, he was exhausted and out of form as a late United comeback could not prevent Arsenal winning 3-2.

He has no scrapbooks, no cuttings and has not even got the shirt he wore in 1977. That was stolen from the Wembley dressing room. But he has his medals and his memories. They are crystal clear.

"That competition was everything to us," he recalled ahead of tomorrow's Manchester United versus Arsenal tie at Old Trafford.

"I can still see it all. I lost in two semis with Stoke (1971 and 1972), both times against Arsenal, and another with Leeds. I cried my heart out. It almost destroyed me. So to get to a final at last in 1977 was a dream come true. I had waited for it ever since watching the Matthews Final in 1953."

Greenhoff will be at Old Trafford as a corporate host tomorrow as Sir Alex Ferguson and Arsene Wenger rest players ahead of Champions League commitments next week. It symbolises the ongoing decline of the FA Cup.

"It's to do with money because these days the Premier League is everything," said Greenhoff.

"But we have not helped ourselves. Playing semi-finals at Wembley devalued the final right away.

"And now we have managers resting players. All I can say is that if I had been left out of a single FA Cup game, I would have knocked on the manager's door and asked why. I think Wayne Rooney is the same. He looks angry every time he is so much as substituted. But I am not sure they are all like that."

Greenhoff's life remains less than comfortable. The fall-out from a failed insurance venture in the 1990s continues to affect him. At 61, he works nights at a pharmaceutical company in Stoke. There are regrets but no bitterness.

"Rio Ferdinand earns more in a week than I did in my career," said Greenhoff, who was collecting £250 a week when he scored the winner in 1977. "I could do with some of that! But good luck to them. I wouldn't have turned it down."

On the dark days, the down days that he admits to, he leans on his wife Joan and dotes on grandson Marcus. He has fallen out with his brother and former United team-mate Brian but there are always the memories to help him through.

"I still can't believe somebody nicked my shirt in 1977," he reflected. "After we won the game it was bedlam in the dressing room. Everyone was in the bath. Players, staff, kit men. And when we got back to Old Trafford my bloody strip wasn't there.

"Ten years later I was doing an engagement in Cleethorpes and this bloke comes up and says, 'Jimmy, it was me. I took your shirt'. He was just a member of the public. Walked in and took it just like that. He offered it back to me but I was so taken by his honesty I said he could keep it. I still can't believe I said that. I would love that shirt back now. Maybe that guy may read this and call me up."

A remarkable tale. But was that shirt really worn by the winning goalscorer? Wasn't it Macari's goal really? "I can't believe Lou has started saying on TV that it was his goal," smiled Greenhoff. "Seriously, he has. I really don't get it.

"After the game we walked in to do the interviews with Brian Moore, the ITV man, and we agreed that — even though it said my name on the scoreboard — we would watch the replay and decide who should have it.

"We watched and Lou's shot was going nowhere near the goal until it hit me. So we decided it was mine. But now Lou has changed his tune. As far as I am concerned, it's mine. It says so in the books."

Two years later, Greenhoff broke Liverpool hearts with a goal in a semi-final replay and United were back at Wembley to face Arsenal.

"You walk out of that tunnel with a lump in your throat," he recalled. "You see the blue sky first — always blue — and then the red and white scarves. Amazing."

But this time there was no happy ending. Just back from injury, Greenhoff played poorly and, after United scored two late goals to claw back a 2-0 deficit, Graham Rix crossed beyond goalkeeper Gary Bailey for Alan Sunderland to poke in one of the Cup's most famous winning goals for Arsenal.

"Afterwards we were subdued," said Greenhoff. "But our captain Martin Buchan went right up to Gary Bailey and said: 'I always knew your bloody left arm was shorter than the other'.

"It was harsh but he was convinced he was right."