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People always remember you for certain things and, if you're the first to do something like getting sent off in an FA Cup final, naturally you're going to be remembered more for that than anything else. People ask me if I'm bothered about it, thinking it's something that hangs over me. That's not the case. I celebrated that evening no diff erent from any of the other players.
The big furore at the time was over whether or not I should collect my winner's medal. I thought I would be allowed, but the United manager, Ron Atkinson, pulled me aside and said: 'I just found out that you can't collect your medal. But you can go up the steps, you deserve that.' So I went up and, I'm sure, if I'd put my hand out I would have got the medal! The media had a great two or three days over it: will he get the medal or won't he? In the end, it was given to me a few days later.
When I finished playing, in 1994, I had a number of opportunities. Before I played for United, I had studied commerce at University College Dublin and spent a year as an accountant. Because of that experience, I was propelled towards a business career. I felt that with your own business - whatever it is - you are more in control. You make your own decisions about how it goes and you can only look after yourself. In football, it's different: there are so many things that you can't control, such as when, in 1990, Alex Ferguson told me that he was letting me go from United.
In 1994, I went into partnership, with Paul Stretford and my old team-mate Jesper Olsen, to set up a football agency, Proactive Sports Management. I looked after the finance side and when we floated, in 2001, I was finance director. But the business had progressed so much that it was soon prudent to bring in someone a bit more qualified to deal with the finance.
I take care of a few of the Irish players now - such as John O'Shea and Steve Finnan - and do everything from arranging transfers to looking after their financial aff airs. Our biggest clients are probably Wayne Rooney and Andy Cole.