Inglethorpe on managing Exeter and FA Cup fairytale

As boss of the then-Conference outfit, Inglethorpe’s men held United in the third-round of the Cup to a 0-0 draw, forcing a replay to be played.

The hosts brought on Cristiano Ronaldo, Paul Scholes and Alan Smith in the second half to try and break down the visitors' wall, but his men stood firm.

Speaking to Liverpoolfc.com ahead of the Reds’ third-round FA Cup meeting with Exeter, Inglethorpe joked: “When they decided to bring on Ronaldo and Scholes, I just thought 'Ph come on that's not fair! Give us a chance here, we've been doing so well. You've got a decent team out already. Why spoil a lovely day for us by bringing them on?'”

“Fortunately it didn't happen. We were actually quite comfortable in the home game, I never really felt under too much pressure.

“The team didn't really suffer too much. It wasn't as if the they were lucky or flukey, they genuinely deserved something out of the game.”

His men dug deep and forced a replay at St James Park; however, their opponents' class showed with a 2-0 win in the return.

“Over the two games, it probably wasn't over until the last five minutes of the second game, which for a Conference club was no mean feat.” he added.

Inglethorpe took over the Exeter job in October 2004 as a fresh-faced 33-year-old - and his first job in management was a difficult one taking over a club in debt, with transfer embargo forced upon them.

Despite these complications, the rookie manager wasn't phased.

“I was a bit young, naive and brash thinking that sort of stuff doesn't matter. I just wanted to be a manager,” he admits. “I didn't have any second thoughts around the taking the job.

“Sometimes when you're a big younger and a bit more gung-ho, it works for you.

“I was younger than a few of the players. I was lucky that we got off to lucky start and I won a few games early on. That built momentum and then the Man Utd thing came along.

“I felt then if there was a question of credibility then the results kept that one under wraps. I was fortunate to have been surrounded by very good people.”

He remembers his 18 months at the club fondly before he was offered a chance to join the coaching set-up at Tottenham Hotspur prior to ultimately ending up at Liverpool in 2012 after revealing management wasn’t for him at that time.

“It’s a fantastic place to learn, with great people in a really good part of the country.” Inglethorpe said.

“At that stage, I probably wanted to be a developer more than a manager so it's probably a bit of a crossroads in my career.

“I chose to become a developer of talents rather than a winner of medals.”

In his pre-match press conference, Jürgen Klopp admitted he was aware of the small changing rooms at St James’ Park and Inglethorpe, from his past experiences, can confirm those claims but insists the Reds will just have to deal with difficult surroundings and work to get the job done.

“They are small to say the least,” he laughs. “But then I'd love to think the professionalism of the players, whether they'll be the younger or older players, is that they just accept it.

“There needs to be a humility around our players that when you go there, we're there to give everything. In those games you have to give 500 per cent effort.

“You've got to give more than normally would if possible because you're not only going to be playing Exeter, you're playing the Exeter players plus 20 or 30 per cent extra.

“It's a wonderful opportunity [for them] to do something they normally haven’t done.

“I think our players have got to be so motivated to compete for every ball, challenge and fight for everything. Then hopefully the qualities that they've got in their feet will come through.

“If you're not it prepared to fight or battle to compete then that's when the shocks come.”