An offer of a contract to play for Manchester United is a dream come true for most ambitious young footballers.

But the prospect of a career at Old Trafford was an opportunity that Phil Hughes turned down when Wanderers' new goalkeeping coach was starting out as a budding professional in the early 1980s.

Having moved over from his native Northern Ireland to be part of the youth set up with United, his reward was a potential deal to be part of the first team squad

But Hughes took the brave decision to move to pastures new in the search of prospective opportunities.

And as he explains, on reflection it's a decision that has enabled the 45-year-old to have a successful career both as a player and now a coach.

He said: "I went to Manchester United as an apprentice and I stayed there for a couple of years. I played in the Youth Cup team alongside a lot of good players like Norman Whiteside, Mark Hughes, Clayton Blackmore, in fact most of us went on to play league football.

"At the end of my scholarship I was offered a professional contract but at the time there were a lot of goalkeepers at the club. There was obviously myself and also Fraser Digby who went on to play top-flight football and Stephen Pears who enjoyed a long career with Middlesbrough. Plus there were Gary Bailey and Paddy Roche.

"At that time most clubs only had a couple of goalkeepers, so although I had the chance, I knew that opportunities would be limited.

"I left and went to Leeds United, where John Lukic and Dave Harvey where the goalkeepers. I had also been offered the chance to go and play for Notts County, but with Leeds being such a big club in the old Second Division then it was the obvious choice. I couldn't believe the size of the club when I got there because they were definitely sleeping giants.

"I still had a Youth Cup season left in me being 18-years-old at the time, and again that was another brilliant young side. Denis Irwin, Terry Phelan, Tommy Wright, John Sheridan and Scott Sellars were all team mates of mine.

"I stayed there for a couple of seasons and I eventually broke into the first team when Lukic went to Arsenal. But I got injured after a few games and Harvey got put back into the side. They obviously needed to sign another keeper whilst I was on the sidelines, so Mervyn Day joined the club from Aston Villa.

"Harvey left shortly after and when I was back fit I stayed on as the back-up. But I wanted to play first team football and so I decided to move to Bury when offered the chance in 1985.

"Martin Dobson was the manager and it was a really enjoyable time. There were a few Northern Ireland lads at the club and I was first choice keeper for my entire first season."

Indeed, Hughes did have an impressive year between the sticks, winning the Player of the Year award. His performances had caught the eye and a reward was a place in Northern Ireland's squad for the 1986 World Cup in Mexico.

He explained: "To my surprise - and everybody else's - Billy Bingham took me to Mexico. Pat Jennings was number one and Jim Platt of Middlesbrough was the reserve. I was only a young lad at the time and it was a fantastic experience.

"Most of what I was doing was at full pelt which was a complete contrast to Pat's attitude. He was very laid back and took everything in his stride, and his approach to goalkeeping in general was so much different to mine.

"He was very methodical and although he was coming to the end of his career, he was still one of the best goalkeepers around. It was great to hear all of his stories and everything that he had to say about football.

"I'd been stood on the terraces at Windsor Park watching the guy and then I found myself in a position where I could really impress him. It was the days before the big media coverage of football and the only chance you could see players was either on Match Of The Day or On The Ball. So to meet and work with a hero of mine was fantastic.

"When Pat retired, I was the natural successor and I was picked for the following European Championship Qualifiers. My first cap was against England which we lost 3-0. We drew 0-0 with Turkey and I played in a friendly against Israel.

"It was that time when I injured my shoulder quite seriously - it was kicked out as opposed to dislocating it by landing awkwardly. I never really recovered from that because I had a putti-plat operation which made the joint deeper and tightened the muscle up, but that didn't work.

"The funny thing was that I was actually just about to be sold to QPR. The manager came across and said that I would link-up with them after Bury's next game with Bournemouth because the two clubs had agreed a fee of £250,000.

"I was delighted with everything and thought I'd do an extra bit in training. Bob Colville kicked me in training and I was out for more or less 14 months.

"I came back and after playing just two reserve games, Wigan came and bought me because they were in need of a goalkeeper to play in an FA Cup tie. I played in excess of 100 games for the Latics and that was when I did my shoulder for the second time.

"I opted to have two bones pinned together, but that only resulted in snapping the bone. There was nothing else any expert could do, so that was me more or less finished. I did have another short loan spell at Scarborough but eventually I had to call it a day."

Hughes was 27-years-old at the time and with his playing days ended prematurely, options had to be carefully considered.

Although he had been unlucky with injury, a bit of good fortune in terms of staying in football did fall in his direction.

He added: "Eddie Gray had been my manager at Leeds United and he returned to the club in the early 1990s to head up the new academy with Paul Hart.

"It was a period in football when the concept of a goalkeeping coach was coming to the fore. I spoke to Eddie and he asked me to coach the Under 16s, but I turned down that chance because I wanted to be goalkeeper specific.

"So he came back and said that I could work with the younger players. It wasn't a full-time post and eventually I progressed from working with the young keepers to being appointed as the head goalkeeper coach for the academy.

"I was there for 15 years and towards the end of that period, the club wanted to get me developed further by working with the senior players. Grimsby Town, who were in the old Second Division at the time, needed a coach and so I went to work there two days a week, staying on a Leeds for the other three days.

"Danny Coyne, a Welsh international, was first choice at the time but he then moved to Leicester and eventually Burnley. And when he got his transfer to Turf Moor, he wanted me to join him because they didn't have a goalkeeping coach.

"It was a straight-forward appointment really and so I moved over there in 2004. I worked with Danny, Gabor Kiraly and Brian Jensen during that period of time."

And that leads takes Hughes' journey to the present day at Bolton Wanderers where he works alongside Fred Barber, conditioning Jussi Jaaskelainen, Ali Al Habsi, Adam Bogdan, Rob Lainton and the younger shot-stoppers for the demands of the Premier League.

Hughes added: "The Gaffer (Owen Coyle) came in three years ago and we had a really successful time. Obviously during that period, as a group of staff we seemed to bond very well and then the opportunity to come here came about.

"Everything is obviously different to start off with and it takes time to bed in, but it is fantastic to be given the opportunity to work with a big club and be around these facilities, and it reminds me in some ways of the structure at Leeds.

"It's like any walk of life - if there is a better opportunity offered and it is right for everybody then you have to take it. I have no regrets, we as the coaching staff are all easy to work with and I think that is one of the reasons behind our success."