A new online book by an award-winning journalist will lift the lid on some of the biggest names in the footballing world including Sir Alex Ferguson, Sir Alf Ramsey and Harry Redknapp.

Bryan Cooney, who started his career at the Press and Journal in Aberdeen, will release Fingerprints of a Football Rascal on Amazon’s Kindle.

It will include tales of how he secured an exclusive interview with Sir Alex on the night he joined Manchester United and a heavy drinking session with the late former England manager Sir Alf.

Bryan, now a freelance broadcaster with BBC Radio Scotland and regular contributor to Scotland’s Sunday Herald, said the book “reaches under the fingernails of some of football’s biggest personalities, past and present.”

He said: “In these days of PR orchestration, journalists are rarely allowed to get close to those on high. My good fortune was that I was allowed direct access to some of the biggest names on the planet.

“I doubt if these stories will ever be replicated. Among other things, I got absolutely paralytic with Sir Alf Ramsey one day – and almost died in doing so.

“I was close to fisticuffs with Harry Redknapp in the Savoy, secured an exclusive interview with Alex Ferguson on the night he joined Manchester United…and fell foul of the great Jock Stein.

“I was up close and fairly personal with a lot of these men…and sometimes it wasn’t a pretty sight. But there were and are a host of amusing and controversial anecdotes.”

The Kindle launch of Fingerprints of a Football Rascal is scheduled for release in August.

Bryan who retired from head of sport at the Daily Mail ten years ago through ill health, has added to an already impressive CV since returning to Scotland.

He won the Sports Journalist of the Year award three times and lifted a bronze in the Sony’s for his Pain of the Game radio series.

He also wrote the autobiography of former Celtic and Scotland player George Connelly .