One rainswept winter evening nearly 20 years ago, fairly early in his time as the manager of Manchester United but a year or so after he had overcome an initial crisis to win the faith of the board and the fans, Alex Ferguson watched his reserve team play at Bury's modest Gigg Lane ground in the company of a reporter who had secured an appointment to interview him the following morning. To the surprise of the journalist, who had travelled up from London by train, Ferguson offered him a lift back to his hotel.
- Football - Bloody Hell! The Biography of Alex Ferguson
- by Patrick Barclay
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- Buy it from the Guardian bookshop
As the silver Mercedes hissed along the M66 towards Manchester, the manager talked easily and entertainingly about football matters, sometimes commenting on the reports of that evening's other matches coming over the car radio. One of them concerned Sheffield Wednesday, then of the Premier League, and Ferguson remarked that he had considered buying Wednesday's centre forward, David Hirst, but had been deterred by the player's susceptibility to injury. A week later, the day after the remarks had appeared – with no special prominence – in the reporter's story, a letter from Ferguson arrived, demanding formal apologies to the Sheffield club's manager, Trevor Francis, for the breach of etiquette, and to himself for the breach of confidence. He was right, so I did.
That is Ferguson in a single, albeit somewhat faded snapshot: a man of convivial warmth in the right circumstances, of profound enthusiasm for the game and generally astute judgment (Hirst's injuries would become a permanent blight on a promising career), but of implacable will. If, in the public mind, it is the last of those attributes that has come to overshadow the others in the years since that very minor incident took place, nevertheless there is no denying that the most successful manager in the history of English football remains a creature of multiple facets. It is no accident that three of the first four references under "Ferguson, Alex" in the copious index of Patrick Barclay's book are to "aggression", "generosity" and "grudges".
Stories will be told about Ferguson as long as football retains its popularity in the British Isles, for no single figure has so thoroughly embodied the game's greatness and its accompanying flaws. This is a man born among the shipyards of Govan, who undoubtedly recognises the absurdity inherent in handing out wage packets of up to £150,000 a week to young stars whose appetite for life's luxuries is sated by their mid-20s, but who also knows that he must rekindle their fire once or twice a week, nine months of the year, using his own fire as the spark.
In the simplest possible terms, as Barclay recounts, Ferguson's fire was ignited by two events. The first was the sight of Real Madrid in the 1960 European Cup final, when the 19-year-old part-time professional with Queen's Park stood among a crowd of 135,000 Glaswegians crammed into Hampden Park and, watching Alfredo Di Stéfano, Ferenc Puskás and Francisco Gento perform their magic, discovered what a thing of beauty and joy football could be. The second was the relative disappointment of his own playing career as a centre-forward with several clubs, including Rangers, the club he had supported in boyhood.
That fire has dimmed only once, when he announced his intention to retire in the summer of 2002, at the age of 61. In Barclay's account it was his wife, Cathy, who woke him from an afternoon nap over the New Year holiday and, with their three sons assembled behind her, ordered him to change his mind. She had realised that a life without daily involvement in the affairs of a football team would, to put it mildly, not suit his temperament, and that the thought of the squad he had built being taken over by Sven-Göran Eriksson, the United board's choice of successor, would be intolerable to him.
That night at Gigg Lane at the beginning of the 1990s, United's reserve team included youngsters called David Beckham, Gary Neville and Paul Scholes. Yet to make their mark on the national consciousness, they formed – together with Ryan Giggs and Nicky Butt – a group of locally produced players who provided Ferguson with the core of successive teams that went on to win the league titles 11 times, the FA Cup on five occasions and the European Cup twice. Ferguson may have been lucky to acquire such a crop, but his careful nurturing of their careers instilled such a sense of purpose and loyalty that even Beckham, the one he famously (and very profitably) discarded, continues to profess an undimmed affection for the club and its manager. Giggs, Scholes and Neville, all now in their mid-30s, are still in Ferguson's squad, which says something about the manager's ability to husband his resources. It remains to be seen whether, when the last of that remarkable generation has gone, and if he himself is still around, he will be able to maintain his extraordinary run of achievements with their successors.
"Ferguson is not a genius," Barclay states unequivocally as he nears the conclusion of a book in which thoroughness of research, richness of detail – particularly concerning the early years in Scotland – and proper celebration of achievement are never allowed to occlude the author's unsentimental view of his compatriot. Among football managers, the author reserves his use of that term for certain passages of the careers of Brian Clough (whom Ferguson detested) and José Mourinho (with whom he gives the impression of being slightly smitten, perhaps because he is one of the few men to whom the Portuguese provocateur has ever shown deference). Ferguson's principal quality, the one that distinguishes him from such great postwar managers as his mentor Jock Stein, Matt Busby, Bill Shankly, Don Revie, Bill Nicholson and Arsène Wenger, is the remorseless preservation of enthusiasm, energy and, above all, control.
It is Ferguson's darker side that forces many neutrals who acknowledge his achievements to withhold their unqualified admiration. In one of the many striking phrases that stud this well-shaped narrative, Barclay remarks that "anger is his petrol", and he explores many examples of Ferguson's ability to pursue an argument – with other managers, with referees, and with the BBC – far beyond the accepted boundaries not just of good manners but of common sense. David Elleray, the distinguished former referee and a frequent Ferguson target, describes several rewarding encounters not immediately connected with a football match, but adds, apropos of the manager's duality: "The analogy I've always used is with people who become very different when they get behind the wheel of a car. When he gets close to a match, he becomes a different person. How much of that is studied, I'm not sure."
Barclay does not let Ferguson off lightly. Of one particular example of the manager's addiction to psychological warfare, he remarks that "it exposed for the umpteenth time the element of hypocrisy involved in railing against supposed trouble-making in the media while remaining such an arch-exponent of the black art himself". He examines Ferguson's habit, earlier in his reign at Manchester United, of steering young players towards the services offered by one of his three sons, a football agent. Nor is he inclined to dismiss Ferguson's role in the turbulent saga of the club's ownership, which reached a climax with the recent news that a club with phenomenally high revenues had declared a loss of more than £80m for the past year, thanks to repayments on debts incurred in a leveraged purchase of the club by the Glazer family of the United States. "To the supporters, his acquiescence with successive carpetbaggers . . . was the truth that dared not speak its name," Barclay writes.
In the end, Ferguson's greatest regret may be that the two sides with which he won the European Cup, first in Barcelona in 1999 and then in Moscow in 2008, did so with colourless, tactically incoherent performances notable only for the refusal of his players to be beaten. No 19-year-old Catalan or Muscovite could have gone home from those matches glowing with a new vision of what the game could be. Ferguson takes pride in maintaining United's tradition of attacking football, and he would have loved to win the most important of trophies – the one he had to land in order to be considered the equal of the great Busby – in the manner of the Real Madrid of Di Stéfano and Puskás. Perhaps, as he approaches his 69th birthday, that is the moment for which he is hanging on.
Richard Williams's The Blue Moment is published by Faber.
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Comments
16 October 2010 12:56AM
Patrick Barclay is a tiresome slaphead who's opinion i rate slightly lower than that of Paul Gascoigne
Passing off inane musings and cliched banalities appears to appease a readership apparently sated by the fact he manages the odd word of more than two syllables and has a posh voice.
The man's a charlatan. Stealing a wage. A parasite of the fourth estate. He might as well write his 'articles' in shite.
Patrick Barclay: About as much use as his hairdryer.
16 October 2010 02:13AM
@atticusgrinch
That genuinely made me laugh. I hope some overly sensitive mod doesn't hit the remove button.
16 October 2010 02:15AM
Why does Barclay keep bringing up the argument that the Glaziers buying United because of his dealings with the two Irishmen? He believes that because Ferguson brought the Irishmen into United and they then old their shares to the Americans Ferguson is somehow complicit in their takeover.
For this argument to have any credence he has to prove that the people who sold their shares to the Irishmen would not have sold their shares to Glaziers.
16 October 2010 02:50AM
As a Manchester United fan, I can only assume that this will be my Christmas present from an unimaginative mother.
Lazy, lazy mothering.
16 October 2010 03:52AM
Wow. What a wonderful last paragraph.
16 October 2010 06:44AM
atticus
Brilliant.
If only Ferguson wasn't so arrogant he could have been a truely great manager like Bob Paisley.
16 October 2010 06:49AM
BTW Ferguson actually bought David Hirst, for 2.7 million, only for the fax to get jammed and eaten by the machine. A week later David was crocked. Just like Cantona and the kids and two jammy CL's; a Faustian pact with Louis Cipher.
16 October 2010 06:55AM
It is amazing how many of the still faithful renewal reds remain in denial about Ferguson's complicity in the odious Glazer regime, as referenced in the first few postings above. For all Ferguson's admirable achievements, that will be his lasting legacy from Old Trafford.
Incidentally five years after those dark days of May 2005, it is remarkable how many people continue to misspell the name of those ghastly carpetbaggers from Florida.
16 October 2010 06:58AM
Vomitting, good luck with your new regime. Hope they dont turn out to be carpetbaggers/ If only a similar story could emerge at Old Trafford.
16 October 2010 07:57AM
The whole Ferguson is responsible for the takeover. Really, millionaires and billionaires care about money. Those two Irishmen sold their stock because it was profitable, more so than hanging on. End of story.
16 October 2010 09:27AM
I notice the word 'Aberdeen' doesn't appear in the review. Or does the 'biography' only start when SAF was 45?
16 October 2010 09:59AM
United's win in 1999 was the result of a thrilling campaign and some extraordinary performances playing atttacking football. That the final was poorer quality had more to do with changes and does not detract from the way Yorke and Cole in particular showed superb skills against the biggest teams.
By all means criticise Ferguson for his obvious shortcomings. It only serves to motivate him and improve the results. Glazers are not welcome at Old Trafford. They are unable to afford it and have made sure that most of the true fans can't either.
16 October 2010 10:04AM
I don't usually comment on M U forums but as this is about a book I think it is fair game. Slur Alex rep is going to be remember in the long term as being one of unbelievable luck at the beginning of his career at M U and then his own greed that took his club from a healthy profit to be loaded with massive debt which will never be cleared. As for his achievements well it would be wrong to dismiss them just because I support Liverpool but he was oh so lucky to win his first title.
If we review the PL at that time it was very clear that all the major clubs that should have been challenging were either in a rebuilding phase or on a down turn creating a void that they managed to fill. Lets not forget that M U were 10th a third of the way through that season and looked very unlikely title challengers. had the PL not been formed by Sky and Howard Wilkinson not been a pal history would be very different today. He was also lucky that M U had a group of young players coming through. Credit should be given to Brian Kidd as he was responsible for them not Slur Alex.
We shouldn't underestimated what a huge effect winning that first title has on players and how this was used by him to motivate his players. If he has one skill it is clearly motivating his players. However I think his European record reflects that he is not really in the same class as Bob Paisley or Brain Clough (who did it with a small club). 3 European titles in 25 years says it all really. And watching his teams being outclassed in Europe throughout the 90's showed his tactical naivety and again highlight he isn't quite top draw as one of the all time greats.
What most fans will remember is his unpleasant bitter personality that sour any analysis of him, he has never cleared up the transfer agent money slur and will never manage to escape the stain of being responsible for the take over. He appears a man who's anger and bitterness are his main driving force and unfortunately that is a very unappealing quality. I think we will be forced out before he retires as his angry and bitterness will not allow him to walk away.
16 October 2010 10:39AM
Actually, Ferguson is going to be remembered as the greatest manager in the history of the sport. No-one else comes close. Only a truly insular English football fan with an eye on local rivalry would deny as much.
16 October 2010 10:43AM
@atticusgrinch
Hilarious!
16 October 2010 10:44AM
RedHector:
I think you'll find he has 4 European trophies to his name. He won a Cup Winners' Cup with Aberdeen, beating Real Madrid in the final.
Would you not consider them a small team?
16 October 2010 10:50AM
@Xenakis
Yep. It baffles me how people can simply disregard Ferguson's achievements and focus on mistakes.
But then again everyone's obliged to be a miserable sod on the net.
16 October 2010 10:52AM
Is the exclusion of "Sir" Bob from a sentence comparing the great managers an admission that he is indeed in a league of his own?
16 October 2010 10:55AM
I don't know about the book, but that review was beautifully written.
16 October 2010 10:56AM
'Slur Alex rep' - pathetic
You can't argue with his success so you have to rsort to pathetic insults and comedy remarks about 'incredible luck'. The only luck he's had is that he's a football genius.
Atticus - yes it is all about 1 match isn't it ? not a campaign that saw us undefeated against Barc, Inter, Juve and Bayern. For a scouser to refer to luck in the CL after 2005 is typical of their hypocrisy. 20 years hurts, doesn't it ? No doubt soon to be 21.
Patrick Barclay ? Who he ?
16 October 2010 10:56AM
Xenakis
Ferguson's achievements come no where near say Bob Paisley, never mind Brian Clough, Bill Shankley, Bill Nicholson, Jock Stein etc..
That doesn't even include foreign managers such as Mourinho, Lippi, Del Bosque etc..
16 October 2010 11:01AM
'BTW Ferguson actually bought David Hirst, for 2.7 million, only for the fax to get jammed and eaten by the machine'
For such an insider can you tell me why they didn't get the fax fixed in the next week, or try another way of sealing the deal ? Pathetic.
As that golfer said 'I'm lucky, and the more I practise the luckier I get'. You can't win what he has won - at Aberdeen as well as United - just by being lucky. You make yourselves look stupid by saying so. If he was that lucky we'd have been in the CL finals in '97 & 2002 when we hammered the opposition in both legs.
16 October 2010 11:03AM
'Ferguson's achievements come no where near say Bob Paisley, never mind Brian Clough, Bill Shankley, Bill Nicholson, Jock Stein etc..'
Think you need to back that up - or do you realise it's just cobblers ? I leave to Bobby Charlton, who probably knows a bit more about than you, who ranks him as a manager 'above the old man', who tellingly isn't mentioned in your remarks.
16 October 2010 11:06AM
' He appears a man who's anger and bitterness'
What a tirade - is he also a mass murderer ? Jealousy is what motivates these slurs. You'd have him managing your team in a second.
16 October 2010 11:22AM
@ManchesterMajority
24 years and only 2 European cups. For all your shouting the simply law of averages means he had to win it sometime. And I would point out if John Terry hadn't slipped when taking his pen it would only be one, luck again. The following year Barcelona made his tactics look like the efforts of a school boy. I am not saying he is a bad manager, he is just not as good as you think. And yes luck always plays a massive roll in anyone's career.
But ask yourself honestly if he had not asked his Irish friends to buy into M U and then fall out with them over a money would you have the Glazers now. Because that's what he will be remember for in the years to come.
BTW with a name like that shouldn't you be a City fan ;-)
16 October 2010 11:30AM
Ferguson brought incredible amount stability and success to ManUtd during his reign,
Now, there will be Liverpool fans who don't particularly like him, primarily because of their team's unrivalled achievements during his reign at Old Trafford. But then, what else do you expect from Liverpool fans about ManUtd's legendary manager.
Ferguson is a legend.
16 October 2010 11:48AM
Let's face it, every single non United fan would have loved it if he had retired and Sven had taken over the reins at Old Trafford. Because Ferguson is by any objectives a truly great manager.
Better than Clough, Stein, Shankly, Busby or Paisley? You could make cases for any of them.
16 October 2010 12:12PM
RedHector is the supreme saddo. Instead of rejoicing at the demise of H&G, he (must be a he) is more concerned with petty points scoring that simply exposes his bile filled bitterness. He must be a genuine scouser because Liverpool truly is self-pity city. For all his faults, Boris Johnson was spot on with that description.
16 October 2010 12:19PM
So when he signs Veron and it doesn't work, that was a mistake, that wasn't 'unlucky' that at that particular time Veron didn't have the correct mind set for becoming a success at United. But all those players coming through at United was luck. And all the young players at Aberdeen (the average age of Ferguson's team that beat De Stefano's Real Madrid was 23) that was just luck too. And St Mirren, just luck. And I suppose it is just luck that at the exact moment he needed Nani to turn into a decent player, fuck me he turned into a decent player. Luck.
16 October 2010 12:33PM
Red Hector is correct . All 32 of the major trophies won by Ferguson have been down to luck . I wish we'd sacked him back in 1989 .
16 October 2010 12:50PM
Again for the people saying Fergie is complicit inthe Galziers taking over United, please provide proof that the people who sold their shares to the Irishmen would not have sold those same shares to the Glaziers.
I also love the lucky argument. He's been lucky for a quarter of a century across two different leagues. You don't get lucky by having a crop of youngsters coming through. The reason you get talented young players is because you put in place a good scouting network, you get good youth team coaches, you teach them how to carry themselves on the pitch and off and you blood them when appropirate.
Paul Scholes was small as a kid, phsyically weak with athesma. He couldn't compete with the boys his own age. Most other managers would get rid of him. Ferguson kept him on the books, trusted that he would grow and eventually he became a great player. That's not luck, that's smart mangement. And if more managers did the same then every Home grown player produced wouldn't be 6ft 2 and 13 stone with pace, power and the inability to kick a ball straight
16 October 2010 01:09PM
That Sandy is a great manager is indisputable, twenty odd years at the competitive end of domestic and European football is evidence enough of that. It is also indisputable that he is lucky, the implosion of each of his main rivals throughout his stewardship of Manchester United, the inheritance of a golden generation of youth players, and two European Cup victories as the poorer side in the final suggest more than a generous slice of luck. There are planty of folk who will call him the greatest, these people however will be the same who consider that whoever manages teams such as CSKA Sofia don't belong in the argument.
16 October 2010 01:20PM
its really incredibly tedious to hear again and again quotes about fegusons lack of tactical nous. the following links should help out:http://www.zonalmarking.net/2010/01/31/arsenal-1-3-manchester-united-wayne-rooney-brilliantly-demonstrates-the-value-of-a-false-nine/ and http://www.zonalmarking.net/2010/03/20/teams-of-the-decade-3-manchester-united-2006-09/
or even this newspapers blogs by jonathan wilson on his strikerless formation for the team that won the European cup in 2008.
"tactically incoherent performances"- i dont think so
16 October 2010 01:26PM
seriously, the so called liverpool fans who come on these forums do their club a terrible injustice. some folk would think all scousers are like this. ie. childish and bitter.
come on, slur alex? are we back in school again.
a lucky manager? if he had better luck the club would have won 5 in a row in the 90s (west ham and cantona, in 95) and would have had a shot at an extra two CLs.(97 and 2002, although doubt they would have been strong enough to win the 02 one).
16 October 2010 01:44PM
So wrong mate . If we are talking about good fortune , is it lucky to go into a CL final without the best central midfield pairing in Europe ? Utd were deprived of both Scholes and Keane against Bayern Munich . I doubt that Bayern would have made a game of it if the situation was reversed and they had to play without Mehmet Scholl and Jens Jeremies against a full strength Utd side . During that cup run Utd played Barcelona twice , Bayern three times , Juventus twice and Inter Milan twice . They did so without losing a game and were clearly the best side in Europe that season .
As for the 2008 final , Utd played Chelsea off the park in the first half and could easily have been 3-0 ahead at the break . Chelsea got out of jail with one of the jammiest goals you could ever wish to see . Michael Essien hit a pitiful shot from 40 yards out which took 17 deflections before falling into the path of a grateful Frank Lampard . Yes , Chelsea were the better side in the second but overall it was a brilliantly close fought battle that could have gone either way .
16 October 2010 01:47PM
atticus made me laugh, but not half as much as the jokers who say Ferguson is just lucky!
You build 4 teams over 25 years, win truckfulls of trophies - and you're lucky!
Ruprinct is correct - get rid of him before it's too late..............................
16 October 2010 01:51PM
kinelref
the argument appears to be that fergie was lucky because liverpool were/are so shit.
so when united were underperforming in the mid 70s/early 80s and liverpool were competing against the might of QPR, watford, ipswich, southampton, and notts forest at home and crusaders and brugges in europe, and still relied on the back pass rule and jammy one nils to win, that was not luck but a glorious period of english football?
don't be so stupid. united, like liverpool before them, beat what was put in front of them. in united's case, this continued even when the bigger clubs (arsenal and the newly rich chelsea) started showing form. liverpool on the other hand blew it and entered into their 20 year dip.
16 October 2010 01:54PM
A short summary of the comments above:
1) FERGUSON = brilliant & LIVERPOOL = crap
Or
2) FERGUSON = crap, lucky, not as good as Sir Bob Paisley
I'm going with number one!
16 October 2010 01:56PM
I also enjoyed Atticus' ruthless savaging of Paddy Barclay . The man has very little credibility after tipping England to win the last two WC's ( Barclay that is , not Atticus ) .
16 October 2010 01:57PM
Atticus, I laughed out loud at your comment, brilliant. Sir Alex seems to be a polarising figure to football fans, but he is up there with the greats of our game, no question, luck, as some have suggested is part of it, but lucky for 20 years, come on, get real. He does like to get into spats with certain people in the game but for the ordinary fan he has a lot of time for. I was working in a restaurant in New York when Sir Alex came in with a bunch of business types & he spent 90% of his time signing autographs & talking to the staff who were mostly european & knew who he was, the businessmen he was with were a little miffed I remember, the tip they left might have been a little less than expected, who cares, all the staff met a legend of the game, priceless. Must go, I've got more people to bore with my Sir Alex story.
16 October 2010 01:58PM
You take luck when it comes around and of course you make your own luck at other times. Amazing amounts of extra time or the luck of the draw. And no I didn't say all the trophies won are because of luck.
Some would be because they had the better team, sometimes because the opposition played the wrong tactics and other times because of luck. I never said he was a bad manager just don't believe he is as good as a Clough or a Paisley. From what I have seen even before he was M U manager he didn't come across as a person you would want to share a mine shaft with. As for the Glazer thing well we will see won't we ;)
16 October 2010 02:03PM
God knows i don't like the Purple One much; he's a hypocrite, bully etc etc..
Great football manager though.
Ferguson's achievements come no where near say Bob Paisley, never mind Brian Clough, Bill Shankley, Bill Nicholson, Jock Stein etc..
Sorry old cock, you're wrong.
16 October 2010 02:13PM
Every outstanding side that I've seen tend to have a habit of scoring late goals to win games . It's a never say die quality that great managers instill into their players and usually stems from a tendency to risk defeat in pursuit of victory . The current Chelsea side have secured countless wins in the last minute of added on time as have Arsenal under Wenger . It is a quality to be admired .
16 October 2010 02:15PM
If you think the LFC sale got a lot of coverage wait until it's Man Utd's turn !! Ferguson's a cool guy, I hate him / luv to hate him, he makes me laugh and he's a twat. But I respect him.
16 October 2010 02:16PM
ruprict
Good morrow. I understand Dr Richard Steadman is your new manager.
16 October 2010 02:21PM
majority
It's a true story. I know David Hirst, played in the same side as teenagers.
16 October 2010 02:23PM
Hello VMK ,
I had a feeling the Hargreaves story was too good to be true . He now appears to have a calf strain . Even if he does make a comeback I can't see him being anywhere near the player he was 2 or 3 years ago . By the way , it's the afternoon here in blighty .
16 October 2010 02:24PM
I stopped listening to the Times podcasts after it became clear Barclay was using it to vent his hatred about Ferguson, which even spilled into rants against Darren.
Every team is lucky, yes utd were outplayed by barca in the final, but weren't they lucky to get through against Chelsea in the semi? Yes, Utd were lucky that Terry slipped, but weren't chelsea lucky that the ball took a lucky deflection for their goal? An wasn't the likes of Beckham, Giggs, Nevilles, Scholes etc... down to the fact that when fergie joined Utd, he personally set up the youth system to snare these kids?
As people of said, all of his trophies can't be luck. His constant reforming of teams can't be luck. The fact Aberdeen were the last team outside of Rangers and Celtic to win the league can't be luck, the fact aberdeen were the last Scottish club to win a European Trophy can't be luck.
He has made plenty of mistakes, but when you as successful as he has been and is, your allowed a few!
16 October 2010 02:25PM
Ps Atticusgrinch..... couldn't of put it better myself!
16 October 2010 03:02PM
While never managing the near miracles that Clough at his peak achieved with Forest, I'd have to acknowledge that Ferguson has never had Clough's lowpoints like relegation and failure at Leeds. Paisley's success in Europe with LFC is also highly impressive, although it was over a relatively short period of time and he did inherit much from Shankley's time as manager.
Anyway, anybody making out SAF isn't one of Britain's great managers is quite frankly moronic.