MICHAEL WALKER on how Manchester United boss Alex Ferguson will not put up with a festival of nostalgia. After all, there's work to do
'HASTA LA vista," he said. See you later.
With that Alex Ferguson pushed himself up from the table and eased out of the room. There was no ceremony, just routine. That was Ferguson's intention. He had let it be known this would be no festival of nostalgia.
The rest at Manchester United's Carrington training ground on Thursday lunchtime may have gathered with a 25-year agenda, but Ferguson had his own considerations. At Old Trafford United play Sunderland today.
They are five points behind Manchester City. What someone called "the fierce urgency of now" is upon Ferguson.
Always has been.
So while it would have been ideal to plonk the league table from November 6th 1986 in front of the unstopping 69-year-old, there was a strong possibility he would have brushed it aside.
But that 1986 league table is instructive. On the day Ferguson came down from Aberdeen to succeed Ron Atkinson, United lay 19th in the 22-team old First Division. United had won three of their opening 13 matches. They were 12 places behind Luton Town, now a non-league club.
Ferguson's first match was against Oxford United, a League Two club now. Ferguson took his place in the dugout at the old Manor Ground and found Derek "Sooty" Sutton, the United bus driver, sitting alongside him. It would be for the last time.
United lost the game 2-0. It is a scoreline that startles in 2011 but which was indicative of the slack team and club Ferguson inherited. He substituted Paul McGrath in that first game because McGrath, in midfield, was "knackered". What Ferguson subsequently discovered was that Atkinson had thrown a farewell party on the Thursday night before that Saturday. When it came to drinking Ferguson described McGrath and Norman Whiteside as "swallowers" on a Rab C Nesbitt scale.
On Thursday when Ferguson reluctantly conceded to the past, and it was a brief concession, he said of Oxford: "Of course I can remember my first day. We bloody lost. Two-nil. I said to myself: 'Oh, Christ almighty, I've picked a job all right'. The fortunate thing is I was able to get back to Aberdeen that night."
At the time United had gone 19 years without a league title. As with the Oxford United scoreline we are entitled to be startled. Liverpool were the colossus club then, in England and across Europe, with Everton and Nottingham Forest not too far behind. Aston Villa won the European Cup in 1982. Words like hairdryer and perch had no football meaning. That was the English landscape Ferguson surveyed with dismay on arrival in Manchester.
HE WAS 44 in November 1986. He had a reputation forged at Aberdeen for energy and success, for challenging the establishment. That is what the Dons did to the Old Firm.
But the job at United was bigger in terms of profile and, it turned out, in terms of deconstruction and reconstruction. The physical illustration of that is Old Trafford. Its capacity in 1986 was 56,000 but in Atkinson's last home game, the attendance was almost 20,000 shy of that.
Ferguson has touched on the symbolic development of Old Trafford into the 76,000 super-structure it is now, though on Thursday he said that the Carrington training ground was a more significant move.
Carrington lies out in the green belt south of Manchester, a vast area with the facilities expected of a grand club.
The grass had just been cut on a bright autumnal morning. There were Korean teenage girls lurking outside the gates.
Ferguson entered in training gear sponsored by one of the club's several global multi-national associates. He did not look like a man who will be 70 on New Year's Eve.
He was combative at first and enough reporters have been banned by him down the years for the atmosphere in the room to be nervy. But he gave in to occasional mentions of the past 25 years and when his attention was drawn to a photo-montage on the wall of the Giggs-Beckham-Scholes-Nevilles-Butt generation, the question was asked: "Was that a one-off?" Ferguson bit. "No, it's not," he said. "It's going to happen again.
"You can't think that Manchester United could have only one cycle of players as good as that. We will always keep chasing the dream. We will get a bunch like that again. We have got to."
Ferguson, never shy of a fight, has been lobbying for years for a change to the Academy system's rules. Last month, he, United and the Premier League big clubs won. They will no longer be limited geographically in whom they can recruit in England. It may seem like a technicality to some; to Ferguson it is about United's lifeblood.
He moved quickly from there to talk about how Barcelona have just signed one boy from China, another from Japan. You could smell the motivation, you could see the notorious drive well up again. He was talking of the past, the youth of today, in the context of tomorrow.
He had just spoken about Bobby Robson. Robson was past his 71st birthday when he was managing Newcastle United, he was past his 72nd when he was asked by Steve Staunton to assist him at the FAI.
"Bobby was a remarkable person in his enthusiasm and love for the game," Ferguson said with genuine awe and affection. "He had all his health problems for so long but it never stopped him. He had two or three bouts of cancer in different periods.
"Most people would have been just happy to get over that and have a nice easy life for themselves. But Bobby, right to the very end, wanted to come back into management. That sort of enthusiasm is incredible. That's a gift. People don't understand, it's not easy to work hard at 70-odd years of age. And to keep that enthusiasm. I thought that was a real gift he had."
That 70-odd comment only felt like a reference to himself afterwards.
But it is Ferguson's enthusiasm and relentlessness that is legendary. He once berated a local journalist with: "What the f*** is a day off?" Fellow managers have lined up to salute him these last few days and Howard Wilkinson and David Pleat gave their observations.
"He has a consuming desire to be better and better and he is obsessed by the subject of football," Wilkinson said.
"He has a thirst for knowledge and he baulks at all of the advice concerning a balanced lifestyle – it's 24/7 as far as he is concerned and a way of life. Management is what he is, not what he does."
Pleat recalled a dinner abroad with Ferguson and other coaches years ago and said: "What struck me was his socialism, his intelligence and knowledge of things like history and politics."
And for a man who works long hours with infamous intensity, Ferguson crams in a lot else. His interest in wine is the stuff of post-match legend, he learnt the piano, he owns and backs horses. He is ferocious in a quiz.
He reads, too – in one interview Ferguson discussed the impact on him of Team of Rivals, Doris Kearns's book on Abraham Lincoln. It is Barack Obama's favourite apparently. In another interview a few years ago Ferguson talked admiringly of the film The Wind That Shakes The Barley, Ken Loach's tough take on the War of Independence.
Ferguson may be a millionaire many times over but his politics have not changed. He donates to the Labour Party and, like Loach, is fiercely anti-Thatcherite. It is a position hardened forever by the hospital conditions in which Ferguson's mother died in Glasgow. That just happened to be in November 1986.
From that month, to May of this year, United have won 24 major trophies under Ferguson – two European Cups, 12 Premier League titles, five FA Cups, four League Cups and one Cup-Winners' Cup. He has transformed the landscape.
ALONG THE way Ferguson has re-invented the United side time and again and has displayed a ruthlessness towards the likes of Paul Ince and Jaap Stam that has made the United fanbase gasp. Repeatedly Ferguson has proved his instinct to be correct.
Yet there have been mistakes, misjudgments and controversy. There is a list of signings that have not worked out and on nights such as at Wembley in May, there is a legitimate question as to whether Barcelona's Pep Guardiola has taken the game beyond Ferguson and United.
On another level there was the Rock of Gibraltar episode with John Magnier that led to the 99 questions asked by Cubic Expression, the company set up by Magnier and JP McManus, back in 2004.
Ferguson looked in difficulty then; seven years on he is looking to the next 25 years.
He has been asked many times about what keeps him going at such a tempo. He returned on Thursday to the answer that he has natural energy but it seems insufficient as an explanation when you hear from Germany, for example, that Ferguson's opposite number in last year's Champions League semi-final, Schalke's Ralf Rangnick, resigned in September citing "exhaustion". Rangnick is 53.
This week has seen Harry Redknapp admitted to hospital with a heart complaint, though Ferguson's response to that was: "Once Harry backs a couple of winners he'll be back on song, don't worry." Redknapp is 64.
Whereas a comparable manager such as Bill Shankly retired aged 60, a generation on and Ferguson is perhaps evidence that 75 could be the new 60. He certainly has no intention of stepping aside imminently judging by his words. Inevitably he was asked about this and replied "I will continue as long as I feel healthy enough to do it." So the "fairytale" he spoke of will go on.
Of all the compliments and assessments of Ferguson's achievements, maybe Patrice Evra's is best: "Alex Ferguson is a culture."
Evra said that last year. The France full back, one of Ferguson's best pound-for-pound signings, then revealed what Ferguson had said in a recent teamtalk.
"He just started talking about how people had been saying he was going to retire," Evra said. "And he asked us if we seriously thought he would just be sitting in his house watching the TV and doing nothing.
"He said: 'No chance. I have worked all my life and I will work until I die'. For a moment he laughed. And then he said, 'This is my victory. I cannot walk away from this'."
Victory is a subject Alex Ferguson understands. He has made it inseparable from Manchester United. It is 25 years and counting.
Hasta la vista. You'll be seeing him later.
IN HIS OWN WORDS: A FORTHRIGHT FERGUSON
"My greatest challenge is not what's happening at the moment, my greatest challenge was knocking Liverpool right off their f***ing perch. And you can print that."
– A gentle response to Alan Hansen when he questioned Ferguson's future as United manager back in 2002.
"When an Italian tells me it's pasta on the plate I check under the sauce to make sure. They are the inventors of the smokescreen."
– On Inter Milan ahead of the 1999 Champions League quarter-final.
"I don't think I could have a higher opinion of any footballer than I already had of the Irishman, but he rose even further in my estimation . . . I felt it was an honour to be associated with such a player."
– On Roy Keane's performance away to Juventus in the Champions League semi-final after his booking meant he'd miss the final.
"Football! Bloody hell!"
– After that late, late 1999 Champions League final win over Bayern Munich.
"The next England manager should meet three vital requirements – he needs to be English, he needs top-quality experience and his name should be Terry Venables."
– In 2001, he certainly wasn't telling the FA who to pick.
"I remember the first time I saw him. He was 13 and just floated over the ground like a cocker spaniel chasing a piece of silver paper in the wind."
– On Ryan Giggs.
"If he was an inch taller he'd be the best centre half in Britain. His father is 6ft 2in – I'd check the milkman."
– On Gary Neville.
"I used to have a saying that when a player is at his peak, he feels as though he can climb Everest in his slippers. That's what he was like."
– On Paul Ince.
"It's getting tickly now – squeaky-bum time, I call it".
– On the climax to the 2002-03 title race.
"I won't be doing a Bobby Robson and be a manager when I am 70. It is just knowing when to quit. Football is like a drug which is difficult to give up."
– On his retirement plans back in 2008 (he'll be 70 on New Year's Eve).
"They say he's an intelligent man, right? Speaks five languages! I've got a 15-year-old boy from the Ivory Coast who speaks five languages!"
– On Arsène Wenger.
"I think he was an angry man. He must have been disturbed for some reason. I think you have got to cut through the venom of it and hopefully he'll reflect and understand what he said was absolutely ridiculous."
– On Rafa 'fact' Benitez.
"He was certainly full of it, calling me Boss and Big Man when we had our post-match drink. But it would help if his greetings were accompanied by a decent glass of wine. What he gave me was paint-stripper."
– On his best buddy, Jose Mourinho.
Would I get into a contract with that mob? Absolutely no chance. I wouldn't sell them a virus."
– Ruling out selling Cristiano Ronaldo to Real Madrid – six months before he did.
"Sometimes you look in a field and you see a cow and you think it's a better cow than the one you've got in the field. It's a fact, right, and it never really works out that way."
– On Wayne Rooney's transfer request last year – in the end, Rooney decided the grass was green enough at Old Trafford.
"Sometimes you have a noisy neighbour. You can't do anything about that. They will always be noisy. You just have to get on with your life, put your television on and turn it up."
– On the challenge of the crowd across the City.
"If I walked backwards down a side-street I would always have a profile."
– On life in the spotlight.
RED DEVIL IN THE DETAIL: THE HIGHS AND LOWS OF 25 YEARS AT OLD TRAFFORD
1986-87: Arrived from Aberdeen in November 1986 as Ron Atkinson's successor (left). His start didn't augur well – United lost 2-0 to Oxford in his first game. Finished the season in 11th, 30 points behind champions Everton.
1987-88: Progress – runners-up in the league, nine points adrift of Liverpool.
1988-89: The pressure begins to mount after the team finished 11th, 25 points behind Arsenal.
1989-90: "Three years of excuses and it's still crap – ta-ra Fergie" read the banner at Old Trafford as calls for his sacking intensified, the team finishing just five points clear of relegation. But the season was rescued when they beat Crystal Palace to win the FA Cup, Ferguson's first trophy at the club.
1990-91 : Another trophy, this time the European Cup Winners' Cup after a 2-1 win over Barcelona in Rotterdam. Sixth in the league.
1991-92: Won the European Super Cup and League Cup, but blew the league with a late collapse, Leeds taking the title.
1992-93: Finally, the 26-year title drought ended, the team finishing 10 points clear of Aston Villa. Eric Cantona, who was signed from Leeds in November 1992 (right), played his part.
1993-94: If they'd beaten Villa in the League Cup final they'd have done the domestic treble – settled for a league and FA Cup double. Roy Keane arrived from Nottingham Forest.
1994-95: Their three-in-a-row hopes ended on the final day of the season when they failed to beat West Ham as Blackburn were crowned champions. Lost to Everton in the FA Cup final. And then there was Eric Cantona's kung fu display at Crystal Palace. 1995-96: Alan Hansen said they'd win nothing with kids – they did, becoming the first English club to do the league and FA Cup double twice.
1996-97: A fourth league title in five seasons and they reached the Champions League semi-finals, losing to Borussia Dortmund.
1997-98: Finished the season trophyless, Arsenal doing the double.
1998-99: Arise Sir Ferguson – he led United to the treble in an extraordinary season, beating Bayern Munich with those two late goals to win the Champions League.
1999-00: Another Premiership title, Arsenal finishing 18 points behind.
2000-01 : A seventh league title in nine years.
2001-02: Ferguson shelved retirement, but they finished outside the Premier League top two for the first time and lost to Bayer Leverkusen in the Champions League semi-finals.
2002-03: Won the league but fell out with David Beckham, who left for Real Madrid.
2003-04: Won the FA Cup, beating Millwall, but finished third, 15 points behind the invincibles of Arsenal. It was the debut season for a young fella by the name of Cristiano Ronaldo.
2004-05: Bought Wayne Rooney, but third again in the league, Jose Mourinho's Chelsea the champions – and they lost on penalties to Arsenal in the FA Cup final.
2005-06: Won the League Cup, but exited the Champions League at the group stages and Roy Keane left the club. Runners-up in the league.
2006-07: Their first league title in four years – Chelsea denied them the double in the FA Cup final and AC Milan knocked them out in the semi-finals of the Champions League.
2007-08: At last, another Champions League triumph, beating Chelsea on penalties in Moscow (right). Also beat Chelsea to the league. 2008-09: Retained the league, won the League Cup, but given a footballing lesson by Barcelona in the Champions League final.
2009-10: Won the League Cup again, but lost their league title by a point to Chelsea.
2010-11: Champions again – but completely outplayed once more by Barcelona in the Champions League final.
RED-LETTER DAYS: THE TROPHIES
Champions League (2): 1998-99, 2007-08
Premier League (12): 1992-93, 1993-94, 1995-96, 1996-97, 1998-99, 1999-2000, 2000-01, 2002-03, 2006-07, 2007-08, 2008-09, 2010-11 FA Cup (5): 1989-90, 1993-94, 1995-96, 1998-99, 2003-04
League Cup (4): 1991-92, 2005-06, 2008-09, 2009-10
European Cup Winners' Cup (1): 1990-91 Uefa Super Cup (1): 1991
FA Charity/Community Shield (10) : 1990 (shared), 1993, 1994, 1996, 1997, 2003, 2007, 2008, 2010, 2011
Intercontinental Cup (1): 1999
Fifa Club World Cup (1): 2008
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