For me, Manchester United and Sir
Alex Ferguson are one and the same. The Scot was at the helm when, at the age
of eleven, I completed my collection of Pro Set collector cards featuring the
likes of Clayton Blackmore and Mal Donaghy and announced myself as a
fully-fledged fan.
As Sky’s pumped-up Premier League
allowed armchair football fanatics their greatest ever access to the game, my
support for the club became an obsession. I distinctly remember watching a
match with my dad and asking him why Bryan Robson was wearing an armband. “He’s
the captain,” my old man responded – the first in a long line of inspirational figures
deputised as Fergie’s leader on the pitch: Bruce, Cantona, Keane, Neville and
Vidic.
This collection of snarling
warriors emblemise everything Ferguson stands for: heart, spirit, courage and a
never-say-die attitude which has rescued so many late goals for a club which
refuses to admit defeat – the qualities which, allied with no little skill,
have seen Manchester United dominate English football for more than twenty
years.
Stamping his personality so
clearly on his club has led to Ferguson being despised by many, and his run-ins
with Kevin Keegan, Arsene Wenger and Rafa Benitez have been edged with a
spitefulness which has occasionally gone too far. But this siege mentality was
identified today, by fellow retiree Paul Scholes, as Fergie’s greatest strength.
Who are we to argue with that?
Those who know him best, of
course, point to an altogether different kind of character. Always available to
offer advice to fellow managers, father figure to the likes of Cristiano
Ronaldo and Ryan Giggs, devoted family man and, as the years have rolled by, an
increasingly endearing character dancing his strange half-jig in the dugout.
My love and admiration for the
man is intrinsically tied to my love for the club. I’ve never known one without
the other. So many wonderful memories are tied to the club: obvious highlights
like the Camp Nou comeback in 1999, Fergie and Brian Kidd leaping around as
Steve Bruce headed two title-winning goals in 1993, Yorke and Cole combining
beautifully against Barcelona.
But it’s not just those glory
nights which make Sir Alex Ferguson’s teams special. Rather, it’s that sense of
comfort and security he offered. While other clubs chop and change, fight and
fuss, Manchester United simply evolve. Wholesale tinkering is not the Ferguson
way. Instead, he seamlessly integrated new players into his sides, marrying
young local talent with experienced old timers, fancy foreigners with wise
European campaigners. He built at least three great sides in this way: the
powerhouses of Keane, Ince, Schmeichel and Hughes; the treble winning
buccaneers; the 2008 vintage of Ronaldo and Rooney.
I can offer little more tribute
than those which have already been paid. His emotional interview with his old
pal Geoff Shreeves (“Well done, Geoff”) was a beautiful tribute to his patient
wife Cathy, and yet another signifier of his strength of character: the
decision was made at Christmas but was kept completely secret so as not to
distract from the club’s title tilt.
He will remain at Old Trafford
forever: cast in bronze, the stand bearing his name, his presence in the
directors’ box. But more importantly he will remain in the supporters’ hearts,
woven into the fabric of the great club he built, his name sung forever more on
the Stretford End and his legacy enduring long after he is gone.
For what it’s worth, my favourite
Fergie team would be picked on the basis of personality not ability and would
consist of the following eleven players:
Schmeichel, Neville, Ferdinand, Vidic, Irwin, Ronaldo,
Keane, Scholes, Giggs, Hughes, Cole.
Subs: Van Der Sar, Beckham, Evra, Carrick, Cantona, Sharpe, Solskjaer
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