This is the One: Sir Alex Ferguson: The Uncut Story of a Football Genius by Taylor Daniel

Author:Taylor, Daniel [Taylor, Daniel]
Language: eng
Format: epub, mobi, pdf
Publisher: Perseus Books Group
Published: 2011-11-10T16:00:00+00:00

2006–07

Annus mirabilis

GODZILLA

18.8.06

We asked Ferguson once whether he had mellowed. We wanted to know about his temper. How did he sustain that blowtorch of a personality? And was it true, as some of his old Scottish acquaintances say, that he had lost some of the harder edges? One of the things that is often said about Ferguson is that he operated on a shorter leash when he was younger and that he is more of an avuncular figure now than twenty or thirty years ago. It is said he does not shout at his players with the same ferocity or regularity. ‘I’m a pussycat compared to what I used to be like,’ he told us.

He found it all rather amusing. He said he had lost some of that inner rage and, teasing him, we rolled our eyes disbelievingly. But he insisted it was true. He said he was far more aggressive when he was younger and he told us a story about when he was St Mirren’s player-manager, in 1976, and took them on a preseason tour of the Caribbean, where the games included a ‘friendly’ against the Guyana national team.

‘They had this one guy at the back and he was absolutely huge,’ he said. ‘He was built like Godzilla and he was kicking the shit out of one of our strikers. I was watching from the touchline, getting more and more wound up. I wasn’t even a sub but I got my boots on for the last fifteen minutes and I was going: “Let me at him.” I had to do something about it.’

He was clearly very fond of this story, laughingly confessing his shame, as if he could scarcely believe it was himself he was talking about.

‘I can remember my assistant, big Davie Provan, pleading with me: “Don’t do it, don’t, I know what you’ll do, I know what you’re like.” But when you’re younger you’ve got that stupid courage, haven’t you? I couldn’t help myself and, first chance, I took him out.’

We were all laughing now. ‘Oh, I was sent off,’ he continued, ‘but it never got out. I made sure of that. I went into the dressing room afterwards and I told the players: “If anyone ever talks about this I’ll find out who it is and I’ll kill you.’‘’

He can laugh about this side of himself sometimes: the way others see him with devil horns and steam coming out of his ears. On other occasions, though, it gets on his nerves. Drives him barmy. ‘How do you want me to be?’ he will ask. ‘Why can’t you just accept me for the way I am rather than constantly analysing my manner and temperament?’

What he doesn’t seem to grasp is that there is nobody like him anywhere else in football. Television may have sanitised his press conferences but we are still wary around him. It’s all in his eyes. Testing you, checking you out, looking for vulnerable areas. Trying to put you on the back foot. Always probing.

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