GET WELL FERGIE, THE GREATEST MANAGER
If the football world has been left so shocked by the news of the serious illness to Alex Ferguson, it is partly because the patriarch of Manchester United has always cut such a seemingly robust, indestructible figure, an unbeatable giant of the game.
The 76-year-old had emergency surgery for a brain haemorrhage on Saturday yet it was only less than a week earlier that he had been on the pitch at Old Trafford, looking in fine form and fettle while making a presentation to Arsene Wenger.
As he joshed with his old deadly Arsenal rival, it was a reminder how much the game has missed Ferguson since his retirement in 2013 and made one reflect once more about his towering, perhaps unprecedented influence in the modern game.
Indeed, whenever there is an argument among fans about who is the biggest sports personality of them all, Ferguson has always been right at the heart of the debate, a champion whose greatness was reflected in the clubs he managed. A Scotsman who became the most successful manager ever in England, you could even make a convincing case for him being the world’s best down the years, so continually successful was he over such a long period.
In the fickle modern game, which treats managers as disposable tissues, Ferguson was immovable for more than quarter of a century, re-establishing and then constantly re-inventing United’s dazzle as the world’s most celebrated club.
His triumph was not just that he kept the United bandwagon rolling on unstoppably with different liveries but that he imbued each new red model with the same qualities of flair, panache and never-say-die commitment.
‘Fergie’ time — and not just those dying minutes when his teams always seemed to come alive — was never dull. Neither were his pronouncements. “Football — bloody hell...” still stands as the perfect encapsulation of the game’s allure. Where are today’s great manager-cum-dictators? Long gone. He was the last. What he said went. Cross him and you were history and when his explosive temper took over, his ideas left a lasting impression on his players.