Fergie’s still at the pinnacle of the game. Now, we hope for one final comeback
He left United as a winner and left them wanting more
When the right moment came, Sir Alex Ferguson vacated the touchline at the top, and entirely on his terms. It is a feat of control even harder to achieve in life, which is why the world of football, and beyond, is united in hoping he pulls through to add to his remarkable narrative one last time.
Perhaps the uniqueness of Ferguson’s legend is why this latest news came as such a shock. Ferguson has always been such a beater of the odds, so defiant of defeat and its conventional tropes that it seems incongruous he should suffer such a humdrum crisis of old age or succumb to the frailties of advancing years that will affect us all.
A fall, a sudden deterioration, that could happen to just anyone. Yet Ferguson never seemed just anyone. We buy into these fantasies of sport’s indestructibles and nobody came to embody those myths more than Ferguson. he mastered all of it, or most of it at least.
he didn’t win every big game, every cup final, because nobody can — but he won more of them than anybody else, building empires, cathedrals, becoming the over-achiever against whom all over-achievers are judged. The wish was for a long and happy retirement.
To think of him now, stricken, less than five years after leaving Old Trafford in triumph a champion, is painful. he wasn’t always in perfect health — he had a heart procedure 15 years ago — but he was robust in mind and body. he remained in management until his 70s, he said, because being around young people kept him young.
And while his attitudes were steeped in generational traditions — he bemoaned the fact that today’s journalists no longer dressed in collar and tie at his press conferences — Ferguson has always been young at heart. not for him the grim-faced reaction to a goal scored. Ferguson wasn’t one to use the break in play to sourly pull the right back over and explain what he did wrong at a corner 15 minutes ago.
he always smiled, he always celebrated, he sometimes gambolled around his technical area in delight. There is a lot of the kid in Ferguson, sometimes in his tantrums when things didn’t go Manchester United’s way, but more charmingly in those moments when his excitement could not be contained, no matter his age. And he loves football. Still does — which is why, being wise after the event, the first inkling of a problem was his absence from United’s match at Brighton on Friday.
It is not the easiest journey, the south coast from Manchester on the eve of a roasting Bank holiday weekend, but Ferguson would have made the trip had he not, by then, been feeling unwell.
he might not always have liked what he has seen since retirement, but he is nothing if not a loyal Manchester United fan, a home and away, thick and thin, supporter. he is handsomely rewarded, as a club ambassador, too, of course, but then why wouldn’t he be? Who could represent Manchester United better than the man who built the modern club? And while it is often speculated what he is thinking when United underwhelm in comparison to his glory days, he has never uttered a public word that would undermine a successor. Observers instead read eloquent disapproval into the odd stone-faced photograph or screen capture.
In reality, Ferguson has let three managers get on with it; even though it is plain now that none has emerged from his shadow.
Presenting a memento gift to Arsene Wenger last week brought differences between these contemporaries into sharp relief. Wenger’s forlorn figure — the dreams of his last years unrealised, edged towards the door against his will, by failure and fan unrest — only highlights the triumph of Ferguson’s exit. he left a winner, he left them wanting more — particularly now United have seen life without him — he left a stadium overflowing with love and admiration.
he did what so many others, from Brian Clough to howard Kendall, found impossible. he quit while he was ahead, looking at a giant stand that bore his name, the biggest domestic trophy ensconced at Old Trafford again.
having subsequently seen that United squad without him, his final act appears greater with each passing year. And there is no bitterness, no remorse, in what has followed.
Ferguson has no axe to grind with the club, because it was his call to go. And he left no unfinished business, winning all there is to win, and remaining at the biggest club in the land for close to three decades. he built and stripped down three, maybe four teams, as befits a man from a Glasgow shipyard. he did so in a brave, cavalier fashion that helped create the richest, most successful league in the world. Wenger’s greatest teams may be recalled as the most beautiful, but Ferguson’s were the most exciting.
What is hoped for now is that, in life, he can conjure a fightback, a revival, as dramatic as the best of his matches. A nou Camp final, or that afternoon at White hart Lane when United contrived to go 3-0 down before half-time, only to win 5-3. ‘There is no more exciting sight in football than Manchester United chasing a game,’ said Teddy Sheringham, and the skill, the courage, the ferocity, the ambition they displayed in those moments was Ferguson at his best. If any of his qualities as a manager are required right now, it is the refusal to admit defeat.
What was his secret? he put front players on. Forward after forward, until United became an unstoppable force. There was always a philosophy behind it.
Ferguson’s teams were never just recklessly gung-ho. he was far more intelligent than that.
he didn’t only produce footballers, he produced men, so it had to be serious when his son, Darren, withdrew from taking charge of Doncaster’s game at home to Wigan on saturday. The work ethic his father instilled would never have countenanced that in anything but the most extreme circumstances. As
ThE sad news of sir Alex’s illness trickled out, the wider world of football expressed its concern. With each message, Ferguson’s incredible influence on English football could be charted.
There were managers who knew him as a friend, such as sam Allardyce, managers who had played beneath him, such as Mark hughes, players who knew him as an adversary to be respected, such as Manchester City captain Vincent Kompany.
Goodwill wishes came from some of the world’s greatest footballers, from men who measure their international caps by the hundred — all would cite Ferguson as the greatest influence on their professional life. Many still regard him as ‘Boss’.
One of the most illuminating communications came from Liverpool. speaking warmly of Ferguson had as good as sealed Roy hodgson’s fate at Anfield once and, memorably, sir Alex rated the greatest achievement of his Manchester United career as being ‘knocking Liverpool right off their perch’ — yet a different man was revealed in the statement.
‘When the hillsborough disaster happened in 1989, sir Alex Ferguson was straight on the phone to offer his help in any way he could...’ Liverpool’s message began.
What assistance could the manager of Manchester United provide at such a time? it is doubtful even he knew. But he was there for them, and they remember that. There are many like that; many who saw a different side of the man, many who didn’t recognise the one- dimensional portrait in the aftermath of matches. Ferguson was considerably more complex than he often appeared, because how could he have been as successful otherwise?
he retired, he said, to be there for his wife, Cathy, who had recently lost her twin sister, Bridget. it was a human and sincere gesture. Cynics claimed he could see the rebuilding required at Old Trafford and the looming supremacy of Manchester City and got out at the right time, but there is no evidence of that.
Ferguson had deconstructed and rebuilt enough great teams not to be daunted by that challenge, and he had seen off enough opponents to feel confident he could withstand others. he was satisfied, he was done, it felt right.
he got up two hours later in retirement and indulged his passions for horse racing and great sport. he took in the Masters, the Kentucky Derby — he was there for Roma’s comeback against Barcelona, Cathy by his side.
it was a retirement fit for a king, and Ferguson is a king. he remains at the pinnacle of the game, his achievements unmatched. Now, we hope, it is time for one last comeback.
For this fixture, uniquely, everyone in the stadium is on his side. Everyone is willing him to win. Everyone is hoping that, in an echo of a glorious but very different past, he can again send some forwards on and turn it around.