Storied rivalry of Fergie and King Kenny
NEVER has a weekend clash between English football’s most inveterate foes been prefaced by something so compelling as a public discussion between the two men who encapsulate the rivalry.
The domestic settings from which Sir Kenny Dalglish and Sir Alex Ferguson appeared for an event in aid of football dementia research last night — Sir Kenny in what looked like a leather- backed armchair, Sir Alex in front of his living-room bay window — reflected a far more benign sparring than we’ve known between the two.
The discussion was just a few minutes old when Ferguson, with a glint in his eye, took us back to a particularly brutal Glasgow winter, in 1969. A Scottish Reserve Football League Old Firm fixture at Celtic Park pitched Dalglish, an 18-year- old Celtic forward being billed in the city’s press as the ‘next big thing’, against Ferguson, a Rangers striker 10 years his senior, who had just been dumped into the second string.
Dalglish’s coaches decided to try him out at centre back — ‘for educational reasons,’ as Dalglish remembered it — so he was up against Ferguson that afternoon.
Each will tell you they won that clash. Dalglish once recalled how, while marking Ferguson, he turned out his tracksuit pocket, as if to say he had him in it. Ferguson once remembered telling him, ‘ You’ll need a doctor for this’, and promptly scored. Dalglish has previously insisted Celtic won 2-0, though he’d done more research for last night’s event. ‘We actually won 4-1,’ he told Ferguson. ‘The St John ambulance came on to resuscitate you!’
The beauty of something as rare as last night’s virtual Lockdown Theatre event is that it brings out details that, despite all the ink spilt about the participants, have never been known.
For the first time, we heard Ferguson mentioned to the Rangers manager that Dalglish might be worth signing. He’d been tipped off by a Rangers player, Alex Miller, who knew him. ‘And lo and behold he goes and signs for Celtic,’ said Ferguson. ‘That was good news! That was a tragedy.’
For his own part, Dalglish remembered Ferguson, as a Rangers player, giving him and his friends a lift into Glasgow in his Austin Cambridge car, during his own formative Celtic years. ‘ My feet didn’t touch the ground. I was that wee.’
The particular kind of distaste which Liverpool and United share had allowed for little public diplomacy before last night. But these few hours of talk — with Jurgen Klopp and Gareth Southgate superb contributors in the company of football royalty — were a reminder of the mutual respect that has always resided within.
Ferguson said he was not even sure that he really did vow to knock Liverpool ‘ right off their perch’ — give or take a few expletives. ‘I don’t know where that came from. I’m not sure I even said that. But it gathered mileage over the years. It’s obvious that you have to beat Liverpool to win anything. That was always my mental attitude.’
Ferguson’s revelation in his second autobiography that Liverpool’s Jordan Henderson had a worrying ‘gait’ seemed brutal, though he declared here that he ‘loved him’ as a player and that was why he wanted to sign him.
‘I spoke to Steve Bruce about him,’ said Ferguson. ‘ But the scouting and medical department said they weren’t happy with his running style.’ Injury-prone players are a ‘waste of time’, reflected Ferguson. ‘But all the stories tell me we missed a really good person.’
There’s always been a deeper narrative than the surface soundand-fury between these two.
When Ferguson was under severe pressure in his early United days, it was Dalglish who stood up at a Football Writers’ Association dinner and told the assembled ranks about the older man’s ability to manage. Ferguson’s physiotherapist, Jim McGregor, took Dalglish aside a few weeks later and said, ‘ By the way, the gaffer needed that.’
Ferguson concluded last night — seemingly quite seriously — that he was glad he’d retired when he did, in 2013. ‘ Thank goodness. When I see Liverpool’s performances in the last few years, it’s been incredible.’
His parting shot to Dalglish was, ‘See you Sunday’ — he will be at Anfield. ‘Yes, we’ll see you,’ said Dalglish. ‘Put the cork on the bottle and bring it with you.’