Fergie’s claims he ‘never held a grudge’ are laughable

CREDIT Sir Alex Ferguson. Quizzed on his hairdryer temper by the BBC’s Nick Robinson for a documentary he somehow kept a straight face when he claimed he had never borne a grudge. ‘I would shout, but then it would be over. I never held a grudge, ever in my life,’ declared Ferguson (right). Players and journalists cut dead, banned or belittled have rather different recollections. Recently asked to name the players who merited the label ‘world class’ during his tenure at Manchester United, Scottish football’s knight of the realm named just four players: Eric Cantona, Ryan Giggs, Paul Scholes and Cristiano Ronaldo. Conspicuous by his absence from the list was Roy Keane. Before the two had a rancorous, public fall-out Govan’s favourite son once said that, with Keane in the team, Manchester United would win ‘the Derby, the National, the Boat Race and anything else’. Now, though, the Irishman was not even a world-class footballer. Neither, it seems, was David Beckham. Or even Wayne Rooney. In another recent BBC documentary, Rooney came over as a very decent human being. An inspiration to kids on the wrong side of the tracks. Ronaldo, widely regarded as one of the two finest players on the planet (along with Lionel Messi), could not speak highly enough of the Manchester United and England captain. Ferguson? He was nowhere to be seen. There is also a rich and amusing irony in the ‘no-grudges’ claim being aired by the BBC. For seven years, the greatest manager British football has ever seen refused to utter a word to the corporation. Not a peep. Why? Because Auntie were nasty to one of his sons. No one in their right mind would dispute Ferguson’s genius as a football manager. But let’s not rewrite history to make the man some kind of footballing saint. Gary Lineker’s acerbic Twitter touch summed it up best on Wednesday night. And he didn’t need 140 characters to do it. ‘Sir Alex says he never held a grudge. Hahahaha.’