OF ’92 RODE TO THE SIR ALEX IN CRISIS
had quite literally become too big for his boots.as he explained in his autobiography ‘Managing My Life’: “I had observed Paul closely for the past five months and decided his attitude and performances had altered to a degree that I could not tolerate.this Guv’nor thing should have been left in his toy-box.”
Ince was sold to Inter Milan for £6million – and fans’ favourites Mark Hughes and Andrei Kanchelskis were to follow through the exit door.
Ferguson wanted to keep Hughes, but the Welshman was now 31. He had been left on the bench in the crucial game at Upton Park at the expense of new £7m signing Andy Cole. Ferguson was on holiday in the United States when he was told Hughes had decided not to sign a new contract and had joined Chelsea instead.
The new season had already kicked off when Kanchelskis’ £5m departure to Everton was sealed.
United had lost three key players – and the club’s directors weren’t the only ones who felt Ferguson had lost the plot.
When the opening game of the 95-96 season was lost 3-1 atvilla and Match of the Day pundit Alan Hansen declared United would win nothing with kids, thousands of fans voted in a poll run by the local evening paper asking whether Ferguson should be sacked.
But there was method in Fergie’s madness. Giggs had long since graduated into the first team. In September 1994, when United travelled to Portvale in the League Cup, Ferguson had unleashed the rest of the club’s 1992 FA Youth
Cup winners.
He recalled: “After that night at Port Vale, there were protests in the House of Commons. One MP said I should be banned for life for not playing my strongest team when people had paid £10 to get in.”
United prevailed 2-1 at Vale Park – thanks to two goals by Scholes.
And two months later, when United were battered 4-0 by Barcelona in the Champions League with Eric Cantona and Peter Schmeichel sat in the Nou Camp stands because of a restriction on foreign players, an idea began to form in Ferguson’s mind.
“It was clear I now had youngsters equipped to play at the highest level,” he said.
In May 1996, United reclaimed the Double – and Ferguson once again crossed the Irish Sea to speak to Professor Sir Roland Smith knowing he was in for a much warmer reception.
DAVE KITSON has invited Raheem Sterling to discuss any issues the Manchester City striker has about his bid to lead the players’ union.
Former Reading and Stoke striker Kitson stepped forward to force change at the Professional Footballers’ Association this week with a public letter to chief executive Gordon Taylor. But there have been rumblings that his attempt to take control could be derailed because of a row over comments he made after Sterling (above) was racially abused at Chelsea two years ago.
Kitson, 40, is asking people to make a judgment only after hearing his side of the story. He said: “The day after my retirement I was kicking my heels, and I saw there was a convention taking place at a hotel close to my house. The hotel had been converted from a stately home and it was hosting a Ferrari convention. I went there with my son for a look and said to him: ‘Take a picture, this will be funny.’
“So he took a snap. I’m standing outside the hotel between two Ferraris. Without thinking, I posted it to my Instagram account with the caption: ‘Bored on the first day of my retirement.’ It was a poor attempt at ironic humour.
“People who don’t know me saw it as an expression of a glamorous lifestyle deserving vilification.
“The abuse I took was unreal. I didn’t think the world was that harsh. Two or three years later, I was on Talksport and asked to give my opinion after Raheem had been abused at Chelsea.
“I couldn’t help but think back to the episode when I suffered a backlash as a result of posting glamorous lifestyle photos online. “I said I’d looked down Raheem’s social media feed and that while in the beginning it was about his cars and houses, I was pleased to see he’d changed it because it gave people a reason to dislike him – and give certain people a platform to vent their ill-informed, ugly views.
“But I’m distressed that this has somehow morphed into a suggestion that I condoned the abuse.
“Nothing could be further from the truth.
“Perhaps I used clumsy language and for that I apologise.
“Hopefully I’ll get the chance to talk to Raheem about it and seek his insight.
“But I never have and never will condone any form of racism.”