EXCLUSIVE INTERVIEW Even Albert’s Oz offer didn’t tempt Archie to return
ARCHIE KNOX is now 69 and has had a career in coaching and management to rival most.
He assisted Sir Alex Ferguson when they won titles and the European Cup Winners’ Cup at Aberdeen and then helped put down the foundations for success when they worked together at Manchester United.
He left Old Trafford in 1991 to become Walter Smith’s No. 2 at Rangers and the club won nine championships in a row and signed players such as Brian Laudrup and Paul Gascoigne.
Knox recently had the chance to add to his CV when his former player at Dundee, Albert Kidd, phoned and offered him a manager’s job in Australia. Knox turned it down. He has officially retired.
But as much as he is finished with the training ground on a day-to-day basis, his love for the game will remain and his golden memories will never leave him.
Knox said: “Albert asked me to take a manager’s job in the National League but it’s not for me. Albert must think I’m still 43, or something! I’ve had my time in the game and now I’m enjoying a new way of life and spending lots of time with family, friends and the grandchildren.
“I was involved in the management side for almost 40 years and I had some great times. It all started when the Forfar chairman, Sam Smith, took a chance on me and I became player-manager.
“Sam was brilliant to me, gave me great guidance and kept me going at Forfar. Had it not been for him I would have been out of the game.
“I then moved to Aberdeen. I didn’t know Alex particularly well but he turned up one night and asked me if I wanted to be his assistant. I said ‘yes’. He asked when I could start and I told him ‘tomorrow’. He said ‘Great, see you tomorrow, then’. And that was it.
“There was no talk about wages or length of contract. I ended up earning a wee bit more than what I was on, but not much more.
“We had great success there and then he was offered the Manchester United job. He came to me at training one afternoon and told me he w a s going to Old Trafford but that I would be offered the Aberdeen job. However, he also wanted me to go with him to United.
‘What are you going to do, then?’, he asked. I said I would go with him and he was delighted. Again, no talk about wages or contracts. It was simpler back then!
“Life at United was difficult at the start but Alex worked his way through and the board was patient, as should be the case.
“He went on to deliver unprecedented success and I was delighted for him and the players and the supporters.
“I had a great rapport there with the players and had a wonderful relationship with the likes of Paul Ince.
“I moved to Rangers to be with Wattie and that was a great period in my career. To think, it’s now the 20th anniversary season of nine-in-a-row.
“We had a team full of big characters, but I can honestly say from guys such as Paul Gascoigne, Ally McCoist and Ian Durrant, I never
had a problem with them. We put down guidelines and they knew the score if the rules were broken.
“But they delivered success after success on the park and they will always have a special place in the history of the club.”
Knox has also been assistant boss to many of the players he used to coach. Eric Black, Richard Gough, Mark McGhee and Ince have all had him on their backroom staff when they’ve been managers and that’s testament to what he brings.
But it does sadden him when he now sees young managers being fired after three months in the job, the most recent being his former defender at Everton, Alan Stubbs when he was sacked last week by Rotherham United.
Knox said: “The game has changed. It’s gone mad, in many ways.
“Managers are just not given a proper chance and most of the owners coming into football clubs nowadays have unrealistic expectation levels.
“Honestly, what is the chance of success when you change manager two or three times a season?
“You get success when you give managers time to build and create a proper structure. Look at Alex at Manchester United, Arsene Wenger at Arsenal and Davie Moyes when he was at Everton.
“You hope the ‘sacking’ culture changes but I have my doubts, unfortunately.”