WHAT THEY TOLD FOURFOURTWO…

GORDON STRACHAN

“The music he chose for the team bus was bad – some pub singer. The players decided the tape had to go, and we threw it out of the window. Fergie wasn’t happy – he threatened us all. Everyone laughed when we got off. We weren’t laughing in front of him on the bus, mind...”

RYAN GIGGS

“When I first got into the team, someone told me that when you make 25 appearances, you were allowed a club car. Bryan Robson and Steve Bruce said, ‘ You should ask the gaffer – he’ll get it for you, no problem’. When I asked him, I could see his face turning purple. He said, ‘ Club car? You’ve got more chance of getting a club bike!’ I walked out and the lads were there listening at the door, laughing.”

OLE GUNNAR SOLSKJAER

“He wanted us to express ourselves, and he created an environment with inner justice. Giggsy, Gary Pallister, Keano, Brian Mcclair, Cantona, Peter Schmeichel – we demanded 100 per cent of ourselves. From 2000, I made notes of our sessions; I realised that I was experiencing something only my team- mates could experience, because he’s unique. I’ve got a picture of us together at the end of the Champions League final, and I’ll always remember thinking at that moment, ‘ You deserve this – you deserve so much to win the Champions League’. We did it for him.”

STEVE MCCLAREN

“The morning after the Champions League final, the gaffer had all the staff in at The Cliff, planning the following season. That’s why Fergie was so successful for 27 years – 99 per cent of people would want to go off on holiday but he got the staff in, medals away, asking, ‘ How are we going to repeat this?’”

RIO FERDINAND

“Sir Alex didn’t really praise me – he was fearful that I would get big- headed. He’d say, ‘ Cristiano, Rooney, Tevez, Berbatov, Giggs, Scholes – brilliant’, but he’d never really name- check me or Nemanja Vidic. We used to think, ‘ We’re keeping clean sheets every other week here – what’s going on?!’ But it kept us hungry. We wanted to prove ourselves to him, and get the recognition we felt we deserved. It was a great bit of management.”

ARSENE WENGER

“I do sometimes get annoyed with Alex Ferguson, just like he gets annoyed with me. I don’t believe that you can compete at this level and be friends. But there’s no bad feeling. Do I enjoy the mind games? Yes, I do.”

ERIC CANTONA

“The philosophy of the club will never change while Ferguson is there. He’s so strong and so popular. He can control everything. After he leaves – that’s what makes me worry.”