PROFILE OF SIR ALEX FERGUSON
Dave Bowler

12/06/04
 

A brand new millennium dawned for Sir Alex Ferguson last Saturday, game 1,001 since he took over the Manchester United hot seat some 18 years ago. Even Sir Alex is unlikely to make it to the dawn of his next millennium – that would mean he’d still be in charge somewhere near his 82nd birthday, pushing it a bit even for someone as driven as him – but let none of his challengers such as Wenger and Mourinho believe that he’ll be leaving the playing field open for them any time soon.

For it appears that Sir Alex remains every bit as besotted by the game and driven to deliver success as at any time in his reign in deepest Salford. The former Glasgow union organiser is still doing his damnedest to bring succour to the people, though now he tries to do it by collecting points rather than by collective bargaining – he’s probably better at the former than he was at the latter.

Born of the same Scottish stock that gave us Busby, Stein and Shankly, Ferguson is as tough as the granite that shapes the city where he made his managerial name back in the 1980s. Not only did he smash the domestic Old Firm monopoly with a club from the provinces, Aberdeen, Ferguson and his charges took two European trophies to Pittodrie, beating Real Madrid and Hamburg to win the Cup Winners’ Cup and then the Super Cup, monumental achievements, perhaps even greater in scale than the eight Premiership titles and European Cup that he’s amassed with United.

That said, Ferguson laboured under the most intense pressure as he tried to build a Manchester United side to match the scale of the club it represented. Well aware of the traditions of the Busby Babes, of Best, Law and Charlton, Ferguson looked to create a side that played football with style, attacking, exciting football to entertain those who made their fortnightly pilgrimage to the portals of Old Trafford.

As United’s failure to win the championship stretched beyond a generation to a quarter of a century, the pressure simply increased day by day, year after year until the dam finally burst when his team held aloft the first ever Premier League trophy in 1993. It was a team comprising Ferguson’s trademark combination of hardened professionals who loved to win – Keane, Robson, Bruce, Schmeichel, Hughes – together with brilliant and exciting youngsters – Giggs and Sharpe – and that dash of mercurial flair – Cantona.

That side got better and better and even Arsenal at their best struggle to match the sheer exhilaration of watching that team in full flow, Kanchelskis and Giggs hurtling forward to feed Cantona and Hughes. But Ferguson is nothing if not ruthlessly committed to the job in hand and as soon as he saw signs that that team was on the wane, there were wholesale changes.

“You’ll win nothing with kids” might be the phrase that’s ultimately etched on Alan Hansen’s tombstone for he made that disastrous prediction about that year’s double winners without taking full account of just what a brilliant crop of kids they were – Beckham, Scholes, Butt, the Nevilles – all eager, determined and, above all else, hungry. As hungry as Ferguson. That was what he saw in them as much as their devastating ability and that is what has made him and his club the benchmark in the Premier League’s first era.

It’s that ability to reinvent his team while still keeping the United ethos that has been fundamental to their decade and more of utter domination of the English footballing scene, a hunger that never seems to abate.

Perhaps it’s because United have failed to add to that European Cup triumph in 1999 that Ferguson is still driven to create new teams and confront the challenges head on, year after year. That Ferguson is one of the greatest and most successful managers of all time is beyond dispute. But to satisfy himself, to become a legend, perhaps Ferguson feels the need to emulate Cloughie and win a second European Cup or even to threaten Bob Paisley’s monumental three triumphs.

The signing of Wayne Rooney and Ferguson’s vow that he will pilot the youngster’s future every bit as successfully as he did those of Beckham and Giggs suggests that Sir Alex plans to be around for a few years yet. Bad news for Arsene and Jose, but glad tidings for those who want the Premiership title race to be as open as possible over the coming years. Fergie hasn’t finished his silver collection yet.