The final para is what counts for us. Tanya Talking Football: Ferguson is the man for a' that By Henry Winter (Filed: 02/09/2003) Torygraph
Sir Alex Ferguson could start a fight in an empty house, but he could also start a party in one. Such a combative creature as Manchester United's unique manager is a highly sociable animal, so please don't believe the Scot's current caricaturing as a boorish dinosaur given to hectoring all and sundry. A vibrant human being exists behind the unflattering headlines stirred up by David Beckham's book and the summons by Football Association beaks for trash-talking officials. If the Premiership managers ever held a Christmas bash, Ferguson would be holding court in the middle, clutching a glass of Chablis Grand Cru, regaling admiring colleagues with rich anecdotes while Arsenal's sun-king, Ars�ne Wenger, sits quietly in the corner watching videos of French reserve matches. Ferguson can converse about anything from wine to racing to politics, let alone football. An ambassador for Unicef, he packs more into a year than most achieve in a life-time; the joke when he was writing his autobiography was that he had reached 200,000 words and was still on his Aberdeen days. Ferguson is revered within the game and misunderstood by most of those outside. We were once talking about Kenny Dalglish and I ventured the observation that the shy Scotland legend didn't seem to have many close friends. "You only need four friends to carry your coffin," Ferguson responded. Yet when the great knight is finally summoned to the dug-out in the Elysian fields, tapping furiously at his watch and rollocking the celestial timekeeper for not granting him a few more minutes, the cortege will stretch from Govan to Manchester. For Ferguson touches many lives, leaving people grateful to have met this fascinating, driven, infuriating, multi-faceted lover of life. He has, of course, upset Beckham and the star's family. His belittling of Gordon Strachan and Brian Kidd was disgraceful and utterly unjustifiable. His toying with Sven-G�ran Eriksson is inelegant. All negatives. Set against myriad positives. This is also the man who attends innumerable fund-raisers, tribute dinners and supporters' functions. Nastily dismissive of the clamorous modern media, Ferguson has guaranteed himself many critics but when one of our colleagues was lying stricken in a coronary ward, Ferguson offered to pay for the operation. On hearing of the Hillsborough disaster, Ferguson immediately picked up the phone to Dalglish, the then Liverpool manager, offering any help. Countless managers seek out his advice. United have been pitted against Rangers in the Champions League, a fixture depicted as a cross-border Armageddon when actually the two managers, Ferguson and Alex McLeish, are good friends. And so to Beckham. The Scot's relationship with England's captain undoubtedly deteriorated over the past 18 months. What cannot be airbrushed from the annals of this great game is the identity of the man who most stood by a distraught Beckham after his France 98 dismissal and ensuing vilification; it was Ferguson, consoling, inspiring and helping him get his life and career back on track. They grew apart. People do. Life goes on, particularly in the fickle world of football. There are those at Old Trafford who believe that Beckham had long been set on a move to Real Madrid, so Ferguson's perspective of the player's usefulness was bound to be tempered, although United's manager was foolish indeed to field an unfit Juan Sebastian Ver�n ahead of Beckham against Real at Old Trafford last season. Ferguson's ardent belief in the importance of collectivity over individuality was constructed in Govan's shipyards and early trade union involvement; this is the manager who is at his most eloquent in defeat, deflecting doom-mongers' bile away from the dressing-room door and on to him. That is why, year after year, his players keep delivering trophy after trophy. When Ruud van Nistelrooy shredded his knee while on the verge of leaving PSV Eindhoven for United, Ferguson kept calling him in hospital, reassuring the downcast Dutchman that all would be well, that the deal would eventually go through. Van Nistelrooy's gratitude to Ferguson is seen in every match. So let us pause amid the flying accusations and remember what good Ferguson does, the beauty of his teams, the service he has given to the game. England would have a more monochrome landscape without Ferguson. ------------------------ Yahoo! Groups Sponsor ---------------------~--> Buy Ink Cartridges or Refill Kits for Your HP, Epson, Canon or Lexmark Printer at Myinks.com. Free s/h on orders $50 or more to the US & Canada. http://www.c1tracking.com/l.asp?cid=5511 http://us.click.yahoo.com/l.m7sD/LIdGAA/qnsNAA/tsUolB/TM ---------------------------------------------------------------------~-> *************************************** Reply to: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Subscribe to the list: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Unsubscribe from the list: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Your use of Yahoo! Groups is subject to http://docs.yahoo.com/info/terms/
