Sir Alex:The Anti-Hero

Let me tell you at the outset that I am not a Manchester United Fan.There was something about the Liverpool team of the late eighties,when I began to understand football,with the sublime strikes of Ian Rush and the strong physical presence of Kenny Dalglish that made me watch games unblinking for 90 minutes.Mostly on TV but a few at Anfield that made me a 'self-confessed' Liverpudlian!

1999.UEFA Champions league Final.Ole Gunnar Solsksjaer scrambling in the mud and snow,shoots out his foot inside the eight yard circle and into the roof of the net.The match time was 92.17min.Manchester 2 Munich 1.The red shirts won that day without two of their legends - Roy Keane and Paul Scholes.

That in microcosm has been the USP of Sir Alex Ferguson.Never give up.Never back down.If you were an opposing club supporter,to see him hardjawed,grimfaced,pacing up and down the sideline with barely held in aggression was to hate him.You knew him and his team would coming at you.

He did have a cryptic sense of humour and of all the many quotes that comes to mind,the oneOn José Mourinho  ranks best in my mind

 "He was certainly full of it, calling me boss and big man when we had our post-match drink after the first leg. But it would help if his greetings were accompanied by a decent glass of wine. What he gave me was paint-stripper."

Hate in professional parlance translates into respect.Allegories to the corporate world are replete with words such as 'team building','leading from the front','judgement of the opposition','work ethic' etc are misnomers.They capture in words such a vast effort that few can manage and fewer still can match.

 

For such a dour,working class anti-hero,Sir Alex has shown how important it is to persevere,to experiment with new talent and tactics in a most uncharacteristic display of 'out of the box'thinking with just a hint of the old fashioned working class method of training and re training.Just show how important the daily,boring routine can bear results!

 

This aint an epitaph.I am sure that bulldog and sheerbloodymindedness will be in full display as a director of MUFCL.He was not a great player,but he is one of the best coaches in the world.Just look at the talent that he nurtured - Beckham,Giggs,Scholes,Rooney,Ince and offcourse the brilliant Ronaldo.

 

But the best testament to a teacher or a coach is not how he gets the brilliant and the best to perform but how he elevates the mediocre and the plain.Teddy Sheringham,Ole Gunnar Solskjaer,Irwin just faded away after their MU stint.He made the team work and it was the team that came to the party.

 

The best thing I can say for this man is that you couldn't bully his team.Ever!David Moyes hope you drop the baton...!!