As the world saw Sir Alex in the stands cheering for his team in the press box at St Mary’s, 3 years after his fight against death caused by a heart attack in 2018, one word embodied him and the club — “A Fighter for the Ages”. During his tenure at the club, the fans/media and even the opposition feared the popular — “Fergie Time”. No game was over till the extra minutes on the referee’s final stopwatch, exactly how life is, if you think about it and all the uncertainties associated with it. Born in a simple family in Govan near Glasgow. The Scottish roots which he is so proud of led us to choose a Scottish successor to our club post his final retirement.
26 years at Manchester United and 38 years in total across football management, his successful career, both on and off the field can be translated into many leadership themed books of people-management for organisations/corporates/political-parties. He successfully managed both, the “big bosses” i.e. United bosses/owners as well as the players/support-staff/coaches by one simple mantra “Being himself and wearing his heart on his sleeve.” His relationship with David Beckham, whom he threw a boot at, just below the player’s eyebrows post a loss to Arsenal in the FA Cup and also during the player’s lows whom he called back after being sent off in the 1998 World Cup loss to Argentina. Beckham had just become a dad then and was the villain-in-chief for the English tabloids for a team which collectively underperformed. “Come back to Manchester, son.”, “the Dad” said, in the same way he treated everyone at the Club. His current relationship with Ronaldo(CR7) is one prime example of how Fergie is always there for the game he loved growing up in those Scottish yards, even in his late 70’s.
Book Summary.
Breezing through this 380 page auto-biography, the first two thoughts which hit the mind are his love for the game of football which has changed dramatically since the time he picked up first boots and the humbleness of the genius, he speaks more about others in this memoir, downplaying the eternal managerial career he had. Tom Brady, Kobe Brady and Alex Ferguson, have sustained peaks for decades and each of their careers can be further divided into multiple Hall of Fame stints. Kobe’s court number for both the Jerseys’ No 8/24, Tom vs Time and his Super Bowl wins in 40’s and Sir Alex’s achievements pre and post he almost hung up his managerial boots in 2002 are as great a story as any team-setting has seen. And the empathy with which he shares the monologues/dialogues with his players, managerial contemporaries, the United board, the scouts, footballing traditions, arch rivals — some of whom he hated losing to in his prime, tells us about the legend of this great talisman. So instead of bragging about trophies as a United fan in his book, he added to the cabinet a brief summary of some of his takes on a few subjects in football (or Soccer as the Americans would quote)
- Players: Ferguson’s philosophy was- “No player is bigger than the badge on the Manchester United Jersey”. And no matter the stature/ego of the personalities he managed in the “Theatre of Dreams” dressing room, he always ensured they put in a team performance on the pitch. His fallouts with greats such as Roy Keane, David Beckham, Ruud van Nistelrooy are examples of the ownership he expected in a Man Utd Jersey, no matter the raw talent/leadership on display. The development of “The Class of 92” from the United Academy into sporting legends, the world saw his biggest contribution to the game i.e. Getting the Best out of the Lads for a consistent period of time.
- Club and Fans: Since his young Scottish days of running a pub in Glasgow, football ran in his veins. Football is a form of entertainment for youths living in the United Kingdom/Europe. His Manchester United Teams put on a show for the Stratford End and for those millions glued to their television sets. Playing the game the right way, he chose an attacking approach to both the 2009 & 2011 Champions League Finals against Spanish Giants and despite losing both the matches, he had no qualms on the philosophy he ran his personal on the field. The guilt of playing an ultra defensive approach in the Semis in the 2008 Semis against the Catalans juggernauts overshadowed his win in Moscow later that year. Under him, United always had a chance, buried 2–0 and 3–0 against Spurs to score five in the 2nd half, that night in Barcelona in the 1998 season when the team overturned a lead going into Extra Time, United under Ferguson never knew to give up on a game.
- Media: Fergie had always a love-hate relationship with the English Media, who were constantly looking for a headline in the pre/post match press conferences. He stood for the Club, its richness, traditions and winning mentality and hence his hot-takes on players/rivals/English FA/agents landed in some or the other trouble in the press. He managed the press very well and never let any of the off-field pressure get on to his players/support-staff. At the same, he understood the needs of a modern journalist who was just doing his/her duty in the pressers and never shielded away from an old cheeky Scottish banter to lighten the match briefings. The career which extended for almost 4 decades was summarised by a not so bad tabloid headline “Alex Ferguson has done very well in his life despite coming from Govan”
- Hobbies: Sir Alex loved his horses and the derbies, after-all the prized possession of The Rock of Gibraltar led to him having new owners at the club. When not blasting a referee on the football touchline for a wrong decision, he was cheering for his horses on a cold English noon. He was also fond of history, politics, documentaries and was a close aide of the Labour Party in Britain. He accidentally gave management advice to the British Prime Minister, Tony Blair which led to the latter dismissing one of his key members from the government. A big John F Kennedy fan, post retirement he also did his round of Management Seminars at Harvard Business School talking about the Freguson’s Formula.
- Heart: The maestro has a Heart of Gold, which saw its own see-saw race as it battled through managing the theatrics of a Modern Game where the thrills on a 70 yard pitch for 90 minutes is exhausting for any living being. In 2012 when Manchester United were Champions for 5 minutes, after which the Aguerooooo moment and the Noisy Neighbours had clinched the Coveted Holy Grail , Fergie decided it was too much for the 70 year old heart to take, eventually hanging his boots in the following years. Since 2003, when he was rushed for a heart diagnosis while running in a gym, he had his tryst with heart issues, against all of which, his will has surpassed medical science.
To summarise, we don’t know how many years Sir has up his sleeve, but as some have said it once, a man dies twice : Once when his soul leaves the planet Earth and the second when the last story about him dies down the memory lane. The legacy of Sir Alex will live immortally as the future generations discover the spirit of love, game and being human.
