Ferguson still world’s finest manager

WHILE today’s leading clubs have all the advantages that money can buy, man management has been made harder by player power. With their enormous wages and greater freedom to change clubs, modern players have huge influence. Ferguson has managed to keep players happy despite the fact that, with such a large squad, some inevitably spend lengthy periods on the sidelines. He insists on high standards and in his early years successfully broke a drinking culture at the club. He is very protective. He stood by Roy Keane and Eric Cantona during off-the-pitch crises and kept a young Ryan Giggs out of the spotlight. He is also not averse to creating an “us and them” atmosphere, convincing players they need to stick together. He is a past master at using the media to his advantage. Liverpool’s Rafa Benitez was the latest rival to attempt unsuccessfully to wage a war of words against him. Ferguson has survived upheavals off the pitch, most notably the takeover of the club by the Glazer family. At one stage he talked of retirement, but at 67 he is enjoying more success than ever. United fans will be hoping he carries on for a good few years yet. It was always said that replacing Busby was an impossible job, but who on earth could succeed Ferguson? Circumstances and the manner in which success is achieved clearly have to be taken into account. Busby, for example, assembled one brilliant team in the 1950s only to see it destroyed in the Munich air crash, which nearly claimed his own life. He then rebuilt the side to conquer Europe in 1968. Other managers have also had a greater impact in terms of the style of their teams. Mario Zagallo coached arguably the greatest side of all time, Brazil’s 1970 World Cup winners while the Dutchman Rinus Michels invented total football a fluid style based on passing and movement that revolutionised the game in the 1970s. He was then named coach of the 20th century by Fifa, world football’s governing body. However, while Ferguson may not have reinvented the game, his teams have always played entertaining football in the best United traditions, based around supremely talented players like Eric Cantona, Ryan Giggs and Wayne Rooney. United usually have more British players in their side than their rivals. Ferguson has taken particular pride in the club’s home bred juniors. Beckham, Giggs, Paul Scholes, the Neville brothers, Wes Brown, John O’Shea and Darren Fletcher to name just a few, all came up through the Old Trafford ranks. Another important factor to mention is the ever exisistance of financial power at the club. United’s resources and reputation undoubtedly help them to recruit the best players, particularly British talent. Rio Ferdinand cost £29m from Leeds, Rooney £20m from Everton and Owen Hargreaves £17m from Bayern Munich. The club’s reputation also helps when signing juniors. Recent signing chicarito fom mexico, Fabio and Rafael da Silva shows the intelligence of scouting at the club. Other managers have achieved success on more limited resources, notably Clough. But Ferguson has turned many a budding young player into an international superstar Cristiano Ronaldo cost just £7.7m from Sporting Lisbon and has not been afraid to sign older players like Edwin van der Sar and Laurent Blanc. Ferguson has won more major trophies for his team than any other contemporary manager. He has never been one to take any kind of criticism lying down, and is never too far from controversy, a fact which apparently endears him even more to the football following masses. Sir Alex’s first league success as United manager came in 1992, when his signing Eric Cantona, forming a formidable partnership with Mark Hughes, was instrumental in getting the club their first league title in 26 years. He won the League and Cup double for United in the 1994-95 season, repeated the feat in 1995-96, even though he had been heavily criticized for relying on youngsters like Beckham, Scholes, Giggs and Neville among others when his rival teams were making big money signings. In 1998-99, the club scaled even greater unprecedented heights under his leadership as they won the treble consisting of the League, the FA Cup and the Champions League. In total he has won 11 Premier Leagues, 5 FA Cups, 4 League Cups and 2 UEFA Champions Leagues for United in his time as their manager, while having rebuilt the team virtually from scratch many times in the process. All said it is not only his success that endears him to football fans worldwide. It is his charisma, his flair, his seemingly endless hunger and drive for success. Ends